C14 - Climbers

After the construction of the Final Castle, the Abyss had altered the entire region. Dungeons no longer appeared; neither did randomly roaming monsters. Instead, all of the demons in this area were lead by different factions, each being controlled by commanders which were controlled by different lords. Aspects and Omni Orbs were dropped by the commanders instead of from dungeons, and the constant battle around the Final Castle revolved around reclaiming territory by sieging the castles of the lords and tearing down the armies of the commanders.

The Dreamers had managed to claim the entire northern side of the zone, and were angling to focus on the southern border. However, as he had previously heard, the northern border had collapsed with the fall of the legendary Sir Felic. Now, the lords had reclaimed the northern territory, leaving the Dreamers to fend off attacks on the Final Castle from both sides.

Sariel sent a glance throughout the area. Around eight Dreamers were stationed around the border, fending off hundreds of incoming undead. The stench of death hung heavily in the air as the undead skeletons closed in on him from all sides.

With silent malice, Sariel charged towards the first wave of skeletons. The sound of metal clashing against bone echoed across the battlefield as he slashed through the undead with ease. But the sound of a bone following was followed by the ratting of even more incoming. Sariel gritted his teeth in frustration as he fought off another wave of skeletons. With each swing of his sword, he sliced through the brittle bones of his foes. One of them delivered a slash to his arm, but a simple Infusion cleansed his body before he cleansed the bag of bones that delivered the strike.

But the skeletons kept coming, their empty eye sockets glowing with an unholy light. Sariel glanced at his Omni and swapped it to a claymore, leaping into the air to slam into the middle of the hordes. Hundreds of the vile creatures immediately focused onto him. Just as planned.

Sariel concentrated and took a deep breath, sending hundreds of chains slamming out of his chest, piercing each of the skeletons and sending them backwards, tumbling over each other like dominoes. Sariel deftly sent his claymore in streaking motions, cleaving through waves of the skeletons simultaneously, before spinning around in a circle. The chains snapped, dragging countless skeletons towards him, each of them being crushed as the greatsword sent the animated remains flying. White wisps drew themselves to Sariel, mending his body and sparking his soul.

But the victory was short-lived. From the shadows, even more skeletons emerged, their numbers seemingly endless. More annoying was the fact that the quantity of Spirit Sariel was receiving was steadily deceasing with every kill.

Sariel knew he couldn't keep this up forever, but that wasn't exactly the point. He glanced forward, casting his gaze towards the barely noticeable figure in the distance. The commander. It was at these moments that he cursed his luck; where was a movement Aspect when he needed it? Ah, well. Nothing much to do now but keep slicing.

---

It had been three hours since the fighting started, and it showed no signs of pause. The eight Dreamers had each individually advanced, as well as Sariel. With every wave killed, they got slightly closer to the enemy commander. At this distance, they could see his empty face, burning with black threads. But this couldn't be sustained; Sariel himself was running out of energy, and it was quite clear that the other Dreamers were too. He gritted his teeth and prepared to send another slash into the horde, but quick flashes of light interrupted his concentration. He looked to the left; one of the Dreamers was swiftly teleporting towards him.

He slashed through the wave around him and turned to face his new acquaintance. A pale, white-haired girl wearing a lab coat and glass goggles burst into the air with a blinding flash, and dropped down onto the ground. An upwards arrow lay on the corner of her mask.

'New Dreamer, hey. I'm Maxi. We're forming into a group to attempt to pierce the horde and kill the commander. Join us.' Immediately after delivering her message, she disappeared with another burst of light and began teleporting back.

Sariel sighed. How was he supposed to-

---

15 minutes of arduous slashing, jumping and leaping later, he had managed to converge in the middle of the field. One of the eight Dreamers had fallen back to guard the Castle from any stragglers, but most of the undead seemed to be focused on the six in the middle. Sariel joined the formation with a leap, inspecting the others. Each of them wore matching badges with upward arrows, signifying their membership in the Coalition he had seen earlier. The Climbers, were they? Sariel made a mental note and joined the formation.

'Oh, you're here,' Maxi glanced back at him. 'Is everyone ready for the charge?' Each of the Dreamers glanced at each other and nodded. 'Get ready to dodge, Flower. All right, let's go!'

Maxi flicked on an Aspect Ring, summoning a floating red button. She slammed down with a roar, darkening the sky as a massive skyscraper formed behind the group. 'Scatter! Go, go go!'

The giant skyscraper was now collapsing with a deafening roar, crumbling into pieces and sending chunks of concrete and glass flying in all directions, tumbling down onto the battlefield filled with undead skeletons. As it fell, the ground shook with an ear-splitting rumble that echoed across the land. As the giant structure plummeted towards the ground, it crashed into the undead horde with a deafening thud. The ground shook violently as the skeletons were crushed under the weight of the falling debris, their brittle bones shattering upon impact. The group of Dreamers lunged out of the way, sprinting towards the commander with reckless abandon as thousands of skeletons were crushed under the peculiar infrastructure.

The skeletons on the battlefield were caught off guard by the sudden turn of events. They stopped their advance, turning their empty eye sockets towards the crumbling skyscraper in awe and confusion.

The once-unstoppable force of the undead army was now decimated, their ranks quickly regenerating as the commander sent more black wisps across the field to regenerate the bodies. He walked backwards swiftly, putting more distance between him and the Dreamers. As the dust settled, the true extent of the damage became clear. The once-pristine battlefield was now a scene of utter devastation, with the remains of the undead army scattered amongst the ruins of the fallen skyscraper. The skyscraper itself vanished after the collision, completing its duty with perfect precision.

But it wasn't enough. More and more undead rose, and the commander kept retreating backwards. Sariel sprinted past the undead as best he could, but eventually had to stop and clear the horde surrounding him. The others also seemed to have encountered the same problem; they were stopped in their tracks by the regenerated army. The commander was so close and yet so far; he was around ten lunges away, but constantly moved backwards as everyone was stuck in place.

Suddenly, the air changed; an immediate wave of heat burned throughout the battlefield. Sariel took a deep breath and sent out chains to knock the skeletons around him backwards before leaping upwards and scanning the area. A small beacon lay in the middle of the field. His eyes widened as he yelled out, 'Run! Beacon!'

The other Dreamers had a similar reaction, glancing between each other before quickly sprinting backwards. Maxi flashed backwards, and Sariel grasped a chain that linked him to one of the further skeletons to swing himself out of the way.

From the heavens above, a beam of pure white light shot down towards the earth, illuminating the sky with its intense brilliance. As it struck the ground, a blinding explosion of energy engulfed the surrounding area, obliterating everything in its path. Sariel rolled frantically as he peeked behind him, witnessing the beam incinerate everything left on the field.

The force of the blast was like nothing ever witnessed before. The heat generated by the beam was so intense that the air shimmered and distorted, as if it were a mirage. As the light began to fade, a smouldering crater was left in the wake of the destruction.

Deus Ex Machina. It was a terrifying display of power in a single Aspect; it made many Dreamers question the reality of deities on Otherside. Every time Sariel witnessed the beam come down, his spine chilled. Anyone inside that beam would never be able to survive.

For some, the beam was a sign of divine intervention, a symbol of the awesome power of the gods. For others, it was a warning of the dangers of meddling with forces beyond our understanding. Was it sent by the Abyss, or was it really just an Aspect?

But Sariel needed to focus on the more important things. The enemy commander lay at the bottom of the crater, with yellow crystals lying beside him. He grit his teeth and leapt into the crater, feeling his skin burn under the residual heat left by the beam. His action was replicated by an unknown figure leaping into the crater as well. They both dashed towards the glowing gems, bearing the burning heat as they collided at the bottom.

The cloak of the figure betrayed his white hair and the butterfly at the corner of his mask. Sariel narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath, slamming a chain into the leg of the unknown Dreamer. He reciprocated by forming his Omni and sending a flurry of bullets towards Sariel. He ignored them, leaping for the gems and grabbing all eight of them. At least, that was what he thought, before every single gem disappeared from his hands.

Well, that couldn't be good.

The enemy commander was suddenly surrounded by black wisps, curling around his body and restoring the brutal spark in his eyes. Sariel glanced at the unknown figure he was duelling with previously and sent him a nod, which was swiftly reciprocated. It was no time for infighting when there were significantly bigger problems.

Sariel quickly took a glance at his own stat sheet. It had been a while since he saw it, after all.

Sariel glanced backwards; the other six were leaping into the pit now. He checked to the left; the unknown figure seemed to be preparing to fight. Commander Bigger was currently invulnerable, being protected by the Abyss as the black wisps dragged themselves into every crevice of his body. This was called reanimation, and it was a rare occasion where the Abyss invested significant quantities of its energy to revive and enhance a fallen demon. This would naturally make it harder to kill them, but it also ensured the rewards were going to be very worth it.

The Darkness burst in a ring, blowing the Dreamers back a little. Time for a battle.