Sally wasn’t a huge fan of how things were progressing. The golem was meant to be a shock-troop, softening up the Outsiders before the main group of Reds arrived. She was sure that was who was on their way. Nobody else could have devised a golem aside from either corrupted Players or maybe a Unique. They had used a few of their important skills in the fight, but other than Theo dying twice, they had come out mostly unharmed.

Each death gave him an Exhaustion stack, which she was sure Humphrey told her at some point was equal to a night’s missed sleep. Theo went off the deep end around the third day of lack of sleep. Last time this happened was because of the giant toad curse, which also made him lethargic, for the most part. Now he was amped up, and soon to be uncontrollable.

“Everyone fall back to the middle area!” she yelled out. Dent nodded and took over organizing people.

With a sigh, she stepped over to the crouched vampire and lifted him up by his shirt. “Listen here, pup. I don’t have time to babysit you.” She placed him down and pushed him to go join the others. “I know you think you can just do whatever and mush your way to victory but—yes, grab your coffin—but I need you with a calm head, okay?”

“Okay.” Theo looked a bit sad for himself. Coffin shrunk down and back into his pocket. He jogged up beside her as they entered the area with more cover.

Mausoleums and crypts dotted the area, surrounded by dead trees and some of the taller or more ornate gravestones. Players would be a little smarter about their ability usage and tactics. Standing out in the open was fine for Invasions, but they needed to play things a little safer now the stakes were increasing. The stagecoach had been moved to park across the entrance of the cathedral, Jackie being possibly the most open to attack but at least the furthest from any danger.

Sally told most of her zombies to find cover. There was something amusing about hiding zombies around in all the shadows and hidden parts of the graveyard - that she would have absolutely loved in a different situation. She kept a few of the lizard and barbarian zombies out in the mushy mud starting area. The reason why became shortly apparent.

With Theo beside her, she looked up into the drab sky as something launched out from deeper in the woods. A small, dark object, which hit an apex before starting to fall.

“Take cover,” Theo whispered loudly beside her. “Death approaches.”

She crouched down and gave a signal to the others before covering her ears. “Don’t start that again, ass.”

Light flashed throughout the area, blinding everyone as a deep thunk preceded a loud blast. Air rushed past them as a shockwave of force through wet mud across the more built-up area of the graveyard.

Sally peered back over her cover to see those decoy zombies were now completely gone, a wide crater now replacing them in the wet dirt. “Wow. I’m sure glad we moved.” Even the golem had been blasted in half by the impact. Other than the patter of mud droplets falling back to the ground and the burning smoke from the center of the impact site, it was completely silent.

“Did I get them?” A female voice rang out.

“Nah, the counter didn’t change.” This one, a soft-spoken man.

“Fuck! I hit something.”

There was a grunt, and a third voice that was much lower reverberated through the trees. “I told you not to waste it so soon.”

Sally raised her eyebrows toward the vampire, but he was practically gnawing at the stone wall they were behind, his eyes bright red. “Get down, you.” She whispered, pushing his head down. The last thing she needed was another tactical nuke on their location because his eyes were giving their position away.

“Aw, my frickin’ golem, man.” A different male voice, scratchy. “Maybe he killed some and the rest ran away?”

“Counter still hasn’t changed,” the smooth voice replied once more.

Assuming these were corrupt Players, it could mean that two of their abilities were now gone. She could hear footsteps across the mud coming from the woods now, but there were too many to count. Her jaw clenched. Players were usually such a walk in the park, but knowing they had corrupt powers, and possibly led by Seven put her on edge.

“Looks like you just made a mess of the dirt.”

A couple more seconds and they’d see the stagecoach. How were they going to approach this? They all had their Ultimates up, but it was getting to use them without getting mulched first that counted. She tried to bring up the Chat window to send a message, but it was wavy and flickered away.

“Oh! Someone is still nearby, trying to use their chat,” a different female voice cooed.

Sally was tired of this now.

The deep voice grumbled. “The tracking says they are still here. Look, up by the cathedral. A vehicle.”

“No wonder they got so far ahead,” the scratchy voice complained.

No point in being stealthy now. She leaned over toward the patient vampire, putting her chin on his shoulder so that she could whisper into his ear. “Do me proud, pup. Go all out and fuck them up.”

A wide grin spread across his face, his fangs salivating at the prospect.

She put a hand on his back. “When I let go, you are free to do as you please.”

With one last deep breath, she stood.

Immediately, [Escape Fate] took her up into the air to land atop one of the crypts, in clear view of the twenty figures in the lower graveyard. The ability that had nearly killed her had passed through two of her zombies as collateral, before piercing straight into the cathedral walls almost a hundred feet back.

“Idiots,” the taller figure with a deep voice chastised the shooter. “Two kill moves and you waste them on trash.”

Sally grinned down at them, her eyes alight with crimson energy. “Seven, at last we meet.”

He was tall, easily over six feet, and encased in bright red armor that almost matched Humphrey’s in terms of being bulky and over the top. Each shoulder pad had a skull on it, while one last sat behind his head like a helmet.

“Sally Danger.” A wry grin spread across his face. He was pale, with sunken brown eyes, his dark hair shaved close to his head. “I had hoped to get to meet you in person. The legendary dragon killer. Queen of the Undead.”

While flattery would get him nowhere, it did sound nice hearing it from someone. He was pretty transparent, though. Not only was he simply stalling for time so that all his little Red friends could get ready to attack, but she could see something else as clear as day.

His corrupted ability was to enable Observers to fuse with him. Normally they couldn’t, with Players. What that actually meant for his skills and abilities, she didn’t care. Now they would die.

“I’m going to hit skip on the monologue, Seven. Nice to eat you.”

She dropped down and all hell broke loose.

Chuck was surprisingly first off the mark, perhaps eager to get the first advantage over his adversary. His protective dome of thick vines grew not around any of their team, but over Seven, cutting him and a eight other Players off from the rest.

Theo was gone, immediately using his Ultimate to burst into the blood-red armor and snaking off straight for the Reds cut off from their leader. Humphrey wasn’t too far behind, but only activated his normal buffs. She was surprised to see Dent and Edward heading towards the melee so soon - they were going all out for this.

She hit [Summon Zombies] three times to bring a group of equal level pals, before casting [Quick Death]. All the undead hiding away throughout the graveyard stepped out and began sprinting to where the Reds had gathered.

Flares of light and crackles of energy began painting the area as the two groups clashed. To their credit, they seemed better organized than the other groups she had chewed through. A lot of them looked corrupted, or were at least geared for utility. As the first wave of her zombies clashed in alongside the melee fighters, she could see Theo had taken one down at least, but the rest still stood.

A wave of light passed out of the vine-dome, bisecting with a line of amber before the whole thing split apart with a pop of magical energy. Immediately after, a crypt dropped down from the sky, crushing two Players as the others dove out of the way. Behind her, Norah’s giant bird-zombie had grabbed some more of the scenery to use as a projectile.

Vines burst up around the Reds, pinning those now laying prone onto the floor as Fern used their rooting skill - right before Seven was pegged by the entangling shot lobbed from Jackie all the way at the back.

Red energy swirled around the plated leader, breaking the skills holding him in place. Two swords of red light flickered into being beside him, darting out and slicing down the zombies intending to snack on the Players pinned to the floor. Several started to free themselves, and Sally clenched her teeth together.

She had hoped they would be stuck for a little longer to enable the Outsiders to chew through the weaker Players before they could beat on Seven. Now they were outnumbered, if you excluded all the zombies. Different auras, shields, and attack skills flickered around the area, but the boss of the Reds just stood calmly, staring toward her.

“You have Chuck here too. What a fortunate battle we find ourselves in. All the struggle and strife to end in one last show of strength.” A wide grin crossed his face.

Sally leaped over the wall she had been behind and sent out [Mortis Bomb], running toward the melee as she flourished her staff. Enough undead to give her cover as she approached. The ones at the front were getting cut down by the glowing swords of Seven with ease. [Living Dead] on Humphrey to keep everyone topped up.

As if getting into the bigger battle wasn’t bad enough, if it dragged on too long, then the next Invasion would happen. Even if it spawned in behind the Reds, there was no guarantee that it would be in favor of the Outsiders.

She slid to a stop across the mud and planted her staff down, twenty feet away from the patient leader of the Reds.

“Such overconfidence.” He smiled.

Sally rolled her eyes. “Fine, have your monologue, but I won’t listen.”

Theo darted forth, a blur of pink and red. While these Players certainly had better defenses and uses of their skills - they were slowly being worn away. For every strike of his punch-blades that had been blocked or absorbed, another had punctured through. Small damage, some of which had been healed - but he’d taken none in return, and wasn’t even going all out.

Edward had used [Greater Demon] and moved back-to-back with the Death Knight, using him as a shield while he protected his blind side. Dent had found another sword user and was caught up in a duel.

The ranged users weren’t as effective, with Sally and all the zombies blocking the way, until a couple of the Reds broke away from the melee to use their own ranged attacks. Immediately, they were peppered by dozens of bolts as the stagecoach flooded the air with shots in a high arc. Lana held her Ultimate ready for the right moment, while Chuck and Fern kept up heals or entangles on the messy combat.

Sally yawned as the man finished speaking. “Done yet?”

“Just the one liner to deliver,” he said with a frustrated snarl. “Your time here is futile, as you are already dead.”

She rolled her eyes. “Duh, that’s kind of our whole-”

Before she could say anything further, the land around her split apart, and she fell into an abyss.