Rise of the Dead

Dreams and Illusions.

Loki often used illusions to distort the perception of the world. And then would put his enemies to a half-sleep state and play with their minds however he wanted.

Entire days, months and years may have passed in the dream while not even a second passed in the real world. And the best thing, the dream would be so realistic that they would not even doubt it. As such, a death in a dream might really convince them that they were dead in reality as well.

Using these two powers together, Loki rarely had to intervene and deal with his enemies personally. In the rare occassion some managed to wake up or resist his dream, only then did he show his claws.

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(Inside a Fatui base)

It was a normal day for the Fatui. Their lord, the second of the Eleven Fatui Harbinger, had issued a command to capture pokemon and most of them have left to do their part.

There were only a few Fatui grunts who remained behind to look after this base. They were chatting away to pass the time when a shadowy figure suddenly emerged from the wall.

All they could see was a pair of red eyes before they were swallowed into the abyss/darkness.

(POV: A random Fatui grunt named Jack)

Jack was confused. All of it happened so fast that his mind could not comprehend his situation.

A moment ago, he was leisurely talking with his friends when he saw two red spots of light and was swallowed into his own shadow. And now, his hands and feets were spread out and tied to a pole while his eyes couldn't penetrate through the darkness.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim surroundings and he immediately felt horrified, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. What he saw was something straight from the depths of hell.

The sky above him was pitch black with only a crimson moon as the source of light. The ground beneath him was covered with a murky dark blood. This blood was flowing from the disfigured bodies tied to poles before him.

These unknown people looked like they had been subjected to the most horrendous torture. Firstly, they were tied to the poles by their own intestines. They were wearing their own skin instead of clothes and the exposed flesh were burned and bruised.

The worst part of it all, they were still alive. They were no longer able to speak but their pain filled eyes begged for the release of death.

There were so many wrongs, that even a ruthless man like Jack was horrified out of his mind. Bile rose to his throat and he vomited all the contents in his stomach.

The sound of vomit didn't come from only Jack. His friends were also tied to poles beside him and faced the same predicament.

[I will ask once and only once.]

The shadowy figure from before appeared beside Jack and his friends. It spoke with a voice that seemed to come from the depths of hell and promised them of an eternal damnation.

[Where are my daughters? If you answer truthfully, I will grant you the freedom of death.]

_____

An hour have passed since Dusk shared the news that Qiqi and Nana were kidnapped. All of the ghost pokemon were dispatched in search for them. However the only thing they have managed to find were a Fatui Hideouts and some grunts.

Loki was becoming more and more anxious and pissed. He would put these grunts to sleep and torture them in all the possible ways, in a bid to question them. However, none of them gave him any reliable info.

These useless trashes only knew the one leading this operation was the second of the eleven Fatui Harbingers, Dottore.

After coming across three Fatui hideouts and tens of useless grunts, one of them finally confessed to seeing a group of Fatui disguised as a Caravan group heading to Sumeru.

This piece of info was not very reliable but this was the only lead he had gotten after hours. There was a possibility that Qiqi and Nana were held in this caravan so Loki rushed towards the borders.

There were a few route that connected Liyue and Sumeru. If some wanted to follow unconventional paths, they could only take the treacherous mountainous path which was not very suitable for a caravan.

There was a very low possibility of this Fatui caravan travelling the treacherous path if they were disguising as an ordinary merchant group. However, Loki was not going to take any chances. He quickly arranged for Cinder and Ark to cover the untrodden paths. These two ghost pokemon were the best scouts so they were the perfect choice for the job.

The preparations were done and the three of them covered all of the possible routes to Sumeru. The other ghost pokemon continued their search elsewhere.

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Loki waited by the main route and observed all of the caravans passing through it. He peeked inside each and every one of them and made sure that the girls were not held inside.

After nearly half an hour, Loki finally saw the Fatui Caravan. It looked normal on the surface but one of the caravan was tightly protected by several layers of barriers. He was not able to reach his senses inside the barriers and that was enough of a suspicion.

He first placed the disguised Fatui merchants to sleep and approached the main caravan. The barriers were meant for isolation and protection but it was not meant to protect against ghosts and similar kins. He was easily able to phase through the barriers and peek inside.

Loki immediately noticed Qiqi and Nana inside the cages. Fortunately, they were safe and sound. He turned around and focused on the masked man sitting beside the cages.

The masked man also turned his head and looked at Loki at the same time. Dottore had a look of realization and surprise as he recognized who the other party was.

Loki did not give Dottore any time to prepare. He released a wave of energy and enveloped the entire Caravan. Dottore blanked out for a brief instant and Loki used that moment to plunge his hands inside Dottore and rip his heart out of his chest.

Right after, he kicked the Fatui Harbinger towards the other side of the cages. Dottore carved a hole in the Caravan before he was sent crashing onto the rocky ground.

"Father!"

Qiqi finally seemed to notice Loki due to the disturbance and a small relieved smile appeared on her otherwise stoic face. Loki turned to her and shook his head.

"Not now."

The shadow rose and swallowed his two daughters. Loki then crushed the heart in his hand and looked outside. He knew better than to understimate a Fatui Harbinger. His previous strike was only successful because Dottore was caught off guard.

Sure enough, Dottore stood up to his feet calmly. The hole in his chest was rapidly closing, displaying his extraordinary vitality.

Dottore had always focused on the research to elevate humans into gods. To surpass the limits of his own human cognition and lifespan, he had created segments of himself using different points of his life as a basis. 

This was not all. He had also experimented with his genes and acquired a wide range of abilities, one of which was being displayed right now.

"I didn't expect you to find me so quickly." Dottore spoke casually.

"And I didn't expect you to survive my attack." Loki jumped out of the carriage and confronted his opponent.

Dottore shook his head with a light smile. He looked around and noticed the strange situation. The Fatui grunts responsible for driving the Caravan, the Sumpterbeast, and the grunts disguised as guards. All of them were frozen in their place, their eyes dull and empty.

"May I ask what you did to my subordinates?" He asked.

"Why don't you ask them yourself?"

Loki smirked and snapped his fingers. The Fatui grunts and the beasts around them were like puppets controlled by a string. Their head methodically turned around and their dull unfocused eyes stared at Dottore.

"Hmm?"

As the Fatui grunts took out their weapons and pointed them at him, Dottore quickly realized that they were being controlled. Some raised their swords and hammers and ran towards him while the others aimed their guns at him. The Sumpterbeasts also rushed towards him like a ram.

"Useless tricks."

The Fatui Harbiger took a step and ice spike rose from the ground, piercing through everyone except Loki who managed to jump back and avoid them. The tens of Fatui and Sumpterbeasts were instantly riddled with holes and fell to the ground dead.

"You are so cruel. Didn't even hesitate to kill your own men."

Loki spoke casually. Ghost type energy gathered on his hands and turned them into two shadowy claws. Dottore also took out his weapon and prepared for the inevitable clash.

"You are mistaken. They are nothing but disposable tools to me."

"Is that so? Then I guess I will take these tools and put them to good use."

Ghost energy radiated from Loki and enveloped the dead grunts and Sumpterbeasts. The hole riddled corpses then slowly rose to their feet once again.

At the same time, tens of illusory ghosts and wraiths surged from the shadow below him. All of them had disfigured appearances, with their organs spilling out from their guts. The surrounding was immediately filled with the cries and pleas of these tormented souls.

(...Please spare.....)

(...Save.....lord.... Dottore..)

(..Dottore....)

(...Dottore... your fault.....)

(....die.....die....)

(...killllll...)

As the madness ensured before him, Dottore smiled with equally ferocious madness and fanaticism.

"So you are going to use my own tools to deal with me?"

The Fatui Harbinger easily realized that the ghosts and wraiths were his subordinates. There was no need to say anything about the zombies.

"No." Loki shook his head with a 'warm' smile filled with kindness.

"I am just showing you your future."

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PS: What do you think is a good weapon for Dottore? I chose his element as Cryo as it fits his aesthetics but couldn't decided on his weapon. Please give some suggestions.

Also, I have realized that I cannot write fight scene. My head turned blank so many time as I wrote this chapter. 🙃