26 The Mark of Gladness (Part 2)

Meanwhile…

"Damn, can't join them. You know, it's boring, just waiting out in the open."

"Can relate, Alu," Victor says. "My butt is overworked. I'm drinking a bit to dull the pain." He takes a swig of whiskey. "You know, I'm sorry."

"About what? You didn't do anything wrong?"

"That's the point, kid. We didn't say anything to you."

Alucard remembered Argus' explanation, how the Demon Hunter clan found him in that forsaken forest…

"Hey. You didn't know. And besides, it was for my own good. You and Argus had a point, but if anything, I still trust you, Victor. I know you're a bit of an old man, but you're willing to make a change. Don't-"

"Now now, don't make me cry tears, because you can't," Victor replies. "I'm just doing this for my daughter."

Alucard's eyes widened. "I didn't know you had a-"

"I had one. Had. Got chewed up by a Ravager…"

"Oh… I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. At least she lives in the afterlife knowing that I still care for her, even after a couple of decades after that event… At least."

Alucard lowered his head, his morale beginning to sink. "What's her name?"

"Isabelle."

"Well, Victor. I can't think of a better name than that," he said, smiling weakly.

"Nah, don't compliment. Too late for that. We're all gonna go to hell because of you, boy."

"Heh, you bet."

A guard calls at Victor. "Hey. Your squadron is up."

"Right on time. See you on there, kid. Don't do anything funny while we're out here." Victor stands up and stretches his back as he whistles, calling a few of his men armed with cocktails and guns.

Alucard sighs. "That must be heavy for him to bear. Didn't know he was a father. There's just no more time to confess. I just hope they're all alright. I don't want them to die because of me."

Before he could relax on the seat, he spots two guards conversing. But what made him hold his attention was the familiar silhouette behind them, looking at Alucard.

He closes his eyes. "I swear, she's going to be the end of me…" He opens them again, and Lunox was gone.

Alucard grins. "I knew it. It's just- AH, MOTHER OF-"

Yes, the party was short-lived, because she was now sitting beside him on his right on the long seat propped against the main wall. But Lunox didn't look at him, but merely hung her head low, staring at the ground with her hands clasped. Calming down, Alucard noticed that Lunox was… dulling. Her outfit grew worn and grey, as if she was losing color and taste. A small but distinct crack could be seen on her cheek running to her left eye. She wasn't crying, but if she was, she remained silent.

Concerned, the Demon Hunter makes the move and outstretches his hand. Lunox saw this and slowly unclasped her hands, her left hand drifting toward his demonic arm. As they made contact, Alucard asked her.

"Moskov will die, won't he? Does the same go for Lance and Odette? You can't remain vague to me forever. The others are growing worried."

Lunox only blinked once, then slowly turned her head to face him… then gripped his hand. Slowly, Alucard's vision warped, but in a slow, soothing manner…

He finds himself in the dark, with only his breathing as the only thing that could be heard. He looked around to see if there was anything to be found, but there was none. Confused, he looked back and saw a man a couple of meters away from him. He wore a tidy lab coat and sharp-looking shoes. He sported a pair of half-framed glasses, a weary look prominent due to his dark eyebags. He looked at Alucard, adjusting his grey hair.

"My son…"

Alucard was conflicted. "D-Dad?"

"Don't feel bad, it was never your fault to begin with. This is as close as we can do in terms of conversation… I wish I had been there to see you grow… Don't let yourself down, okay?"

"Dad!"

"I'll come back for you. We always find a way!"

Before Alucard could run towards Rooney, the vision ends and he was back to facing Lunox, who stopped clutching his hand.

Lunox smiled at him. "There will still be light beyond the endless darkness, hero. What matters is that you find it in yourself, for it's what makes us strong… Hope."

"Alucard?"

Alucard looked up and saw Ruby racing towards him, reaching in for a hug. Panicked, he looks back at Lunox, but she was gone without a trace. Instinctively, he stood up and hugged Ruby.

"Hey, I thought-"

"Estes let me go now… I'm sorry for-"

"No need to say sorry. It was never your fault to begin with. And besides, we're here now. Nothing's gonna happen."

Ruby pulled away. "Hey, who were you talking to?"

Alucard turned around and looked back to where he sat, sighing. Ruby wasn't sure, but she had a hunch.

"It was her, right? Did she show anything?"

"Yeah… I saw my dad."

Ruby's eyes widened. "You mean… Rooney?"

"Yes, but that wasn't really my greatest concern, Ruby. Lunox… she's growing tired. She looked dull in my eyes... Not necessarily eyebags and all, but, it's as if she was-"

"Fading?"

"Mhm… That's still not a good sign. She doesn't want conflict, but the only way to resolve conflict…"

"Is through conflict," they answered in unison.

"Crap. All we can do is wait," Alucard grumbles. "Should be out there saving lives…"

"Well, while we're waiting here…" Ruby forced Alucard to sit down as she wraps her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. "Don't make me lose sight of you too early, okay?"

Meanwhile…

Alice unleashes her Drinking State, but everybody cleared the whole zone so that her power would backfire against her. She launches an orb towards Aurora, but the Queen of Ice spawns a frozen wall just in time, blocking Alice. Frustrated, Alice rears and charges straight through the ice and breaking it, only to be cut by the ice blade floating around Aurora. Alice attempts to capitalize and overwhelm Aurora, but the mage spawns more swords one at a time, poking and slicing Alice when she went too close. Miya, hiding beneath a rock, shoots a light arrow, hitting Alice's eye. Yelping in pain, Alice could do nothing as Aurora held back the opposition with a dozen irregularly shaped swords.

"I misjudged you," Alice said. "You're still strong."

"Stronger than yesterday, witch."

"Take that back!" Alice charges with another Blood Orb, but Aurora merges her hands, forcing the 12 swords to merge into one huge greatsword, and with one swing, slaps Alice flying into the air. Aurora blocks the Dominator's beam with the flat of the sword.

She unlocks one of the blades on the greatsword to intercept the Dominator's vision, but the Kastiyans shoot it down. Aurora disassembles her huge sword and uses the fragments to protect herself. The aliens advance but Natalia was already behind them, taking each one in a flash of bright slashes. The front sees her and screeches, signaling her presence. Before they could react properly, Tigreal pushed them back with his shield, killing a few with blunt force trauma. Confused, the Kastiyans shoot randomly in the air as Natalia and Tigreal finish them off.

"Where's Zhask?" Tigreal asks. Natalia points to the hill, where Zhask was trying to let the Dominator recover. Unfortunately, Miya was bombarding the two with her arrows, knowing that the spawn should not heal. Zhask already creates a shield around him with his staff's power and aims at Miya, shooting his lightning bolts. Miya launches an arrow to be sure, and the projectile deflects off of the field.

"Miya can't shoot as long as that shield is active!" Estes says. He goes into the frontlines, Hylos with him. As Zhask launches a lightning bolt, Estes creates a momentary shield in front of Miya, making the bolt ricochet to an unawares Vexana, stunning her.

"Curses! Why won't you die?!" Zhask yells as he keeps on shooting, but his own shield was starting to break as Roger shoots it down with his shells. Miya looks above as she runs and shoots, unleashing a rain of arrows on Zhask and the Dominator. Suffering from the pincer strategy, Zhask releases another spawn as Roger breaks the shield. The new Dominator lets out a beam behind Roger. The werewolf roars but maintains its focus on Zhask. Hilda charges from behind and slams the axe on Zhask's torso, but it lodged within.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" Zhask spawns another Dominator, but before it could grow, Balmond already responds and cuts it off the base, killing it. Roger, Hilda and Balmond trades their blows to Zhask. Annoyed, Zhask slams his staff to the ground and repels the both of them, only for his vision to find Fanny charging at him with her blades. The alien enhances the two Dominators, making them grow in size and strength almost instantaneously. Surprised, Fanny releases her cables and shoots them toward the sky, hooking two Spitfires. She launches herself in the air, completely dodging the lasers. Zhask wastes no time for the flyer as he commands the two spawns to travel to the clashing.

Hylos notices the enhanced spawn pushing up the ground. "Estes!"

The Elven King responds with a stasis ward, greatly slowing down the spawn. Estes sees the other spawn that has already emerged, aiding Moskov.

"If we don't find a way to take those down, the others will be pinned," Estes says. "Hylos, how about your centaurs?"

"They've already went in, Estes. Wait, how about the Demon Hunters?"

"They've already responded. We must escort Miya first, I assume, then we deal with the threat."

Hylos nods and casts a pathway, speeding them up.

"Moskov, listen to me," Zhao began, dodging a strike. "You're saying nothing, but your eyes tell the truth. You hate doing this!"

He locks his sights on Moskov and charges straight through, slicing away the Ravagers and Wretches. Moskov constantly dashes away, but gets caught by Zhao in the process. He flips him around and kicks him towards his side. Moskov regains his footing but Clint shoots him at the cranium. Moskov was stunned, but he slowly looked back at Clint, the wound already healing.

"Oh, crap."

Moskov charges the spear in his hand. Zhao sees this and immediately kicks his arm, sending the Spear of Destruction flying. The said projectile zooms and nicks a couple of Spitfires and Wombats, while making a large hole on one of Bane's ships. It was better than losing 5% of the army, though.

"Okay, breathe easy… Kill when necessary, Zhao. Don't screw up. It's still your best bro. If he wanted it, I'd be shish-kebabbed already."

Zhao eyes Estes creating a deceptive visual hazard at Zhask. The alien commander sees this and abruptly drops the shield, fazed.

"W-What is this s-symbol?!"

"Got you."

Hylos charges with the pathway and knocks Zhask off the high ground with his scepter. Zhask, losing focus, accidentally points the three Dominators to himself. Miya focuses her arrows as the spawns hurt their own master. Zhask couldn't stand as they focused their lasers.

"I… command you to CEASE!" he yells, and the spawns explode into a gory mess, the force gales knocking him back. One of the spawn's lasers remained active and hit Moskov as the marksman was about to dash, incapacitating him.

Zhao begins to run straight towards Moskov, hoping to pin his shoulder to the ground with his spear. Before he could reach him, a wave of darkness began to cloud his vision. He grumbles in frustration and slashes the air behind him, actually making contact with Helcurt's chest.

"Argh! Brethren… Maul this foolish warrior with your claws!"

Zhao felt a small horde of Shadowbringers frantically racing to his location. He sighs, "Okay… Zhao, get ready to go cray!"

Without warning, he spins around his body with his spear, performing a randomized pattern of flurried slashes and strikes, disorienting the Shadowbringers' focus. He managed to pierce through a few bodies around, but the horde remained constant in their numbers. He felt the heavy air rush away as Miya jumped from Tigreal's shield and shot two arrows at a time, landing killing shots. The Shadowbringers flee as the archer lands, but Vexana was already there, and she caught Miya with the grip of her ghostly hands.

"No can do to save your boyfriend!" Vexana begins conjuring an incapacitating spell but Tigreal stabs her straight to her gut with his sword and pulled it out cleanly. Surprisingly, the Necromancer was barely fazed, but was taken aback nonetheless. She unleashed numerous ghouls and specters, crowding Tigreal and restricting his breathing room. Behind her, Natalia slowly crept unnoticed and cut deep grooves on Vexana's back, making her scream in pain as she loses control of her puppets.

Natalia jumps out as Alice teleports, apparently in her Drinking State. Alice immediately launches three Blood Orbs, but instead of fleeing, Natalia stays still and rams her claw to the middle orb, making contact with Alice who was about to materialize. (This was a good move because if Natalia jumped to the other orbs, she would be mince meat to the Ravagers and Stalkers that were stampeding.)

"Try harder!" Natalia mutters. She flips and slashes at the Apocalypse Queen, trying to disorient her. Alice grunts as her Drinking State is no longer active. Miya joins the fight as she uses her bow to engage in melee combat, whacking Alice. She somersaults, kicking Alice's chin and nocks two arrows and aims for her eyes. Unfortunately, a Spitfire clutches her shoulders in mid-air and Miya is forced to struggle. A Strider eliminates the airborne threat and jumps towards Miya, saving her from the three other Spitfires closing in by sacrificing himself. Miya grows frustrated as she shoots her nocked arrows, hitting Alice's eyes.

(You're probably thinking that Alice wouldn't care about getting her eyes poked. Of course she would care, how would she fight?)

"AAAAUUUGGHHHH! DAMN YOU!" Alice unleashes her Drinking State again but Chou kicks her as soon as she does, sending her flying to a spinning Akai.

"Nuh uh, not today! Not today, not today! You hear me?!" Chou yells as he continued his flurry of kicks as Akai kept on spinning, forcing Alice into their makeshift grinder. After a few seconds, he forces his flaming fist into Alice's torso and he punched right through her body, his fist sticking out from the other side.

"Gross… Eugh…" Akai mumbles as he grabs Alice and slams her to a nearby rock, the frog in his hat spitting at her. "She won't get up easily, so-"

Akai stops talking and suddenly falls as Helcurt stings him from the back, paralyzing him. The Shadowbringer grins mischievously as he locks eyes with Chou.

"You f-f-fight with fists? Heheh, y-y-you will not-"

Chou ignored Helcurt as he swiftly punches him, sending him flying to the nearby wall. "Quit monologuing. Like, dude, you could just kill me-"

He dodges as Helcurt teleports behind him and swings his claw, which was coated in a neurotoxin. "Okay, don't touch him. That simple. For the love of the Lords above, how will I deal with this bastard?"

Meanwhile…

"Where are the others?" Estes asks.

"PREOCCUPIED!" Gatot yells in frustration as he throws the corpse of a Wretch to the Ravagers. "They keep on coming!"

Miya shoots from a safe distance with a fellow Sharpshooter. "Where's Johnson and the kids?!"

"Busy taking out the hordes on the east with Rafaela!" Estes says. "They will not respond properly if we get downed here!" He casts two runes and heals a pair of wounded Bastions who successfully bashed an incoming Stalker with their shields, but a Wretch quickly gobbles them up. Estes floats in the air and set his palm on the Wretch's forehead, drawing a symbol. He immediately retreats as the Wretch vibrates and bursts into viscera, clouding his vision. He doesn't see Zhask's lightning bolt striking him to the ground.

"You're a king, just like me," Zhask says, three Dominators focusing their lasers at Estes, who conjures a stasis field around himself. "I did think of making you my ally, but you and the others are so thick-headed. Look at them. Foolish enough to help you win a war they can't."

Freya creeps up behind him but a Shadowbringer grabs the Valkyrie, forcing her out of the way. Zhask looks behind him and was surprised. "You really think you can just hide behind me and hope for something good?" Zhask points his staff at Freya to shoot a bolt of lightning, but Hylos blocks the strike with his scepter, hitting the Shadowbringer as well.

"Hayabusa!" Hylos calls. The ninja appears from the shadows, slashing at Zhask's body and distracting him. He slices upwards and throws shurikens at the alien. Upon landing, he slashes his torso and goes forward, eliminating the nearby Kastiyans that were going to respond. Zhask groans, trying to get up, but Hilda jumps and slams her foot into his chest, putting him to the ground. She runs and strikes Zhask's chest with her axe and proceeds to drag him around, but she trips as Zhask hits her legs with his staff. Hilda rolls towards Freya, Hylos and Hayabusa, now accompanied by Balmond as they notice that they were surrounded by Goblins.

"Saber, Alpha and Fanny?" Hayabusa asks, panting.

"Above," Freya says. "Lapu, Yi, Franco, Bane, above. Grock? Busy. Karina? With Zhao. Us? In terrible danger."

"Nice summary, let's chop our way out of here, shall we?" Hilda asks, charging to the nearest Goblin.

Meanwhile…

Tigreal pushes his way towards Vexana but Moskov teleports and kicks his shield, fazing the knight. He throws a dark spear which Tigreal easily blocked, but its power forces his back to a rock. The shield met with the rock by the spear, and Tigreal struggles to pull it out.

Rafaela intervenes and casts light projectiles on Vexana's puppets, extinguishing them. Karina weaves through the mass of enemies, executing them as she moves towards Vexana. Irithel goes from the side with Leo, launching explosive arrows from her crossbow to Vexana. Karrie races from the other side as she slams her lightwheels to the Necromancer, hoping to destroy the shield around her, but she gets caught in Vexana's grip as she sidesteps. Vexana was about to create an explosive spell but Irithel shoots her point blank on the face, breaking the shield.

"So, girl fight," Karina says, swinging her blades. "Any comments?" She speeds up to Vexana, who cast another grip, which she sliced easily. Rafaela casts a blinding light pulse so that Vexana would be dazed.

"Argh! Where are you?!" the Necromancer yelps, but Leo kicks the mage towards the rushing Karina as she angles her twin blades, slashing through Vexana, her body split. As her two halves tries to merge again, Karrie forcibly launches her lightwheels at the sinews, hoping to delay the regenerating process. (Like seriously, their weapons haven't been blessed with extra holy damage yet?)

"Faster, faster, faster… C'mon!"

Unfortunately, it failed as the sinews consumed almost no time in merging Vexana back into one piece. She shrieks, letting out a wave of dark energy, pushing the other heroes back. Each one now faced themselves against an enhanced Wretch.

At the other end, Zhao was now combatting Zhask to give Estes some time to regain consciousness. He feigns a poke and slashes upwards, nearly cutting Zhask in two. He spins his spear as the alien casts a lightning bolt. The charged projectile spins along with the spear and Zhao strikes the ground, knocking Zhask back.

"Phew… Now, where's Moskov?" Zhao eyes Moskov pinning Gatot to another rock with a dark spear. The marksman makes eye contact with Zhao and blinks out, appearing behind him. Zhao felt Moskov's presence and locked spears with him.

"Okay, seriously, stop pinning my friends to walls with your thumbtacks!" Zhao grunts as Moskov dodges his strikes. "You're losing!"

Roger appears next to Yun, shooting blunderbuss shells, but a Wretch whacks him to a different direction. Roger turns into a werewolf and leaps at the Wretch, clawing its hide. Ravagers began jumping towards Roger, snarling their teeth at him. The hunter wrestles one of them to the ground and turns the monster into puree.

Three Shadowbringers leaped at Zhao, clawing at him. The spearman grunts in pain as the wounds grew deeper. He shakes them off but Moskov shoots from above and pins Zhao's heel to the ground, rendering him immobile. Zhao howls, trying to remove the spear, but Moskov throws another one, pinning his arm. He could no longer move.

"Argh, goddamnit! Gord can't… Estes is still cold… Guys! Help!"

Moskov slowly walks towards Zhao, gripping his spear tightly. Vexana and Alice, who was now able to recover, appeared behind Moskov.

"Now's your chance, kill him!" Alice says in delight. "And let me drink his strong blood!"

Moskov slowly raises his spear, charging it. Zhao began to vocalize. "N-No! Moskov, don't! Is this what you wanted?! To kill me? It's much… Much more than that, I know! Y-Y-You won't kill-"

Vexana casts a grip on Zhao's mouth, silencing him. "Loudmouth. Don't waste time here, Moskov. Prolong and the enemy will fight back!"

Moskov was hesitant.

"No matter what happens… I will understand you," Zhao says, placing his hand at Moskov's shoulder. "If you are lost, let me help you."

"B-But-"

"No matter what happens, I'll always be your brother from another mother, Skov. You can tell me what you want, what you longed for. If things turn bad, just tell me. You don't need to do crazy things, but if you do, I'll be there with you and your clan. Why? Because I promised you and many others. I won't let you down."

"T-Thank you…"

"No need, I'm being a friend. Now, tell me, what do you want most in your life?"

"Do not just stand there! Kill him!" Alice eggs on. "Isn't this what you wanted? What you longed for?!"

Moskov sees Zhao, slowly tearing up. He remembers it all. The memories begin to clash. Zhao was his friend. What was he doing? What should he do? Should he kill him? It was all pointless. What they were doing was pointless. Moskov didn't want to fight anymore. All he wanted was one thing, and he wanted it badly. He'd rather die than lose it.

The spear was fully charged, and he spoke.

"I long for peace in my heart."

In a split second, he turns around and throws the Spear of Destruction at Alice and Vexana, throwing them to the other side of the battlefield. The projectile pierces through multiple demons, and a few were killed because of the force winds acting on the spear. The spear travels straight to the Dark Lord, but it shatters instantly.

"An absolute shame," the spirit says, shaking what would be his head. He points towards Moskov from afar. "Kill the traitor."

A Wretch looms to Moskov, but he sets his hand behind him, pulling the spears that pinned Zhao telepathically. Moskov then throws one of them to the Wretch's skull and charges the other one before shooting it. The second spear landed the killing blow as it pierced through the thick hide of the Wretch and into a few Ravagers before stopping.

"M-Moskov…" Zhao says, struggling to get up. "I knew it… L-Little bastard…"

"Stay still," Moskov replies, making Zhao sit down. "The spears weakened you. Shake it off."

Alucard, Estes, Saber and Miya arrives into the scene, looking at Moskov with their weapons drawn.

"We late for the party?" Alucard asked.

"Apparently," Zhao answers. "So, yeah, what we hoped for came true, but I've become one with the thumbtacks, so…"

Estes generates a healing link, making the spearman heal. "Alucard, Saber, Miya, go with Moskov. Help the others. We need to make one final push." The former three nods as Moskov began charging another Spear of Destruction, now aimed above toward the mass of Spitfires and Hellbats beginning to crowd Bane's ships.

"Moskov…" Estes began. "Why-"

"I was wrong," Moskov replied. "This war… has no meaning to me, because… I took the wrong side. I'm consumed with hate, but no one will stop me… from correcting myself." He launches the Spear. As it hit the mass of flying demons, the Spear exploded, shrouding them into dark smoke, suffocating them. Saber flies into the black cloud and releases his swords, flying randomly around the space as the unaware demons get chopped. Alpha flies overhead with Beta and lands multitudes of carpet bombs, transforming the black mass into a hazy inferno. Saber exits unscathed, recalling back his golden blades coated in demon blood.

Alucard sprints and throws his greatsword, lodging itself onto a Stalker. He teleports to the greatsword and flips with it, the body of the demon still stuck to the weapon. He lands, forcing off a crowd of Morphlings, losing their momentum. He eyes Helcurt crawling towards him, so Alucard throws his greatsword towards Minotaur, who grabs it and launches it somewhere else.

"Bye!" Alucard taunts as Helcurt blinks out to reach him, but the hunter was gone. Bruno slides on the ground and leaps, kicking Helcurt square on the face, sending him away. Chou arrives and sees Bruno.

"Yo, I thought-"

"That I was keeping watch on Lolita and Layla? They're awake, look." Bruno points to an area and Chou sees Lolita pounding the head of a Wretch with her hammer, Layla providing cover fire. Kagura appears from their side and activates the umbrella, causing dozens of purple links to tether with the Ravagers. As they were pulled instantly, Nana summons a huge Dragon Cat, sending the surviving enemies airborne. Gossen throws a dagger and dashes towards a Ravager and shredding the last few with five more blades.

The assassin throws a random dagger, hitting a Shadowbringer. He dashes and recalls the other swords, slicing the demon with ease. He teleports and ducks as a Kastiyan shoots a lightning bolt at him. He then threw another set of daggers and launched a dagger at the Kastiyan, making it bleed. He was about to dash but Zhask appeared next to the fellow Kastiyan, summoning a Dominator. Gossen pretended to retreat, which made Zhask shoot more lightning at him, but Gossen dashes along with Johnson who was attempting to crash into the aliens. Gossen makes good work of the demon he was aiming at while Johnson crashes into Zhask. The alien commander gets stuck on Johnson's front.

"I command you to stop this vehicle! Now!" Zhask grunts.

"Okay." Johnson swerves and begins to speed up head first into Estes. Estes casts a static wall and Johnson crashes into it, turning back into his normal form. Zhask, now released, lay on the ground, trying to get up.

"M-Moskov!" Zhask called out. "Help me here!"

Sure enough, Moskov did arrive, but as he teleported towards Zhask, he outstretched his legs and kicked Zhask, breaking the static wall before pinning him with a dark spear. The trio left Zhask to utter curses as they changed their focus.

"You on our side?" Johnson asked the marksman. "Good! Makes it all better."

Meanwhile…

Bruno begins to face Helcurt, who slowly stood up. "Oh, it's the cat again. Dude, you really need to like, trim those nails. Or is that armor for your claws? Damn. Either way, I suggest you… uhm… get a pedicure? Or is that called a manicure? God, this is so confusing-"

The Protector dodges Helcurt's swipe and kicks a ball towards him. "Hey! Don't be pissed, I was being honest!"

"SILENCE! You d-d-disrespect me… and my brothers in a-a-arms-"

Helcurt stopped talking as soon as Bruno began to sprint away. He snarls and proceeds to charge, swallowing the light around him.

"Okay, great, Bruno! You've just signed your goddamn death wish. Run for your life!"

Bruno begins making big strides, dodging and weaving throughout the messy battlefield. He grabs Karrie's hand and jumps over a Wretch. He lets go of Karrie and she lands alongside a few of the Alaghat marksmen, making work out of the swarming Morphlings. Bruno begins to slide as Aurora casts a floor of ice to help him speed up. The Queen of Ice spots Helcurt and she encloses him in a dome of ice. Helcurt growls, scratching and breaking out. Aurora uses the ice shards from the destroyed dome by making them hover around her, acting as a shield.

"Okay… Okay, where's Estes? Can't last much longer…"

Bruno then gets cut off by a Shadowbringer. He kicks it off of his way but he meets two more. Even more began to crowd around him and Helcurt began to approach.

"Nowhere to r-r-run."

"I don't know, man. You should've eyed the portal behind you." Bruno high jumps as Gord releases a wide death beam at the Shadowbringers. Helcurt is forced to flee, the ends of the cloth he was wearing catching tongues of fire. As Gord stopped his assault, a Shadowbringer recklessly enters the portal and goes into the citadel. Estes closes the portal too late as the Shadowbringer gets in easily.

It snarls ferociously before leaping towards Gord, but a Royal Guard swings his hammer and makes contact, crushing the demon to a pulp. "Nasty."

Helcurt, wounded, sees Moskov abetted with Zhao and a few other heroes.

"Traitor! Thinking h-h-he can turn his back to us without a s-s-second thought? I w-w-w-will show them!"

Meanwhile…

Fanny stops fighting in the air and descends below, spinning with her blades like a lethal top, shredding the grounded demons. She eyes a red orb floating towards Eudora. Fanny quickly launches her cables and zooms toward the orb and slashes at it. Alice materializes from the orb, her left arm missing. Before she could grow another one, Eudora electrocutes her, immobilizing Alice so that she could not heal properly.

"A waste of potential, Eudora!" Alice shrieks, trying to get up. "You could've done greater things!"

"I already have." Eudora creates another lightning bolt, which Alice easily blocks with her wings, but Fanny uses this opening and carves diagonally with her blades. She then begins to spin them vertically like a saw, constantly wounding Alice and applying pressure as Eudora prevents her from healing. Fanny slowly cries out in rage and makes a huge downward strike, severing Alice's other arm. Her left arm began reforming, and Fanny launched her cables and sliced Alice as she zoomed, landing on Vexana. Fanny regains balance mid-air, shoots her cables to the ground and stabs Vexana with her blades. She escapes before Vexana could launch another ghostly grip, and Fanny began making the same move again.

"How you like that?! Huh?! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?!" Fanny growls. "I can do this all the time if I have to!" She sidesteps as Vexana lets out another wave of dark energy, but Freya uses her shield to bash Vexana from the back, pushing her. Fanny tethers to the ground and zooms forward, slicing Vexana again and striking Freya's shield, causing both her and Vexana to fly off. Fanny uses this momentum to slice her down to the ground one last time before going back up with Grock, barely escaping Alice.

Freya backs away as Vexana advances with Alice, blocking their spells and pushing them off. Alice begins to prepare a blood trap for Freya but Cyclops launches his hourglass with such force that it made Alice have a concussion. Vexana looks behind and gets whacked by Nana's umbrella.

"Stupid kids," Vexana grumbles. She raises her hands to cast an explosive spell but Harley arrives, confusing Vexana with his floating cards. He shoots a ring of fire and he cards burst aflame, beginning to hurt the Necromancer. The ring implodes and Vexana was scorched.

"Woohoo! I've wanted to do that for so long!" Harley cheers. "Hey, Cyclops! Want dibs on Alice?"

Cyclops responds by making small interstellar spheres that rotate around him. It sought Alice and they exploded onto her, pushing her down again. Freya leaps and brings her sword down, but Alice blocks it with her hands. The Valkyrie pulls up and brings it down again, the shield providing enough force to break Alice's arms and stab her. Alice enters her Drinking State once again. Freya jumps off and gives a wide opening for Zhao to stab Alice from above, as if he was pole vaulting, and kicks Vexana as he lands. He pulls out the spear and swings it around, protecting himself. He waits for Freya to escort Cyclops, Harley and Nana out of the way and he stabs Vexana without looking back. He slashes, cutting Vexana's abdomen and into Alice's face. Alice begins to leap on Zhao but Sun intervenes and slams his cudgel to her face, sending her off. She launches a Blood Orb as she goes in mid-air and teleports into Sun, ripping him apart without mercy. She is shocked as Sun disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, and the real Monkey King bashes her skull to the ground.

"Think twice." Sun launches a golden cudgel into Vexana, creating another doppelganger that began to combat the Necromancer. Alice screams in frustration and attacks Sun, but alas, it was just another doppelganger and the real Sun was now fighting Vexana. She blindly charges again and was intercepted by Moskov. She gets impaled by a dark spear jutting out of her shoulder.

"Traitor! Traitor! You will pay for this!" Alice shrieks. "By the time I have you, I will-"

Zhao slices Alice's face with his spear so that she couldn't talk. "Loudmouth."

Moskov teleports but Helcurt catches him with his claws, throwing him off. The marksman regains his footing and shoots aimlessly, nicking the Shadowbringer. Helcurt growls and sprints again, but Clint arrives, launching a steel trap and tying Helcurt's legs.

"Get outta here, man! I'll take care of these little critters!" Clint orders Moskov. "Hey, boys! Let's clear them out! One last push and we are gonna score the gravy!"

Moskov retreats, trying to find a good place to lay low in the battlefield, but everywhere around, the demons began to stop paying attention to the army and laid their sights on him, pouncing at Moskov. He dashes around and meets Alucard fighting a Wretch. He throws a dark spear and conjoins the Wretch's front legs with it, forcing it to roar in pain. Alucard slashes his greatsword inside the upper jaw of the demon, finally killing it.

"Thanks. It was enhanced, so it was an absolute pain," Alucard says to Moskov. The marksman stared at the growing spikes and scales on Alucard's right arm.

"You should… consider… knowing when to use it. I am willing to sacrifice lives, just so you can live for the 7th."

"W-What?" Alucard's instinct made him sense Helcurt leaping towards him. He ducks as Helcurt nearly clamped his jaws on Alucard's left arm. Instead, he clamped on Moskov's left leg.

"Moskov!" Alucard goes forward but Helcurt began to swallow the light, so he couldn't see. He felt multiple arms pulling him away from Moskov. Dozens of Shadowbringers and Wretches began to emerge around him. "Argh, don't you make me do this!" He spins, clearing a wave of Shadowbringers clamoring towards him. He jumps and lands on a Wretch and stabs his greatsword to its back, making him gain control of it. Alucard maneuvers, using his weapon like a joystick to make the Wretch plow through the demons. He was too far away from Moskov.

"Alu! Where's Moskov?!" Zhao shouts. Alucard points at the black area in front. "WHAT?! WAIT!"

Estes notices this and tries to conjure a portal toward Moskov, but Alice confronts him, hindering his travel.

"You will see what we do to those who betray us, Estes, so will they!"

"He didn't betray you. He did what he wished. He has no master but his soul!" Estes interjects. "He is not afraid to die for his own cause. Let him be!"

"Oh, I will, alright, but will they?!" Alice motions towards Zhask and Vexana already going towards Moskov. "I will show you!"

"No!" Estes encases Alice in a stasis ward and phases through it, trying to get to Moskov.

Zhao carries his bloody spear and sprints towards the black area but a wave of Morphlings began to flood towards him, and he was nearly buried in the mass.

"N-NO! M-MOSKOV! GET OUT OF THERE!" Zhao yells. "GET OUT!" Miya arrives and tries to shoot down the Morphlings putting Zhao down, but they were too many for her. Hylos casts a pathway, aided by his fellow Centaurs, but a Wretch blocks their path, forcing them to fight it.

All the other heroes were preoccupied.

Estes, knowing that he would be too far, conjures a portal from the citadel. Gord throws a projectile that splits into smaller, explosive projectiles upon hitting the ground. It was enough to provide a clear path, but the Ravagers responded immediately.

They were intent to kill Moskov.

"Moskov! Get out of there or you will die!" Alucard yells. He loses control of the Wretch and he falls under its corpse. He grunts as he put his greatsword on his demonic arm. He easily carves through its body and shoots a large fission wave, toppling nearly a hundred demons. He throws his greatsword at a Wretch and teleports, racing towards the marksman.

"Goddamnit, I can't see Helcurt!" Miya exclaims. "Zhao, h-hold on!"

"M-MOSKOV! GET OUT OF THERE! G-G-" Zhao could no longer be heard as the Morphlings entirely covered him, muffling his voice. Minotaur appears but was being pushed away by a few Stalkers. He plows through them only to get stung by their neurotoxins. He slows and bellows in frustration.

Saber notices the scene below. "Franco! Bane! Shoot your cannonballs there. The situation has escalated!" A pirate angles the cannon towards the black zone, but a Spitfire dives and begins to claw at him. Saber jumps and takes it down, but the pirate was heavily wounded.

Moskov tries to dash out but he becomes surrounded. A Shadowbringer leaps on him and claws his arm, digging into his skin. He charges his spear with his free arm but Zhask blasts him with a lightning bolt, pushing him to the ground. Vexana creates another explosive trap which detonates on Moskov.

"Urgh… C-Can't… Mo-o-ove…" Moskov mutters. He tries to stand but the Dominator's laser pushes him back down. Helcurt pounces on him and hacks him mercilessly.

"Y-Y-Y-You are a disgrace t-t-t-to us! Y-Y-You side w-w-with them?!" The Shadowbringer uses his tail and injects Moskov with poison. And no, not just any poison.

It's the one that kills.

"I side… with… myself."

"Then you leave us no choice," Vexana answers. She casts an explosive spell as Helcurt stings Moskov even more.

"No matter what happens… I will understand you."

Meanwhile, the Morphling mass covering Zhao began to glow. Miya sees this and becomes worried. "Z-Zhao?!"

She frantically looks around. "H-Help! SOMEONE! ZHAO IS STUCK!"

"I will always be your brother from another mother, Skov."

"Balmond! Zhao is trapped!" Miya tells the orc. He swings his axe and tries to hack it down, but it was no use. The Morphlings appear faster than them killing the mass.

"I promised you and many others. I won't let you down."

Alice breaks free from the stasis ward and combats Estes, who brings Argus out from the citadel through a portal. The fallen angel flies towards Moskov but was surrounded by Spitfires and Hellbats. He slices through the demonic flock, hoping to reach it in time. The cerulean protodrake flies with him, coating the sky with black fire, giving more space.

"Z-Zhao… I'm s-s-sorry…"

"NO! MOSKOV!" Argus calls out. "DON'T YOU GIVE UP ON US! WE'RE COMING!" He could see Moskov being pummeled, Helcurt injecting more poison, surprised by the marksman's resilience.

"Moskov…"

Hylos could hear a cry from within the mass of Morphlings. A ray of light began to form above it.

"-OV! MOSKOV!"

"We are brothers in arms. And no one…

Can tell us otherwise."

The Morphlings exploded, turning into ash. Alucard sees a hologram of a dragon descending towards the mass as Zhao began to run with unparalleled speed, his whole body on fire. A trail of orange flames left by his feet scorched the demons trying to catch him. The dragon then merges with Yun Zhao, and his armor began to… grow.

Silver and gold bits of armor slowly formed, creating an overlapping pattern of intricate detail. The shoulderguards became larger, arcing into spikes similar to that of a claw. Zhao's helmet became bigger, following the same armor pattern, while his spear grew gold trimmings and accents, and bore a fiery aura that drove the demons away. But he doesn't seem to notice it as he ran desperately.

"DON'T… YOU DARE… TOUCH HIM!"

He jumps, angling himself to stab the unawares Alice. Zhao successfully pierces her abdomen and his spear bursts into flames. Alice screams in pain, flailing her arms, as if… the fire was actually hurting her. Zhao proceeds to carve through the Ravagers and Morphlings fixated on him, like a sickle to wheat. He didn't mind Alice's body that was flailing around on the tip of his spear. He encounters a Wretch that was stampeding at him. Zhao jumps at it and corkscrews through its mouth, and in a flash, bursts from the other end of the Wretch, the monster burning into ash. He slashes at a Stalker one last time before Alice could free herself from his spear, and her scarred body flies like a meteor through the black zone. Vexana, Zhask and Helcurt stops torturing Moskov and sees her body lying a few yards from them.

"V-V-V-VEXANAAAAA!" Alice wailed. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS! IT BURNS, HELP MEEEE!"

Vexana looked to the opposite direction and saw Zhao staring at them, his eyes literally burning.

"Moskov… what have they done to you?!"

He didn't say a word as he rushed through them. Zhask, panicking, summons a Dominator in front of him, which immediately shot its lightning bolt at Zhao. He deflects the beam by spinning his spear around, creating a shield. Zhask makes the Dominator grow larger, further focusing the beam. Zhao screams in rage as he stopped blocking and took the full force of the beam. He ran unimpeded to Zhask and swung his spear, whacking him to Vexana who was trying to create an entrapment spell. The end of the spear touched the ground and made golden sparks as Zhao set his eyes on Helcurt.

"This p-p-p-power… IMPOSSIBLE!"

Helcurt swallowed the light again and tries to escape, but Zhao throws his spear and impales Helcurt's shoulderblade to the ground. The demon howls, trying to use his free arm to get the spear off, but it was too late. Zhao pulls the spear (while dragging Helcurt with it, like barbecue) and forces it upward, splitting the Shadowbringer's top half into two. As the wound regenerated, Zhao stabs Helcurt's leg and nails it to the rocky ground. Helcurt screams in a garbled voice as Zhao punches his face to the ground with his flaming fists in quick succession, rivaling Chou.

"LISTEN HERE… SCUMBAG!" Zhao began, connecting his fist into Helcurt's chest, searing it. "DON'T… YOU DARE… HURT. MY. FRIENDS! YOU HEAR ME?!"

With every word was a strike. Zhao stands up and slams his pointed boot on Helcurt. He lifts his leg swiftly, pulling Helcurt along with it. The Shadowbringer tries to claw at Zhao's armor, but his arms began to char from the flames. The spearman pulls Helcurt's body off and chucks it to a rock. Before Helcurt could stand, Yun hurriedly grabs his spear and stabs the demon again, cracking the rock. He punches the Shadowbringer's face into a bloody pulp. Helcurt groans, weak and battered as Zhao continued on his assault.

"T-Too… S-S-S-Strong… M-My L-Lord…"

Zhao gets yanked by Vexana with her grip but he breaks free from the bonds almost instantaneously. He recalls the spear back to him as he swung it around. The necromancer tries to create a shield but it breaks immediately. The spearman cuts her legs off, and Vexana shrieks.

"NO! THIS IS NOT-"

Zhao didn't let her finish as he stomps her face before stabbing her right eye out. He yells in rage as he drags the spear, cutting the ground with Vexana in tow.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH THEM EVER AGAIN!" He throws her towards Helcurt and the two collided, collapsing to the ground. Zhask hastily summons another Dominator but Alpha arrives, shooting Zhask down with Beta. Argus kills the Dominator and anchors himself towards the alien commander. A few Kastiyans appear but Alucard jumps in and slays them before they could touch Zhao. Saber releases his swords to apply crowd control to the Ravagers and Hellhounds that were pouring in. Layla and Lolita began clearing the Spitfires from the air with Gossen. Franco was now able to control the skies above with Bane and Yi Sun Shin.

Meanwhile, Zhao then throws his spear and impales both Vexana and Helcurt. Alice teleports towards Zhao but he prepares a punch, knocking her to the ground. Alice tries to enter her Drinking State but Rafaela blinds her. Zhao grabs Alice and chucks her into the sky to an incoming mortar shell from the kingdom's walls. She falls to the ground, her body covered in soot and scars. She extends her tattered wings and soars away.

"Blind rage…" Alice mutters, wiping the blood trickling from her lips. "I didn't expect… this is harder than I thought."

Behind her, Zhao pulls off the spear, and Helcurt swallows the light around him, now being able to flee as a Wretch blocked Zhao's path. The spearman hacked its legs and stabbed it numerous times as Vexana tries to escape as well. Unfortunately, Hayabusa catches sight of her and teleports, slicing her down. Vexana doubles back with Zhask and begins to retreat, but Eudora electrocutes the two of them. Gatot leaps high into the air and punches them out of the sky, letting them go.

Zhao begins to calm down, the aura around him dissipating. His new armor and weapon slowly dematerialized back into his default clothes as his knees buckled.

"Y-Yun!" Hayabusa began, racing with Kagura to reach him. "Are you alright? Saber told me you're experiencing fatigue-"

"Skov… W-Where is Skov?" Zhao heaves out. "B-Bring me to M-Moskov…"

He looks behind him and sees Estes desperately trying to cast more healing runes.

"W-Why isn't he healing?! Those are advanced spells you're making-"

"There's too much poison," Estes tells Argus. "I can't drain them out. His heart could fail by the second."

"Maybe my blood can-"

"You can't, Argus! He's corrupted! What would your blood do? It could worsen him!"

Nana and Cyclops tries to take a peek at Moskov but they grew squeamish and looked away.

"SO WHAT? YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA?!" Miya exclaims. "CAN'T YOU JUST-"

"NO, I CANNOT USE ALL OF MY RUNES!" Estes answers. "His body can combust, for there would be too much magic working on him. This is the best I can do!" He enhances his spells when he hears Zhao.

"S-Skov?! Where's Moskov?" Akai asks around, pushing the other heroes off. "Where's- HOLY SWEET PUPPIES WHAT ON EARTH?!" Zhao pushes Akai and sees Moskov, and he gasps.

How can I further elaborate this? Moskov is like… should've been double dead up to this point.

Okay, try to imagine this. A body. Bleeding due to many holes on the body. The blood is of a different color because most of it is no longer blood. Your limbs starting to have gangrene due to the poison in your system. An eye of yours is virtually non-existent from its socket. You're missing a leg, and your body is charred.

Yep. That's Moskov. I could barely recognize him.

"Wait, you could barely recognize him?"

Yeah, I mean, there is a picture of him in the files, specifically in that condition, but I recommend you DON'T see it. Seriously. Almost made me hurl. Almost.

Anyway… Zhao kneels and cradles Moskov's body, the fluids drenching his clothes.

"M-Moskov? What in…"

"Z-Z-Zhao…"

"Hold still, Estes will-"

"N-No…"

Saber lands next to Zhao. "Blood lost: 91.3%. Gangrene accumulation: 29.8%. Body charring: 56.5%. Estimated time of expira-"

"NO! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Zhao yells at Saber. "L-Listen, Skov… Don't you die on me, you understand?! Don't you die-"

"I'm s-s-s-sorry-"

"NO! NO! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE! YOU'RE NOT…" Tears fell from his face. Zhao was shivering, tired. "N-No… P-Please… Don't… I don't want to let you go, please…"

Moskov smiles at him, his face strained. "T-Thank y-you… For understanding… I owe y-you… m-my…"

"M-M-Moskov?" Zhao asks. The other heroes around him were shocked, their hands covering their agape mouths. "What d-do you owe me? What? Moskov?"

Alucard, baffled, slowly approaches Zhao. "Yun-"

"NO! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! He's not dead, I know! H-He's not dead, he's not dead, he's not dead, I know! He can live, we can s-s-s-still-"

Miya races towards Zhao and hugs him. "Zhao… it's… it's alright."

"N-n-n-n-no! NO! M-M-Moskov, w-w-wake up! Don't you die on me… D-Don't you die on me, or else, I swear…"

Yun babbled incoherently as he collapsed in a crying heap, Miya trying to comfort him, but she was crying as well. Nearly half of the heroes around was teary-eyed, while the others who weren't hung their heads low.

"G-G-Goddamnit… Estes! D-DO SOMETHING!"

But the king couldn't answer. What would he tell Zhao? That he can do nothing? Estes tried everything. Rafaela was aiding him as well, but Moskov was just… gone. It was too much. They cannot resurrect people from the dead. They just can't. There were rules of nature to follow, only to be broken when the time comes.

Now wasn't the time.

"Damn it… S-Skov, please! PLEASE! W-w-whyyyy?! WHY?!"

He looks up at the bleak sky. And after so long, it began to rain.

"MOSKOOOOOOOOVVVVV!"