"…"
Alana looks stunned beyond belief.
"Thats it?"
Serene stands defeated.
she panted heavily while looking at the greatsword in her hands.
Silence hit the battlefield as the town had become triumphant but not without immense loss.
Rolland fall to his knees at aelzia body.
Serene said nothing, her expression darkens
Rolland looks at aelzia body softly slightly smiling.
"You know serene, am happy."
She turns her head slightly her face still hidden.
I am happy that she got to meet you, her whole life she strived to be like you ever since."
He smile widens gently while reminicing
"and… the funny part is thats how I met her. She intentionally broke the law so she could join our order"
He scoffed.
"So she could be given the option to spend the time in army."
She did all that.
Just to be in the order as you.
"I usually go to recruit criminals personally, and whenever ignorant kids show up thinking it's all a game, I'd normally scold them, lecture them, and send them home free. But there was something different about her - so much determination and tenacity in her eyes that I could practically feel it. Even though I knew it was stupid, between that look she gave me and her constant nagging, I figured it would be easier to just let her in than keep refusing her. I remember thinking she could just do some chores for however long she stayed and then she'd be out of my hair…."
He sighed
"...But sadly I was mistaken."
"I mean she did do her choirs but along with that she would train all day by herself and watching our guilds training sessions for guidance.
"I even tried to scare her by making the drill's harder but she never seemed to give up. Oh, when i tell you, she was a persistent little brat you don't even know the half of it!...."
He yelled sharply
Then calming him self he said,
"...But it intriguied me."
"So, I made an entry exam. Told her "if you could pass this, you would be accepted, into guid as a soldier"
"Other soilders laughed and joked. She didn't hesitate she had goal and she was going for it"
"She aced it first time."
"And as said due to her victory i let her in."
"She then also dyed parts of her hair silver like yours, serene."
"And also as you can guess she trained even harder, as if were about to enter a war!"
He chuckled
"She also since there not much way to get real battle experience nowadays, she would go ahead to spar everyone in the aegis guild and she whooped there butts! She whooped there butts so hard that they all started to get slightly scared of her hahah!"
"Then after that she tried me but i made sure to put her in her place!" he said proudly.
"We would fight month and every month i was sit her down but she always found a way to get better she made me happy and proud….anyway moving!"
"She ended up rising quickly to becoming my top sergeant she was the strongest peak E rank in the aegis guild."
"Because of all her success I bought her a great sword during the month of concord as we used to always go to the markets together, she was basically my right hand at that point"
And "one of things she could never stop talking about even with all success was you serene."
"She admires you serene, when you were still apart of the order, she would always come to any event or demonstrations you would do, her room would be full of posters of you.
"So when you resigned, she cried so much."
"In the end her last wish was to meet you serene and she did…so thank you"
Single tear dropped from his darkened unseen expression.
… he sat back.
"Holger and altos"
"you know serene, you would have loved those two, if you had gotten to know them properly… can you believe they used to know as feather fist and hammer hand!?"
He laughed "Ha-ha that sounds like something we would say back then huh…"
His face went serious slightly "your probably thinking you should've protected them more"
"Even though its true, even though its sad. The reality of this is that we couldn't keep up with that thing.
"It was playing around with us, tiring us out and once it did that it started to slowly pick us off one by one, I don't know how it was able to survive my solar shaft or.. Be able get up from that and be stronger than it was before."
"But I know this for certain, we brought peace through penance. That was always the Serenity way."
He takes a deep breath in
"Oh well"
He says looking up
But suddenly he went quiet….
"Huh?"
"no way…. How?" Rolland completely taken aback by this.
Serene looks up wondering whats going on
Her eyes widen.
A silhouette now appeared covered by the rays of the sun.
A single purple sigil shown on its lowers back
"rolland lets get up there!" serene commanded.
"si-"
But before they could move it appeared.
back facing Rolland right beside him on his right.
He backed away instinctively along with serene gaining distance.
Rolland summoned his spectral hands.
Having them at the ready.
Serene at a stance next to rolland.
It was silent for moment
All they could see one segment of its spine had a single rune sigil.
It quickly glowed brightly as it spread all the way up its reformed spine making a full rune.
Rolland reading it *crown? what is that supposed to mean* he thinks
Then bone pieces start to fall down on the ground coming from its head.
Shorty after it stops, its rune starts to flare even brighter as a different rune starts to spread all around its body on every single bone and around it as it turns around to face them.
To show two gaping holes on its forehead both with runes leading into them too.
Both opposite ends grow long forward half curved horns, the runes also, curl around it till it hits the tip.
Runes now branded on it like tattoes every single inch as sprouted from the spinal one.
Rolland read it as it all starts stop glowing except the spinal one.
*queen? *
The skeleton stood at 7ft its ribcarge was wide but it still kept an elegant posture and thin look.
It didn't touch the ground just floated.
Eyes then flare up immediately.
A deep chilling voice runs through the atomsphere
" Hehehe…. "
*Now that i am in full possession of this body, its time to have some fun..*
Flashback-
A soon as serene destroyed the spinal cord
"skull lord!"
But a single piece got flung somewhere far away and due to the scale of the attack.
They didn't see it due to size of the attack.
It landed on some rumble.
Alana appeared shortly
A single segment of the spine was left with sigil glowing upon it.
*what is this?*
As she gets closer it glows brighter and brighter, until she is suddenly sucked in.
Without a word.
She appears in a vast space
"what is this place?"
Her voice echo's
Three black and round souls show up each with a, skull face
They float infront of her
*Void entities? *
Conversating in an unknown tongue.
"hey."
They kept talking to each other
"HEY!"
They stop talking
And turn to look at her slightly then go back to talking.
Alana takes moment to understand her situation
*so i got sucked into to this unknow space… who are these entities though"
She remembers, zero putting one soul into each head after improving skull lord during there preparation phase, and when there heads got smashed two soul without a head burroewd into the main one after skull lord got hit with that big beam.
*This must be skull lord three souls then."
An idea comes to her
"your master would be veryyy disappointed if you failed."
They all turn to face alana in row attentive and ready.
The left head speaks "what shall…we.. done"
The right head speaks "yes..we .. are.. at.. a losing"
The middle head speaks "but.. there is… a wake."
"uh .. you mean a way??" alana wonders
"the King told us..leave it to you.."
"king?"
The space itself starts to slowly fade around them.
"thereo... noe timeo.. noe" the middle soul continues
"we must commence!" he continued
"Yes we must" the other two followed in unison
As they started press up against her soul.
"What! whats going-"
They quickly rush into her soul forcibly making her absorb them.
The room stops fading.
Her body now true violet colur vibrating with great energy..
As she opens her eyes fully a wave is sent throughout the void.
Causing the room to expand in an instant.
Outside
The single piece of bone began to levitate, rising slowly into the air as an invisible force pulled it upward. Like a magnet drawn to metal, it started attracting every scattered bone from across the battlefield—femurs, ribs, skulls, fragments both large and small—all of them lifting from the blood-soaked earth and drifting through the air toward the hovering focal point.
As the bones collided and fused together, purple-violet energy crackled softly around them, weaving between the assembling skeletal mass like living lightning. The air hummed with arcane power as the bones clicked and ground against each other, forming something more powerful, something more terrifying, more privileged.
"If zero is the King and I am now donning this crown, then I must be the Queen!"
She cackled loudly while skull lords' body was no more.
A new skull queen was born, more elegant more refined.
Than the skull lord ever was.
As soon as her body was complete.
She diasappeared and appeared on top of the two survivors.
Basking in the sun.
Arms out slight *finally a proper body!*
She thinks excitedely
Present
serene and rolland stood exhausted. confused.
Alana stood in perfect composure.
The mere pressure of this different skull lord was making them hesitate to even a subtly movement.
Alana didn't hesitate she summoned tones of piercing bones from thin air behind her and sent it toward them
Serene didn't talk just jumped in front of Rolland slashing away rows of them to the slide
Each time but alana kept firing them.
Untill serene spotted something… in the rhythm
*An opening!*
Imbuing herself with mana, she lunged forward, closing the distance to Alana in an instant. Alana didn't flinch—instead, she drove her horn straight toward Serene's chest, but Serene managed to deflect the strike at the last second.
Alana seized the opening, her fist connecting solidly with Serene's jaw and launching her skyward. Serene's eyes widened in shock as Alana materialized directly in front of her mid-air.
With fluid grace, Alana shifted into a wide, elegant stance and delivered a devastating blow that sent Serene hurtling toward the left side of town. In the same breath, she vanished and reappeared behind Rolland.
Rolland didn't relise at first but soon he felt a cold but gently skeletal touch grab his shoulder.
He tries to look around but then a sharp pain hits him as alana sinks her finger tips deep into his shoulder
"ARG!" He shouts out
Immense pain flashed through his body for only an instant before extending her arm flinging him sideways. Blood dripped from each of her fingertips as she held the pose, her arm still outstretched from the strike.
*1*
she disappears again.
*2*
As Rolland crashes into a large pile of debris.
*3*
As she appears up in the air waiting stoically elegant…
*and*
Serene charged back, mana surging around her, but before she could unleash a single attack, Alana was already in position. Her right hand extended outward, blood dripping steadily from her drenched fingertips.
With a casual swipe through the air, Alana watched as the blood slowly dissolved into nothingness. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Serene began channeling her attack, confident—until four deep gashes suddenly tore across her stomach.
I didn't see or sense anything, she thought in shock, staring down at the wounds.
Alana materialized beside her, raising her fist level with Serene's face. Pathetic...
She lifted her thumb—the only finger still glistening with blood—and flicked it with deliberate precision. The gesture sent a crushing burst of pressure into Serene's face, launching her tumbling through the air before she crashed down into the right side of town with bone-jarring force.
SOLAR DROP!
A fire ball drops from the ball in the sky hitting alana.
It explodes on her burning her up.
Rolland looking weak jumps onto building to be level with her.
*i am tired and exhausted dammit…how did it get this strong and why does it keep coming back!, i can't give up.*
His spectral hands starting to waver but still up his gauntlets partially charged runes sparking.
The fire started turned purple.
Rollands eyes widen in horror
Her silhouette unmoved, still in her elegant pose
The flames then get sucked into her eye sockets igniting them.
Her voice cuts through the atmosphere brimming with power.
"You know.."
She lifts one arm up slightly to the sky.
"I always hated the sun"
She clicked her fingers.
In that instant it extinguished.
She then closed her palm with that same hand bringing it down.
The commander looked scared as the fire itself appeared in her hand as she opened it.
Rolland stunned
*How could it take control of my totem so effortlessly? *
Alana lifted her other arm, as she stretched her palm out toward Rolland.
Snapping out of it, rolland puts up his guard instinctively, his spectral hands following suit.
*hah! You are truly pathetic*
Two large skeletal arms materilized mid-air on each side of her, grabbed on to each spectral hand and pull them apart this also pulled his gauntlets apart and restricted him.
Causing him to be left literally wide open.
"ROLLAND RUN !"
Serene launched herself into the air, blood streaming from her mouth and spilling from the deep gashes Alana had carved into her side. Even as she ascended, Alana casually sent a barrage of piercing bone shards her way, but Serene deflected each one with desperate precision.
White mana erupted around her like a raging storm, swirling violently as she climbed higher.
"TAKE THIS!"
She unleashed a massive white crescent slash that tore through the air toward Alana. Without missing a beat, Alana countered with her own attack—imbuing just her skeletal pinky tip with mana, she traced a crescent line through empty air. Her dark energy met Serene's brilliant white slash head-on.
The two crescents collided with tremendous force, power vibrating through the atmosphere. But Alana's attack was overwhelming, cutting through Serene's desperate strike.
In a last-ditch effort, Serene materialized behind Alana, sword raised to strike her down. But Alana had already seen through the feint.
She swayed gracefully to one side as Serene's blade whistled past. In the same fluid motion, Alana turned and dragged her blood-soaked pinky deep across Serene's cheek, drawing a fresh crimson line as her opponent's attack missed entirely.
The blood coating Alana's pinky suddenly ignited with purple flames. For a brief moment, her entire body glowed with ethereal light—even the darkened runes etched into her bones blazed with power.
Alana glanced sideways at her opponent. Instantly, purple flames erupted from Serene's eyes and mouth like hellfire consuming her from within. Her body went completely limp, and she began her final descent toward the earth below.
*hehe this will be fun*
Alana swipes her hand to the left side of the town again, serene crash through many structures until hitting the ground with a big crash.
Alana looks over to the status of the battlefield
*I TAKE MY EYES OF THEM FOR ONE MINUTE AND THEY LOSE? * alana says in surprise
She regains her composure with her tone smug, she says
*I guess its time to clean this up*
Alana swipes her hand to the battlefield and she uses a serene half-conscious battered and blooided body to blow through every person left of the battlefield.
she continues to sway her hand in the air.
Soilders scream as there bodies get torn in half as the serene body flies straight through many of them
Even though she had stoic exterior she was really enjoying
After all 100 that were left had been killed, she whisks serene all the way up high in the sky.
Leaving battle heavily soaked in blood and littered with body parts.
Her body soaked in blood
Serene barely opening her eyes looks down as she lifted higher and higher into the air.
She sighs
*am sorry alcon I couldn't protect viscura, after everything you did for me I couldn't even repay you. flygeld. Goodbye. Sorry I couldn't get back to you. Amanda, it would've been great to see you again.*
As she says all this while being raised higher and higher into the air her eyes start to swell up tears falling down.
*This should be enough to finally deal with her.* alana think as she pulls her hand down causing serene to go flying at extreme speeds towards the centre of the battlefield. *
Rolland watched in horror as Serene plummeted toward the earth like shimmering white fallen star. She struck the ground with devastating force, the impact alone carving out a massive crater in the heart of the battlefield. The collision triggered a colossal explosion that sent a towering pillar of dust and debris erupting skyward.
The shockwave spread outward in all directions, a violent wall of force that swept across the entire battlefield. Bodies, weapons, broken armor, and scattered remnants of war were hurled away like leaves in a hurricane, leaving only barren, scarred earth in the wake of the destruction.
Rolland panicked forcing his gauntlets off.
Rolland forced his gauntlets off.
He turned around immediaelty and started to.
Run
*I have no chance I need to flee!*
"and where are you going"
Alana says as she turns around….
She finally closes her palm on the ball of fire that had been sitting in her palm the whole time.
She opens it, revealing a large purple flame crackling with power.
Then a skull face appeared on it, she then unbrotherly tossed it toward him.
As he ran it opened its mouth to engulf him but rolland dodged the first one by jumping off the building but as he jumped his foot at the roof edge.
And fell to ground on his face.
The spell quickly got to him and engulfed him.
His whole body started to burn as he was covered in this purple flame.
He screamed at the top of his lungs as the fire scorched him inside and out.
*I can't give up. PUSH ROLLAND PUSH!*
So he tried to overcome it with all his might, and he did.
"ugh… I forgot how resilient and strong battle mages are!."
"That spell was supposed, to burn his body and his soul!"
She said annoyed
Crossing her arms.
Rolland lay on the ground on his stomach smiling grimly
His whole body burnt.
"I think this it for me"
*Life was good!*
*but i was a horrible captain I will tell you that though! hah…
Even more of a horrible commander. I let all the infantry i spent so long building and captains i trained personally, die even my own general and now am facing death, at the hands of a mere skeleton.
How unhonaruable of me. Rolland the solar vanguard, dead at the hands of a mere skeleton…"
He chuffed, spitting some blood, "Gimme a break!"
He laughed slightly quickly turning serious…
But damn. Even after all that I still had fun and…
Damn it felt good to finally find meaning in something, especially in a world I thought had abandoned me long ago. Finally, finally….
Purpose.
A single tear slid down his cheek as his eyes closed with a hollow acceptance....
A memory of someone rippled through his mind as a pale skeletal pike erupted from the ground piercing straight through his stomach.
"Oh..." he said blood pouring from his mouth.... "..Julie" he said his breath leaving him.
As long sharpened bones materialized in the air above him like spears awaiting their target.
Alana's voice carried no emotion. "It's too bad. You're only a fodder battle mage. You probably would have given me more trouble if you were stronger."
"Am so sor-"
The bone spears fired in unison, driving deep into his body and pinning him to the earth.
Five minutes later, the commander's form was barely recognizable—so many bones had pierced through him that flesh was scarcely visible beneath the forest of pale spikes. Long bones jutted out at grotesque angles, creating a horrific display that the entire town could witness. His body had been mounted directly in front of the seemingly untouched chairman's mansion, positioned as a grim warning of the evil to come.
"Pathetic..." Alana muttered as she floated down to survey her work.
"Hehe... finally, I have a body. I am now all-powerful—"
Her soul was instantly ripped from her vessel. "No, you don't."
Zero appeared, holding her ethereal form in his palm, a knowing smile on his face.
"What?!"