3.2.14.4. Dance of the Devil - Part 1

The devil is dancing
The angel is crying
What a day, what a day
A day with no one to share
No one to watch him dance
What a day, what a day

Lonely, all alone
All dies but one
What a day, what a day
No applause, no encore
No one’s able to anymore.
What a day, what a day

The day to end all days
The devil’s day

The devil that is here now doesn’t look like dancing. But his mind is now dancing in triumph on the prospect of killing twelve flies with one swat. Though once a little tailor actually killed thirteen flies with one swat then subdued a giant, killing twelve Paladins in one room, with one strike will be a greater feat. Terrible, but great.

The critters down there immediately scatter everywhere. The Princess of Lore and the Emperor along with the palace officials run through the throne door, and he just lets them. Two of the Paladins, the elf named Iris and the little chubby priest cast some kind of protection spell – ‘Omnigalatr!’ – on the ones who stay. About a hundred soldiers come into the Great Hall.

‘Well, well,’ says the devil. ‘Looks like you are all prepared now. Now that I’ve breached your defense, I have no need for surprises.’

‘You think you can finish us all here, all by yourself?’ says Adler, pointing at Arachus with the Devil Sword Kraal’shazar. ‘Humph! I’ll make you pay for underestimating us!’

‘And you think you can finish me off with your empty knife? Compared to the Crow, Vordac’s original weapon in my hands, it’s just rubbish! Well, though I prefer to be alone, I happened to pick up some friends along the way, to ensure overkill. Transform!’

Arachus spreads his hands and a dark mist fills the air. Suddenly, most of the soldiers in the hall are writhing, shuddering and screaming in pain. Their skins turn blueish pale. Their faces contort, their eyeballs turn all white. Their mouths get bigger, teeth get longer and sharper like carnivores.’

Their expressions become vacant and deathly. They become a great deal thinner like their flesh is rotting. All bearing the symptoms of: Undead Transformation.
‘They’re turning into zombies!’ Andreas shouts. ‘They were infected with the Dark Scourge and Arachus just triggered their transformation!’

‘Good, good, little priest. But explaining won’t change the situation. You are all going to leave this world in a disastrous way, and this will make sure of that!’
Arachus accumulates his dark aura and shoots a big, dark blast on the Paladins! Chris has seen that Dark Disintegration technique before. He quickly raises his shield and shouts, ‘Get behind me!’

All the Paladins get into formation at once. Chris with his Arsenal of Light supplies the greatest resistanc. The Paladins with tough defense: Hernan, Adler and Desmond also block. Carolyn, Andreas and the others in the line of fire take minimum damage, and the others get out of the way.

Seeing the result, Arachus says, ‘Just as I thought. Looks like I’m gonna enjoy playing with you before killing you all!’

The zombies attack! Fortified with Omnigalatr field, the knights and soldiers are relatively invincible, but a fatal blow can still kill them. The zombie soldiers only depend on their brutal power since the protection field on them undeads are automatically dispelled.

So, casualties begin to fall. The soldiers outside the throne hall are also overwhelmed with more soldiers and palace attendants who were also turned into zombies. Roars, screams and cries echo throughout the Palace of Levides.

In addition to the chaos, a horde of winged creatures come, approaching the palace. The tower guards are horrorstruck at that sight. Hundreds of harpies, led by the Archdemoness of Desdemon and hundreds of winged demons led by the Demonic General Tholocaus.

Some necromancers also reveal themselves in the city and attack the citizens with hexes and jinxes. They turn infected people into zombies and add more skeletons from the cemeteries.

‘Omni Skülag Kraal Gehreisen!’

A legion of Sylvanian troops disguised as local citizens also attack, overwhelming the entire city. Now it’s three thousand Arcadian soldiers plus the citizens versus two thousand Slyvanians plus dark creatures, zombies and skeletons. So begins the Battle of Myrcalia.

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