"Looking Good Sis. Really digging the makeover. You gotta tell me your secret~!" Adam cooed mockingly, disgust clearly evident on his face. This caused Elise’s brow to twitch as she howled and screamed like a banshee.
"This is all your fault! All your fault! Your Fauuuuuuuuult!"
Her voice echoed through the cemetery, shrill and warped, rising to a pitch that made the gravestones tremble. The slime of her body rippled in waves, tendrils lashing out and slapping the ground as if throwing a tantrum.
Moku whimpered and backed up against Lily’s leg, ears flat. Even the plants at the edge of the graveyard seemed to recoil.
Rachel winced and covered her ears. "Okay, wow. Someone’s got issues."
Elise’s head snapped toward her, neck twisting too far, too fast. Her eye twitched. "Silence, you dirty little animal!"
Tendrils shot from her back and stabbed into the ground. A moment later, the soil around the group began to churn and bubble.
"You broke my world and destroyed my future, Adam," Elise hissed, her voice once again dripping with false sweetness. "Now I will return the favour and destroy you. Piece by piece."
Adam rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, completely unfazed by the threat. The spider-like limbs extending from his back rose high and arched behind him like spears ready to strike.
"The way I see it, Whatever it is that struck a deal with you gave you a makeover to match your outside with what you are on the inside~!"
"ADDDDDAAAAAAAAAM!!!"
Elise shrieked his name, her voice unraveling into a twisted, gurgling wail that pierced the air like a blade. The sheer force of her scream sent a shockwave through the cemetery, rattling headstones and kicking up loose soil. More tendrils erupted from her back, thrashing wildly as her monstrous form began to swell, oozing and writhing like it could barely contain itself.
The ground split open around her feet, and more abominations crawled into view. Misshapen limbs dragged themselves free of graves, torsos fused with plant matter and bone, mouths filled with too many teeth gnashing hungrily in all directions. Whatever Elise had become, she was no longer alone.
Adam didn’t flinch. If anything, he smiled, slow and cruel.
"Touched a nerve, did I?"
His limbs flexed and clicked into position as he proceeded to draw his dagger, aiming it in her direction. "Good."
Penny looked from Elise to Adam with an uneasy expression. Whether she liked it or not, both sides were technically her family. While she was by no means a fan of Aunt Elise, She couldn’t bring herself to try and hurt her personally.
So instead, she scooped up Moku and knelt behind a small gravestone. Of course, nobody blamed her for her choice. Leo glanced in her direction and was quietly grateful that instead of trying to intervene to stop the fighting, she chose to back away.
She knew that the fight was inevitable and wouldn’t stop until one side fell.
A sudden stillness fell over the cemetery.
Even the wind held its breath.
Elise hovered above the broken soil, her body a grotesque swirl of slime and hatred. Dozens of abominations hunched at her feet like rabid dogs waiting to be unleashed, their fused limbs twitching, jaws unhinged in anticipation.
Across from her, Adam stood tall, unfazed. The spider-like limbs on his back arched and clicked into position, each one glinting in the sickly green light. His stare never wavered.
Leo, having switched to his poison form, stepped forward and with a solemn voice said ""We follow your lead this time. " as he locked eyes with Adam. "Just don’t get yourself killed."
"I’m not the one who should be worried," Adam replied, voice low.
Rachel leaped up and crouched on a broken angel statue, her fingers twitching with impatience. "I call the one with the spine sticking out of its mouth. Looks like a real charmer."
Crystal moved with quiet precision to the center of the group. Her sword was drawn, her posture protective. She stood between Aria and Lily, ready to intercept anything that got too close.
Aria stepped forward with her eyes closed and took a deep breath. She opened her mouth, and a single note filled the air. It was soft at first, almost gentle, but it carried weight. The melody rippled through the air and sank into their bones.
Tension faded. Strength replaced it. Their focus sharpened, breath deepened, limbs steadied.
Greg stepped up and flexed one arm. Silver metal erupted over his forearm and encased his fist in jagged armor. He slammed it into a stone marker beside him. It cracked in two. He pointed to the right. "I’ll hold that side."
Lily stood still, watching the horrors gather like an oncoming tide. She gently stroked the egg in her arms briefly before putting it back in her inventory for the moment and drew her gun, aiming it at Elise herself.
Elise lifted a hand, and slime dripped from her claws. Her lips curved into a wide, cracked smile. "Kill them."
The monsters charged.
Adam was the first to move.
He launched forward and drove his limbs into the nearest creature, impaling it through the chest and hurling it into a pile of broken bones. The impact shattered a mausoleum wall.
Leo opened fire. His pistols barked in rhythm, one after the other. Bullets slammed into twisted flesh and bone, knocking limbs aside and blasting apart skulls. Every shot was clean as he moved with grace.
Rachel dropped down like a missile and stabbed her staff into a creature’s head, riding its collapsing body to the ground before springing up again.
Greg grew into his largest form and met a heavy, lumbering horror with a punch that caved in half its face. The metal around his fist sparked from the force, but he didn’t slow.
Crystal moved like water, dancing between limbs and teeth. Her blade flashed in tight arcs, slicing through sinew and bone with surgical precision.
Her voice shifted to a higher tone. The new note shimmered in the air, pushing her team forward with invisible force.
The new note from Aria echoed like a bell, piercing through the cacophony of snarls and screeches. A faint shimmer wrapped around the party, a warm pulse of energy that dulled pain and sharpened instinct. Her voice was their anchor.
Penny peeked over the gravestone, her breath caught in her throat. Even with the fight raging around her, her eyes were drawn to Elise, who remained suspended above the battlefield. Her form was constantly shifting, the slime writhing around her like it had a will of its own. The creatures she summoned kept coming. Crawling. Slithering. Rising.
It was a perfect example of a small group facing an army