Angra holding up its large hand, sharpens it's end's and stabs it into Dragoste's chest, then from inside him it pulls out an item, one identical to the cursed item he used to restrain all of the members of the Blestadrac.
Dragoste mutters, "You really can hear everything, can't you?"
"I was once connected to you all, of course, I know. Now let's begin!"
Dragoste's body starts to gyrate and move rapidly in front of Angra, and Orb, whose body still feels a surge of pain, stands up and says, "I won't let this happen."
"Oh boy, it's far too late for that."
Location: Streets of Căderea-Dracului
Φ Rushing through the rooftops at high speed, I tighten my tail around Maple and say, "Your speed boost is incredible. Yet it pains me to not be able to move this fast on my own."
"You're already blindingly fast. I think you want too much."
"Feeling these tremors of spirit energy has made me realise I am not greedy enough. Right now, I have to admit, in front of whatever that thing is, I may not be able to win without taking injuries."
"Don't worry, we will all be there to support you. We can fight and die as one."
"You're all rather funny people, but that means when I die with you all, I will have a rather big smile on my face."
"I know what you mean, I have been feeling like that sin-." In front of me, a Large creature appears, it looks similar to a Nightmare, but any part of it that could be recognised as human isn't present.
I decelerate Dumnorix, stopping us before we crash into it. I release my powers, and Dumnorix instantly cut's it's windpipe, and it falls to the floor.
Placing his sword back in its sheath, he says, "I am surprised we have missed a Nightmare like that up till now."
"Sorry for that, I will use my sight bet-." As my eyes fall on it, I say, "Dumnorix, go investigate its body!"
He lunges towards it, from the rooftops to the streets, and as he reaches it, we both stop for a moment to search its body, and our eyes quickly meet each other as we realise what this is.
Dumnorix grips his sword in anger, I and quickly feel my hands shake in realisation of what I've done.
Location: Church of the Cursed Land/Nolādēta Zeme
Φ As I hold Abbán over my shoulder, I stare through the door of Nolādēta Zeme, and freeze in shock as throughout the room monstrous Nightmares rip and tear the crowds inside to bits.
"IANCU!" Abbán, beside me, shouts, snapping me back to reality. He quickly stands on his own two feet and dashes forward, despite his exhaustion, with me following closely behind.
I activate my legacy, I increase gravity around my fist, I smash it into my foes, angling the attack to knock them upwards.
What the hell is this! Their was no Nightmares from Blamator inside here. Even if some snuck in, it makes no sense that so many of these Nightmares could be in here. This is more Nightmares than we have fought today. Their forms must also be Bewitchment, yet there is no way each and every one of these people could have the physical prowess to access that power, which would make them around 4th seat or higher each.
Through my ears, I hear the sound of a child crying, and I turn my head where I see it holding its arms out for one of the attacking Nightmares. I lunge over towards it and smash its face right into the ground, then quickly grab the child.
The child yells at me and starts to strike me, causing me to say, "What's wrong?"
"Why did you hit my mommy!"
"Mommy?"
I quickly turn my head around, and in an instant, the entire situation around my body instantly makes sense. "These are civilians."
Location: The Chamber of Spirits
Φ Angra's grip on Dragoste releases, and falling to the floor, I see something that I can barely even conceive as human. Dragoste's body is covered in bones just like the armour he had in bewitchment, but we have far more depth and detail, all around him, instead of one side. All of his sensory organs are gone, with bone sticking out where each was, and his legs have been replaced with a centipede-like tail that holds his body up. Two giant wings of bones emerge from his back, and his hair has grown so big that it stretches down all the way across his back.
Clapping his hands, Angra says, "How beautiful, how wonderful, how perfect you have become. Not only that, but you shared this with 20% of the population all at once. How wonderful, how transcendent, what amazing planning. Yet you should have done just a tiny bit more research."
From Dragoste's mouth a bloodcurdling scream bursts forth, and I say, "WHAT IS GOING ON!"
"Curses are when a soul gets so bent out of shape that it cannot remember its original shape, yet due to Dragoste, you know the truth. A curse is when one's own spirit energy crystallises within their body, and after over 50% has one transforms into a Nightmare, yet what happens when you increase that amount to 90%? So much of your soul has been crystallised that it can barely function as a soul any longer. Instead, the crystallised pieces of your souls command your body, yet unlike a fluid soul, a crystallised soul cannot change or accept new information. Instead, it commands your body to act based on the emotions most prevalent in your heart at the moment of crystallisation. For many citizens, it's revenge on their attackers, for Blamator it's hatred for this country, and for Dragoste. Well, you figure that out, Orb, with what he will do next."
Dragoste lunges forward towards me, and I quickly raise my arms in guard, yet the force of the punch he lays against them sends me flying backwards, far out of the room.
What the hell was that? His level of strength was far beyond what even Gurmand was hitting me with back during his Bewitchment. A simple touch increased his strength by so much, and if this has happened to 20% of the people within the city, I don't know how we could possibly hang on.
I flip my body around and fall to the floor skirting across the floor as I try to slow myself down. As my decleeation reaches safe levels, I freeze my legs to the ground, and then stare up to where I was sent from.
Yet in that very same moment, my head rises bone appear all around me, and I quickly activate my legacy on my tongue, and shoot out ice as I pull my head back.
Though it is all to no avail as the bones surge through piercing and stabbing my body constantly, as they smash my body through the floor. Each bone in front of me, despite the distance from his body, is thicker and stronger than even the primary bones from his back during our battle from before. I can't handle this.
Φ Turning his head to Dragoste, Angra says, "How impressive. It took you two blows to defeat him, right now Orb's body is lying limp a few floors beneath us, though I guess with the sensitivity of your bones now, you should be able to tell that for yourself."
Dragoste's body merely twitches, and walking up beside him, Angra smashes his head against Dragoste, and says, "Oh, you can't even understand me can you? Even with me projecting my thoughts into your mind, your soul is so cursed that you can only act. Right now, all I feel from the inside of you is nothing, a tranquil quietness that is rarely felt by someone like me. So I shall go change that. Rampage however you like, I need to find a vessel. And luckily, two candidates are close by."
Angra vanishes, and Dragoste, without a single thought in his mind, moves forward.
Location: Queen's Chambers
Φ In front of the giant doors leading into the room, Orlok faces a swarm of the powered-up Nightmares, and to his right, Stelara fights the civilians whose bodies have been shifted into monstrous forms.
They both cut their arms and allowed their blood to flow outwards, where they shaped it into different forms. Orlok makes blades and shields, whilst Stelara makes hands, chains, and boxes.
Φ Holding them down, I allow the blood in my body to rush out and restrain them, yet from their bodies they curses start rampaging, damaging my blood.
SHIT! From the tremors and everyone's states, I can only assume Orb failed, and Angra was released. This is the worst-case scenario. These mutations to their curses must have been its doing, and I hope it has only been in this castle. If this is going on around the city, it might be lost, and any hope we have of defeating Angra goes up in smoke, especially if it takes one of those two as it's vessal. Even if the Ministers, Orlok and I were all liberated from our current state, killing Angra with a vessel would be next to impossible.
But right now, I have more pressing issues, which is the fact that these Nightmares are far too powerful to restrain. They have the blood of the ministers mixed in with their on, and due to the power amplification they got right now their offensive force is ridiculous. It's like they have entered into a Bewitchment for Bewitchment. Killing them would be easy, but restraining them when they're throwing around crazy levels of offensive power is another thing entirely.
Orlok, with a tired breath, says, "Stelara kill them!"
Turning my head, I say, "WHAT?
"Have you gone insane!" Vėja says.
"Those are our babies!" Stiprais cries.
Orlok says, "I understand that. Yet we do not have the manpower to restrain and stop them from making a mess. Right now, an important scan is being done by those three by the Queen's side; we cannot risk any disruptive elements hurting this procedure. As Ministers, it is your failure that has led us to this situation, and the Queen coming back again is the only way out."
Veekeeris, stretching his tentacles, says, "Then I will simply hold them down myself!"
He grabs them all, and as he does, the children of Vėja and Šviesis who bear some form of Šviesises light curse start to burn Veekeeris skin rapidly, making him scream in pain.
"Stop being foolish. We need you to maintain your strength until we have freed ourselves from the curse weighing us down."
"Then what are we supposed to do, Orlok!"
"HAVE I NOT EXPLAINED IT ALREADY! Say your peace."
Right now, Orlok has a point on what our best course of action is. It would be best to remove these disruptive elements now, because more than anything else, having the pressure that your siblings will be executed if you don't perform a perfect operation on the Queen is enough to weigh those three by her side down. It must be a lot of pressure, I know what I have to d-.
In an instant, the girl named Elia stabs each of the Nightmares with a dagger, and soon their bodies go limp. Then, turning to us all, she spins her weapon and says, "One of the blades that Orb asked Dumnorix, who asked me and Avram to make for him. Can knock a Nightmare directly out. You see how easy it is to find a solution when you don't waste time being all negative, you fools!"
Φ A wave of embarrassment and relief washes all of their faces, and Elia, turning her head, says, "Three idiots you can stop pretending for the sake of your family."
Ivana turns and says, "We have finished the scan. It is as we thought, the Queen can be saved. We will be starting the operation immediately."