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Chapter 96: Skeleton King
🕑 Added 2025-07-10 22:01:42 +0000 UTC“Lucius!” Vivi shouted. The spirit’s red translucent figure was carried from the tail deeper into the castle. He flailed with his claws, but the captor didn’t seem to take damage. It was a jester of sorts, its colorful hat jingling as it ran upstairs.
Endless thoughts raced in Vivi’s head all at once. The portcullis wasn’t opening, and it was too tough to break through. The jester was too nimble to hit with a throwing weapon.
Her spirit was captured! What was she supposed to do?
Vivi’s body still had active ether idling in her muscles. Perhaps fifty wisps. She had her sword, but without Lucius, no more ether would be flowing in. She couldn’t control her spatial storage either. Her hammer was locked in.
A desperate plan came to her. She ran to the right, where the portcullis connected to the wall. The weird black material was too hard to cut through. But what about the walls themselves?
She slashed with all her might, hitting the wall. Her sword was only halfway strengthened as no more wisps flowed in.
Still, a crack formed on the wall. It could be cut. “Aang!” Vivi shouted.
Aang was already preparing a swing. He hit the wall with Vivi’s two-runed sword. It left a cut, but only a cut. They couldn’t enter.
“Take this!” Vivi said, lending Abyss Destroyer. She winced as she handed the sword, but she wasn’t going to save Lucius on her own. “My spirit was captured. I can’t channel ether anymore. We need to save him.”
“Your spirit?” Aang asked. He raised Abyss Destroyer for another swing.
This time, the sword destroyed the wall into bits, leaving a hole. The crush runes made short work of the bricks, as if a hammer had hit through.
“I’ll ask questions later,” Aang said. “For now, try to keep up.”
He rushed into the dark castle. Vivi followed without hesitation.
Immediately, a wave of screeching screams filled the foyer. Red-eyed monsters rushed down the wide stairway. More attacked from the left and right. There must have been over ten monsters total.
They were ghouls with sharp claws, running on four legs. Their faces were deformed and hideous, rotten grey ether oozing out of stretched-out blotches of skin. Carpets were ripped apart as the ghouls rushed for their target.
Aang ran straight into the fray, killing multiple ghouls with one swipe. Dozens more immediately pounced for him. The pitch of their screeches sent shivers down Vivi’s spine. Sheer bloodthirst filled the ghouls’ drained and desperate faces.
Aang ran upstairs, slashing any ghouls that attempted to reach him. Vivi stayed close, trying her best to use as little ether as possible. She only had fifty wisps to work with. Five had already been exhausted.
The Union leader had been strong with Vivi’s two-runed backup sword. With Abyss Destroyer, he was nearly unbeatable. Ghouls ripped apart, rotten purple wisps of ether spraying all around the room. The foyer was cleared of monsters in an instant, and they ran into the next room.
The sight ahead forced them to pause at the stairs. Upstairs was pure horror.
The ceiling was tall, adorned by red stained-glass windows depicting monsters. Ghouls, gnolls, horned animals. Rays of light cast through the windows, lighting the hall and all its monsters in red.
At the back of the room stood a large twenty-foot throne, built of bones. Skulls were embedded into the hand rest. A dead giant skeleton sat on the throne. Its bones were brittle, and its sword was cracked. It didn’t look like the King was getting up any time soon.
Indoor balconies stood on both sides of the hall. Mages in cultist robes stood atop, ready to shoot ethereal discharges. The lower level was filled with horned skeleton warriors. The skeletons wielded black disgusting greatswords, filled with thorns and spikes. The largest skeletons were nine feet tall.
The sight made her want to let go of the last wisps still in her body. Her sixth sense was a total mess, sensing nothing but chaos. Each skeleton was strong enough that Vivi would have required her full attention to defeat just one. There were tens. And she didn’t have any ether.
The cultist mages atop were doing something. War horns materialized on their arms. They blew the horns all at once, wisps of ether rising from the horns. The deafening sound prompted a response from the dead skeleton on the throne.
Behind them, the double doors slammed shut, locking Aang and Vivi into the arena.
“Dear Mother…” Aang said. “I think this solves how my father died.”
The Skeleton King was fifteen feet tall. A cracked crown sat on its head. The crown was golden, but the color was tainted a fiery red from the skeleton’s aura. A cape was strapped to its back.
The Skeleton King’s greatsword was larger than Vivi in all measurements. The sword looked to be made of stone. It looked vaguely like a runesword, outside-veins lining its surface. There were enough veins for four or five runes, but the veins were carved unnaturally and in angles impossible for runesmithing. They were purely cosmetic.
That didn’t mean the sword wasn’t powerful. Immense amounts of ether gathered within, powering the giant greatsword with enough strength to crush a building in one blow.
The Skeleton King pointed its weapon at Aang, and every monster in the room became active.
From ahead, Vivi heard a faint voice in her head. “Vivi… Help.”
Lucius’s voice was faint and afraid, coming from behind the Skeleton King. Vivi squinted in hopes of seeing him. The castle seemed to end in the throne room. There were no doors leading further. Somehow, Lucius’s voice seemed to come from behind the walls and underneath.
Lucius? Can you hear me? Where are you?
She received no answer, and no more ether filled her body for the upcoming fight.
Aang had to face everything alone. He yelled a battle cry and charged at the onslaught of skeletons.
Vivi expected him to die right away. This wasn’t a fight that mortals were supposed to win.
Instead, the first skeleton was the one that died. Aang weaved within the fray, dodging, blocking attacks. Abyss Destroyer’s void-like blade was visible amongst the mess of skeletons. Without ether, Vivi couldn’t see what was going on. But she doubted Aang would stay standing for long. The boss itself was approaching.
The ground shook as the Skeleton King’s greatsword smashed into the stone, leaving cracks. The middle of the throne room was in total chaos. Aang was pushed on the defensive. He no longer killed skeletons. Rather, he weaved between skeletons in a desperate attempt to keep up and stay alive.
The Skeleton King wasn’t fast or excessively dangerous. It carried thousands upon thousands of ether, but its heavy attacks were easily avoidable. Its presence, however, seemed to enhance its army. With each swing the king made, the lesser soldiers grew more rampant, strong enough to cause Aang trouble.
Nobody sees me, Vivi thought. Every skeleton was focused on Aang.
She walked to the right into the shadow of the indoor balcony, sneaking past the onslaught in the middle. With Vivi’s ether aura so weak, the skeletons didn’t feel her presence. She walked calmly past, heading toward the back of the room, where she’d heard Lucius’s voice.
Lucius? Vivi called. Are you there? Can you hear me?
“Inside the throne, Vivi…” Lucius said.
Inside the throne? What do you mean?
No response came. Vivi gritted her teeth. She sped up, almost running to the throne. The skeletons were all focused on Aang. Nobody saw her in the shadows. Vivi walked all the way to the throne.
Vivi examined the throne in a hurry. She didn’t see anything wrong with it. The throne was lit with a clear beam of light from the windows above. She was clearly visible now. She had to be fast.
The throne was empty. Vivi couldn’t see anything wrong with it. No secret passages or buttons she could press. Looking around herself, she couldn’t see anything else either.
But Lucius had said inside the throne. Vivi could feel his presence underground.
Vivi still had a few wisps remaining, and she had her two-runed sword. With the last of her powers, she swung at the throne’s seat.
Her sword cut through the bones, revealing a path below.
The mages on the balconies turned their attention to her. They pointed their hands, and balls of concentrated ether shot at Vivi’s etherless body.
