This Is the Legion, Boy!
SCREEEEECH—!
Akemus, Ancient Undead of the 7th Legion, spread a pair of wings and soared into the high sky.
Right on his heels, the flying undead of the North were closing in.
Their beaks were twisted, their eye sockets hollowed into ruin, and where feathers should have been, jagged joints of bone jutted out in ragged patches.
[The birds of the North are absolutely hideous.]
Shaaah!
Blotting out the sun, Akemus reached his maximum altitude and drew out two more pairs of wings, unfolding six in total.
The pursuing flying undead were struck head-on by the sunlight streaming through those wings.
Crack! Crack!
Their skin began to harden like basalt. The closer they came, the worse the affliction grew, until not a single undead could reach Akemus before plummeting helplessly from the sky.
[Even among undead, there are ranks upon ranks.]
Just as Akemus looked down over the battlefield from the heavens with regal pride—
[!]
A shadow fell across his back, and a flying undead far larger than he appeared from behind.
'To think *I* would be caught from behind!'
The named undead of the North, the Night Watcher.
The creature instantly seized Akemus's shoulders with both talons, dragged him down, and slammed him into the mountainside.
It didn't stop there—grinding Akemus's body against the ridge as it accelerated.
[KyaaaeeeEEEeh!]
The monstrous bird's shriek split the air. The Night Watcher's movement faltered for an instant, and in that gap Akemus tore free and slammed his body into it.
CRASH!
Night Watcher and Akemus pulled apart, and then—no need to decide who went first—they streaked through the air and collided again and again.
The difference in firepower was obvious. Night Watcher's body was being torn apart in moments, yet more flying named undead, each the equal of the first, were bearing down on Akemus. In a single breath, the odds had become five to one.
'You have your hands full holding the sky, don't you, Akemus?'
And watching it all unfold was one particular undead.
In the very heart of the Northern God's undead formation, a female-bodied zombie was shuffling along, drifting casually through the ranks.
It was Erzebet, transformed. She stole a glance around, then flexed her fingertips.
Twang—
A thread was caught between her fingers. Not a single soul noticed as Erzebet carried her thread deep into enemy territory.
'Everything is proceeding according to plan, but the problem is over there.'
She turned her head.
She could see Prince locked in battle with the Third, and Simon groaning under the weight of the Third's curse piled on top of his wounds.
'Will those two be able to take down the Third unharmed?'
[Damn it all!]
Prince spat out a coarse curse and roughly wiped the black blood streaming down his forehead with the back of his hand.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The leader of this army, one of the Three Brothers—the Third—had become utterly fixated on Prince.
Heeeheh—
The moment the Third spotted him, it let out a grotesque grin and came charging in with a reckless leap, soles of its feet aimed at the sky.
[Take this!]
Prince hurled his cocked fist and sent out a shockwave, but the Third immediately somersaulted into the air to evade it.
But this time, Prince had been waiting for exactly that—a midair dodge. With a natural full-body spin, he fired a shockwave from his other fist.
'No way he can dodge th—!'
Swish!
The Third's waist bent at an impossible angle, its rear slamming flush against its back. Prince's shockwave sailed past by a hair's breadth.
[How is that even possible?!]
Then, snapping back like a coiled spring, the Third's torso swung around and hammered its head down onto Prince's skull like a mallet.
CRUNCH!!
The matchup was terrible.
Nine lives, durable frames, and slow but devastating one-hit firepower—Prince fought honestly and directly, and an erratic, trickster-type enemy like this was the worst possible match for him.
[Simon!]
Prince shouted, still smashed halfway into the ground. Black blood drooling from his mouth, he nonetheless gripped the Third's head with both arms.
[NOW!]
Simon, who had been preoccupied commanding the legion, stretched his arm toward Prince the instant he heard the words. A prepared magic circle activated, and brilliance erupted from Prince's body.
'The timing is perfect!'
He felt it was possible, right now.
'Corpse—!'
WHAM!
But the Third instantly thrust out a finger and punched a hole clean through Prince's chest. Prince let out a strangled khugh! and vanished.
The Corpse Explosion was canceled along with him, and Simon staggered under the backlash of jet-black backflow.
-Keerrrriiiing!
Once again, all that remained where Prince had vanished was the corpse of some other zombie.
Furious, the Third hurled the corpse away and began glancing wildly around, as if waiting for Prince to appear again.
"Prince!"
Simon placed his hand on the zombie's body and summoned Prince once more.
"You need to save your lives for the fight against the Northern God later! Fight a little more carefully!"
[Tch!]
Prince kicked off the ground and charged again.
[You're one to talk—get the explosion timing right!]
Streaking away like a ray of light, he smashed his fist into the Third's head to pay it back. The Third's massive body rolled across the ground several times before skidding to a halt far off.
[If I latch onto that thing, blow it up right away! Got it?]
"Got it!"
Simon stretched out his arm and focused on Prince.
[Boy! Behind you!]
"!"
While his attention was fixed on Prince, the named undead called the Executioner came sprinting at Simon, sharp claws bared.
SHAAAAA!
In that very instant, Pier peeled away from Simon's body and swung the Greatsword of Ruin himself. The Executioner fell, cleaved cleanly in two along the sword's arc.
[That curse of yours keeps growing stronger, it seems.]
It was a mistake the Simon of any other day would never have made.
At some point, blotches had spread across his skin, and the hollows beneath his eyes had gone pitch black. He was burning with fever, his breathing ragged.
[Fight separately for this battle! I shall escort you—focus only on command, boy!]
"Thank you!"
Pier shouldered the Greatsword of Ruin and launched himself. Then, in the blink of an eye, he carved apart every named undead that dared approach Simon.
Eased of his guard, Simon turned his attention back to Prince.
'At this rate, it has to be Prince who takes down the Third!'
He prepared the Corpse Explosion magic circle once more and waited for his moment.
At the same time, he recalled the Grand Duke's voice.
-It would appear not all the conditions are yet in place.
Conditions.
The conditions required to use Prince for a Corpse Explosion.
The question of will seemed settled. Prince himself had said he wanted to use the Corpse Explosion to beat the Third.
But that alone wasn't enough.
[Got it!]
Prince leapt high and clamped onto the Third's back.
[BLOW IT!]
The timing was the best of all their attempts so far. Simon instantly manifested the magic circle and slowly began to clench his fist.
'Corpse—!'
Tremble, tremble—
But the fist would not close. Even the circle's jet-black flow felt murky and uncertain. It wasn't the same as before.
Some 'condition' wasn't aligning.
TEOENG!
Then, sensing Prince clinging to its back, the Third rocketed skyward. Joints formed around the spot where Prince clung, its body bent, and then stretched out long and thin like a spear.
The form of a living spear. Prince, gripping the Third's back, suddenly found himself speared on its very tip.
BOOOOOOM!
The Third's body struck the ground, and a hole punched straight through Prince.
'!'
And then—
The will aligned. The jet-black energy began to turn. The magic circle manifested, and the fist chasing the moment clenched tight.
'CORPSE EXPLOSION!'
SQUEEZE!
This time the spell activated properly, and yet—
Sssssrrrrrr—!
One beat too late. Prince's lives ran out, and he vanished first.
'So close!'
It had truly been a hair's breadth, and Simon shuddered with frustration.
But then—
SPRING!
The Third's reaction was extraordinary.
It leapt backward to put distance between itself and where Prince had died, shuddering all over and hopping about in place, stumbling back on unsteady legs. It slammed into a cliff face, tripped over its own feet and fell.
-Keerrrrrrrrung!
It looked like something that had just realized what had happened and been seized by terror.
The trembling Third's eyes darted, and its gaze whipped around.
It was staring dead at Simon—the one who had tried to trigger Prince's Corpse Explosion.
-Kerrrriling!
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
The Third came charging at terrifying speed, jaws split wide open.
Simon hastily tried to summon Prince into a zombie lying prepared on the ground below. In that same instant, the Third's violet beam came pouring down on him—
[You IDIOT!]
With a black lightning bolt, Prince was summoned and immediately seized Simon by the waist, hurling them both aside. The beam swept past, reducing every undead around them to powder.
"Hooah."
He had dodged it by a hair. Simon gasped for breath and looked down at Prince.
"Prince, answer me honestly."
[What now!]
"The Corpse Explosion—it scares you, doesn't it?"
Prince, still holding Simon as he kicked his way through the Northern God's undead, flinched—then shrieked back.
[Th-there's no WAY it scares me! I'm the one and only hidden card of the 7th Legion!]
So it did scare him.
Simon smiled faintly.
"Then one more question. Right after you lost a life to the Third. How did it feel?"
[Wh-why does that matter now!]
"It's the thing that matters most. Answer me honestly this time."
Prince bit his lip and was silent a moment before answering.
[I was furious.]
Deep emotion welled up in his voice.
[When that thing skewered me, I was angry enough to lose my mind! In the moment I died, I wasn't a hero, or a hidden card, or an ace! I was just a sidekick in some third-rate production! Watching that thing grin as it choked the life out of me, I thought this!]
His mouth opened wide.
[Even if I die for it—I want that thing ERASED!]
At last, Simon grinned wide.
"Now I understand. Pier!"
SHRRRRNG!
Pier's Bone Armor clamped onto Simon's body, which had been slung over Prince's shoulder.
Strength reversed hands—this time it was Simon who hoisted Prince up onto his back instead.
[What is this, what are you doing!]
Prince thrashed and struggled. Simon stretched out his arm toward the oncoming Third and activated the Corpse Explosion spell in advance.
'Corpse—!'
KEEEEEEEENG!
Light rippled across the body of Prince riding on his shoulder. In the same instant the Corpse Explosion activated, Simon threw Prince with all his might.
WHOOOOSH!
Prince's body flew at the Third like a hammer-throw, and the Third, delighted, thrust out its finger.
THUNK!
Prince's abdomen was impaled on the Third's finger, and his body stopped dead. Jet-black energy gushed out of him like blood.
[Khh!]
GRAB!
GRAB!
Black blood pouring from him in torrents, Prince clamped both hands around the Third's finger.
'So this is how it's done?'
KEEEEEEEEEEEING!
Prince's light blazed to its absolute maximum.
Simon clenched his fist, hard.
'EXPLODE!'
A dazzling flash swallowed everything. A shrill ringing shrieked through his ears, and for a moment Simon thought he had gone blind.
What came into view was an enormous cloud—and a pillar of rising flame.
Trees were ripped out by their roots and hurled skyward. The earth flipped over, mountains of boulders surging into the air. The undead crouched low and howled.
"Khh—!"
[GET DOWN, BOY!]
Pier broke off as a skeleton, seized Simon's body, and forced him low, covering them both with his cloak at the same time.
RATATATATAT!
Debris came pelting down like a madman's hail. Simon lay flat on the ground, staring blankly ahead.
'Ah.'
GOOOOOOOOOO!
Primal awe flooded through his entire body.
Beyond the terrain that had simply dropped out from under the world, a storm-wracked cloud of dust was climbing skyward in the shape of a colossal mushroom.
"……That's a Corpse Explosion?"
It was destruction worthy of being called the Dark Alliance's tactical weapon.
[THIS is a legion, boy!]
Pier's satisfied laughter thundered through the canyon.