The very first thing Noah did was rescind the mental command he had given Steve. The loyal undead guardian looked almost relieved as he lowered his blade, or perhaps it was merely Noah's imagination. Without waiting for a second command, Steve joined the fray, sending the head of one monster flying and cleaving another.

'Even if I survive this, Silas would still win in the end.' Noah sighed heavily. 'Whatever, sitting and moping around won't help; gotta keep moving.'

After wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve, Noah stood on the rock he had been sitting on to get a better view of the situation. They were completely surrounded by a swarm of monsters from all directions.

Noticing the rigid and twitchy behavior of the monsters, along with the assortment of many different species forming the horde, Noah was reminded of the pack of monsters he had seen with Jeffrey, as well as his friend's explanation that they were enthralled by smaller monsters burrowing into their flesh.

'That must be it... so now I'll either end up as a slobbering thrall for a monster or have Silas wear me like a meatsuit?'

'I'll die before I let that happen.' Noah huffed.

After forming the closest thing to a strategy, he could, given the situation, Noah looked down, preparing to jump from the rock, when he suddenly felt horribly woozy and lightheaded. His duel with Silas had taken a lot out of him. He was weakened and suffering from a splitting headache.

'I have to power through this.' At the very least, every time his minions slay a monster, Noah absorbs the essence, recovering somewhat.

Clutching his clawed bone gauntlets to ensure they were ready, Noah jumped off the rock and sent a mental command to his minions. The undead warriors and monsters immediately began to stir, reforming with Dozer as the vanguard, brutally smashing a path forward, with the rest of the minions forming a wedge behind the armored giant, advancing as well.

Noah ran and fought alongside his undead minions, eviscerating a humanoid reptilian creature with his gauntlet, ducking a massive tail snapping at him, then rising and plunging his bone claws into the back of a squid-like monstrosity about to attack the skeletal cave dweller in front of him.

A leathery, winged monster swooped in on Noah from above, who managed to dodge sideways and slash at the thrall, causing it to spiral out of control and crash into a group of monsters. Yet, in the process, Noah lost his balance and tumbled down next to a corpse of another thrall.

The face of the slain thrall wriggled, its maw opening, as a slithering, pink, fleshy worm-like creature emerged from it.

'What the... I've seen creatures like that before! Back when I first entered the Hollowed Depths!' Realization dawned on Noah. 'Steve saved me twice from these things... they were trying to enthrall me. How far does their infestation spread?'

Clenching his gauntlet-clad hand into a fist, Noah smashed the fleshy worm, splattering it on the rocky ground, before getting back to his feet and fighting on.

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***

Silas observed Noah as he always had.

'What will you do now, kid?'

The incorporeal man watched as Noah used the skeletons he had raised to cut a path forward, but to what end? They were completely and utterly surrounded.

To begin with, the way Silas had mastered his Touched ability over the decades was entirely different from Noah's approach. Silas rarely raised skeletons, and only when they served a specific purpose. Instead, he fought by shaping bones into 'living' weapons and armor, and using essence to empower himself and harm his foes.

Of course, Silas was the one who instructed Noah to raise the fallen knight he calls "Steve" and set him on that specific path. It's not as though he disliked the way Noah fought and survived. It was pretty impressive, all things considered. Noah was thrown into an insane situation out of the blue, yet he never surrendered. He kept getting up after getting knocked down, using half-decent tactics with his skeletons and becoming pretty powerful for a thirty-year-old slob suddenly given Touched abilities.

Noah and his skeletons hacked and slashed a bloody path through the sea of enthralled monsters.

'Ah, I see what you're doing. The kid isn't trying to escape, he wants to win this fight.'

Carving a path all the way to a towering cliff wall, Noah and his skeletons slaughtered all the monsters standing between them and the cliff. Now, with their backs secured, Noah only had to face the onslaught of the enthralled monsters from one front, positioning his skeletons with the colossal "Dozer" as the lynchpin of their defense.

'Man, I hate the stupid names he gives his skeletons. He gets way too attached. Oh, and here's the one with the original name of "Claws", because it has claws...' Silas groaned.

The undead lizard leaped at the cliff, wall-running an impressive section of it on all fours, claws digging into the rock, before slashing two monsters as it landed and rejoined Noah and the rest of the skeletons.

The battle raged for hours, with Noah darting back and forth along the skeletal defensive line, intervening where needed. The slain monsters piled one atop another, creating grotesque mounds, as the enthralled horde climbed over them to get to Noah.

As the sun began to set, it bathed the battlefield in an apocalyptic crimson glow, soon swallowed by darkness. Then, the floodgates burst open, releasing a torrential downpour that mixed the earthy aroma of the soil with the sharp, metallic tang of blood.

The enthralled horde pressed its relentless assault, uncaring of the losses they were suffering. Noah was far beyond the point of exhaustion, his body covered in nicks and cuts, yet he fought on through sheer stubbornness. Silas secretly infused some of his essence into Noah, as he had done several times in the past, like when Noah and the shark man battled the abomination in the subway.

Silas was also fighting a battle, an internal one that tested the limits of his conviction. While no saint, he did not make it a habit to kill innocents or the uninvolved. He had attempted to take over Noah's body back in The Arc because he truly believed the greater good demanded it.

Of course, the backup plan got all bungled up thanks to Voidstrider, and Silas was forced to torturously get to know his victim, while he built up enough essence to finish the job and take over Noah's body.

Whatever arbitrary line in the sand Noah had drawn, that he decided to confront Silas when he did? Completely pointless. Silas could have finished the job a week ago. The soul duel the two had fought? Like a child fighting a master. When Silas attempted to convince Noah to give up? He was convincing himself to do what needed to be done.

But he liked the kid, he really did. It was such a classic underdog story that Silas couldn't help but root for Noah. He even considered recruiting the kid for his mission, instead of taking over his body, but that would have been a futile endeavor. Not enough time to prepare Noah. No, it would have been more merciful to simply kill him.

It was a moral dilemma, take the life of one, in order to save the many?