Agosh Grendi laughed so hard that he slipped back into the grave. The crypt was noisy with his cackling, more terrifying than the mournful wails of the deceased. The flinching torchlight danced in response to the sound, casting eerie shadows on the walls. Even the two young onlookers, their hearts already racing at the sight of the undead, were further horrified by his antics.
"'Oh, no, no, no! Not him again!’" The necromancer emerged once more, still snickering with delight. "Come on, come on, come on! We're old friends. Surely you're happy to see me once more?”
Despite the fear of the besieging corpses, Alicia still harboured her anger for the necromancer. With no hesitation, she drew Arcane from Orb with the will to obliterate his visage. "You should have met your end at the hands of Roma's executioner!"
The Barong-possessed knew all too well that Alicia's mounting adversaries was due to her status quo. But to go to the trouble of visiting a desolate, defunct shrine? Not to mention encountering a corpse-loving madman in a dark alleyway? Wisesa had already had his fill of madness across the realms of Alas Purwo and Girah. He had no intention of making a name for himself among the people of the Demon Continent.
"Hey... uh..., Handsome Man with Red Glasses!" Wisesa interrupted. "If you need to settle scores, let me make my exit. My stomach's growling..."
He started to ascend the stairs when a corpse on the upper level slid down and screeched in his face.
Another group of undead snarled and flicked their tongues, while corpses with wings suddenly materialised in the sky. Seeing Alicia with another man made the necromancer jeer. "Alicia, who is this man?" He paused dramatically. "Don't tell me...!" Agosh feigned heartbreak. "How could you, how could you, how could you, Alicia! You choose him over me? My heart is shattered!"
"That's enough, enough!" Alicia seethed, justifiably outraged. "Yer tries at playin’ cupid are pure mental! How did ye even end up here?"
Agosh Grendi clawed his way out of the grave once more, steadying himself. The surrounding corpses pressed themselves against the cold stone walls, as though the presence of this maniac was a punishment from Hades itself, ripping skin and bones. He snatched two undead and enveloped them in a twisted embrace like they were friends of yore.
"I should have asked you that," drawled Agosh Grendi. "Fooling around in an abandoned temple in the middle of the forest? You little brats!"
In response, a potent surge of Arcane blue erupted from Alicia, reducing the embraced undead to mere ashes and encouraging the flames to grow brighter. Agosh recoiled in fear, shielding his face from the blistering Arcane that threatened to consume him as well. A hiss mixed with a nervous cackle echoed in their ears.
Alicia had been often in a foul mood of late. Wisesa watched as she gritted her teeth, her sweet charm and delicate ruby eyes giving way to irritability. Most of the time because Wisesa wore her patience thin, or perhaps she was trying to hide her period. Regardless, Agosh's game was not at its most thrilling.
"Quit yer haverin’! What other schemes are you up tae, trynae bring back Bathara Kala?" Alicia flared.
"Bahtara—what?" Again, Agosh Grendi guffawed. "Oh! That famous moon-eating Bakunawa? No, no, no. Miss, I was just taking a nap in that cozy hole. It happened to be empty. First come, first served!”
"Don't you have any cash to get a room at an inn, freak?" Wisesa scoffed. It could not be helped; he was not allowed to flee. "Damn, are all y'all from the West too 'smart' to do shit that makes sense? What's wrong with you acting all tough with a creepy mask on? Who you tryna scare, a fucking ghost?"
"Young man, young man. I'm not talking to you," said the necromancer.
"Well then, I guess I'm out of here—oh no, I can't! Your goons are blocking the stairs and the ceiling, what am I supposed to do? I guess you're stuck listening to me still wondering why a fancy practitioner is snoozing in a graveyard. Don't tell me, you don't have a penny to rent an inn, and you're too embarrassed to ask a local like me so you resort to this woman! Pathetic mongrel! Get a job! There are plenty of dead bodies on the battlefield for you to collect!"
Alicia tugged on Wisesa's shirt. "Wisesa, dinnae give him ideas!"
Wisesa threw the girl's hand away. "What do you mean? You were pissed at him earlier. How can I not be pissed too? My stomach's already grumbling because you delayed dinner, and now this fucker's hanging around with his other fuckers!"
"Indeed! My appetite for devouring anyone has just come flooding back because of you!" Barong added, interrupting. "If you're eager to cozy up to that mage, by all means, do so. We'll take our leave! He's hardly a significant figure. My Intuition of Sang Hyang Sukra tells me he poses no threat to the world."
"Shut up, Barong!" Wisesa hissed. "Intuition of Sang Hyang Sukra my ass! Stay put in your loka!"
"What? I was defending you, you idiot!"
"Who’s asking, Idiot Times Two?"
"I told you to quit yon wee matching game! I wouldnae want tae be in the same bit as that vile mage!" Alicia interjected. How the Divine had cursed her. Wisesa was now caught in Barong's wrath, and it was taking offence.
The yellow energy form of Barong began to seethe and grow in size gradually. Its voice grew hoarser and more monstrous, just like the same creature back then. "Idiot Times Two? No wonder a humble human like Semar has given up on you, you ignorant child!"
"No, you're the one who should know your place! Do you think I'll love you when you turn normal? You should stay put and only come out when I tell you to!"
Alicia whirled around and shouted at the two creatures, "Ye both are complete idiots! Why are ye arguing at a time like this?"
"Because I'm hungry!" Wisesa barked.
"Because Wisesa's a prick!" Barong barked.
"Well, too bad I'm the prick! Why don't you just leave my body and let me die? Already cozy in there?"
"Is that so? Fine idea! I'll do it right now!"
"No, don't!” Alicia's voice rose in alarm, She crouched down to stare at Barong's energy in Wisesa's navel. "What's gotten intae ye, Barong? I counted on ye to aid me more than Wisesa!"
"Listen, Arcane Woman. As hideous as that man is, he poses no danger to the world! My Sang Hyang Sukra-given intuition says so."
That intuition again. Now Alicia let out a weary sigh. "Now I'm starting to sympathise with Wisesa that it's just an excuse!"
"Even a magic enthusiast like you? How dare you so recklessly judge my work, Miss!"
You know Alicia has a point, right? Orb chimed in. You only save the world only when your mood says it's important?
"Always worked well with me until now! Don't you see the lands are still intact?"
The three of them were ensnared in a tumultuous dispute, completely disregarding the stunned Agosh Grendi. In the necromancer's mind, it should have been him, not the tanned man and the unstable monster. Alicia had taken another, and that aroused his wrath, to the point of arousing the dead!
Wisesa bellowed, "I don't care! I'm done with you! If only I hadn't been such a fool to trust you, Alicia, we would have finished dinner by now, and that mage down the hall would be weeping in solitude because no one gave a shit about his hide-and-seek! And if only this dumb ass cat had stopped pestering me long ago, I might have been somewhat happier after all these years!"
"Look at you! Even after the purge, you always find a way to pass the blame onto someone else!" Barong shot back.
"What? Does The intuition of Sang Hyang Bullshit tell you to patronise me while scoffing at me, huh? I thought sleeping in a rent-free place was more than enough!
Barong lost its temper. It now resembled the Barong infiltrated by Khaos. "You want to blaspheme my maker, but you forget I still reside in your body. I shall teach you a lesson!"
The fierce tiger instantly infiltrated Wisesa's stomach! His skin reddened, and his body convulsed! Wisesa ran around while hitting himself. Before Alicia could intervene, Agosh lunged at her with his scythe! The lass tumbled and rolled away.
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"Now that they're busy, come, come, come play with me!" Agosh exclaimed. The corpses came crashing down. Two of them grabbed Alicia by the arms and yanked her up. Alicia, still linked to Orb, infused her body with Arcane might, and the two undead crumbled to ashes.
More legions of undead swarmed them. Arcane-entangling threads came out from Orb, caught the sparse-haired undead, and flung them into the approaching horde. Alicia was preoccupied with the walking carcasses and did not notice Agosh's scythe until it grazed her arm. The Crimsonmane lass stepped back, and Agosh raised his scythe for another strike, but the Arcane shield managed to block it.
"Where’s Bathara Kala?" Alicia demanded from behind the shield. Agosh yanked at his scythe, causing her knees to buckle.
"I didn't bring the shaman, Alicia."
"Liar!"
"You know, you know that's not what I'm into." Another giggle fit that Alicia could not keep count of. "I'm here for you. And although I don't seem to fancy your friend…," Agosh Grendi turned to Wisesa, who had gone mad from fighting both the dead and Barong inside his body, "at the very least, he carries the Power of the Earth with him, which I wouldn't mind having."
Wisesa was embroiled in a fierce battle for control with Barong. He had not bolstered himself through meditation since purification, and Barong had been running amok outside, making it all the more difficult to tame. The groans of the undead pained Wisesa's ears. At times, he eradicated them with his Knowledges, but other times Barong took over and crushed them with boulders before snatching the leather-winged ones and tossing them down the narrow corridor. Once, Wisesa attempted to leap up the stairs, only to be thwarted by the corpses. Barong took turns commandeering the body, refusing to create a stone pillar to ascend and instead opting to descend and gnaw on the undead's neck veins.
The Patron of Lands' hunger had returned, and its intuition told it to revert to the old ways, feeding on random individuals to appease its mood.
"Stop eating carrion, you imbecile!" Wisesa's consciousness asserted control over the body.
"Stay put, Wisesa! This is for me, not you, because I'm too irate!" The man's eyes bulged, a sign that Barong had taken charge once more.
"You ate through my mouth, damn it!"
"A fitting meal for a blasphemer's mouth!"
Back to Alicia and Agosh Grendi. Alicia struggled to resist clutching her scratched arm so her entire body would focus only on defeating the corpse mage. She launched multiple blasts of blue plasma at Agosh, hoping to weaken him, but it only seemed to invigorate the mad mage's fighting spirit. The necromancer raised his hand and ordered corpses to surround Alicia, but the girl conjured a scorching high-temperature Arcane wave that burned anyone daring to touch her skin. Subsequently, the blue force field reconstituted itself as Agosh unleashed his Khaos power through the slashes of his jet-black scythe.
"I never expected you to be this strong! This strong! This strong!" Agosh Grendi exulted. "Fighting you all day would make me the happiest person in the world of thaumaturgy!"
The sharp tip of the Necromancer's blade deliberately brushed against the Arcane dome. The two opposing forces clashed, red sparks mixing with blue. Alicia clenched her lips tightly against the torment of the Empathy Curse, but she seemed to have forgotten about her bleeding right arm.
"I'll tell you one thing, Alicia love. The remains of Bathara Kala have not been here for a long time. When, to be precise? Since Sunan Alas Purwo sent monsters called Barong into that man. They brought Bathara Kala with them! Killing two birds with one stone!"
"Wh-what?" The bombshell wrinkled Alicia's forehead.
"That's what I heard from them. They've been planning all this, even longer. Well before your generation."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I mean, why did they choose to seal away the most wicked mage in the history of the world of Thaumaturgy instead of killing him on the spot, after sacrificing the life of a Grand Magus? Well, besides the absence of Arcane, it's because the Yawanese don't want to incur losses! Bathara Kala slew all Arcane users and drained Lojitengara's Arcane resources! And because of that, Lojitengara's sovereignty was increasingly vulnerable!"
"You're saying the Yawa bribed the Magisterium's people to seal Bathara Kala here?"
Agosh scoffed. "Come on! You don't really think all Magisterium members are immaculate saints, do you!"
Alicia's teeth clenched as a new wave of undead scavenged the Arcane Dome. "So, you're now doing Alas Purwo's dirty work, too?" she growled.
"No, not really. I'm still under contract with my old employers, unfortunately. They had some dealings with Alas Purwo a long time ago. And here's the kicker: they came up with the bright idea of creating a biological weapon by implanting a 'god' into a person's body. They even planned on using Bathara Kala in the near future!"
The Arcane Dome erupted into a plasma wave, obliterating the walking corpses once more. As Agosh retreated, Alicia reached for the Tangle Threads, but the necromancer grabbed one of the corpses to subject it to the agonizing bonds. Agosh slipped behind the dead and unleashed his death surgeon into the re-formed Arcane Dome.
"What were they thinking?" Alicia grumbled. "Don't they realise the danger of depleting the Arcane source?" With those words, she gasped. "Oh, no! Don't tell me..."
Agosh's scythe no longer touched the Arcane force field, but the blade suddenly glowed fiery red. The air melted and turned a cloudy red. Alicia felt the cloying atmosphere behind her dome.
Agosh's breath hitched, and his voice wavered. His joints moved like jammed, rusted gears, like an automaton malfunctioning. He looked up as if he had been struck by inspiration.
"Clever! Clever! Clever!" praised Agosh Grendi. The wide grin was raised again. "You have found some clues to the identity of my employer. They want to deliberately destroy every Arcane source in this world! Your brain is both dangerous and amazing, Alicia darling...!"
"W-why? Tell me!" Alicia demanded.
"I wish I could, I really do. But I'm not at liberty to say. My job now is to take you and your friend to Alas Purwo. Even if you decline my offer—though it pains me deeply—you will eventually find your way to Alas Purwo, if your conscience compels you to stop Bathara Kala... Oh, and please get acquainted with my latest creation..."
Agosh Grendi took a breath until his eyes widened. Then, a strange babble poured out of his mouth, driving anyone who heard it mad!
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.
Agosh's maw gaped wider than Alicia thought possible, nearly grazing the ground. His eyes transformed into an endless void.
Suddenly, an enormous corpse emerged from his cavernous mouth.
Its unnatural muscles nearly obscured its head, which was nothing more than a skull draped in taut skin. Fangs the size of boulders jutted from its towering back, while clusters of milky-white pus dotted its body, some as large as its muscular hand.
A mutation unlike anything Alicia had seen before. Even compared to the Plaxenin-3499.
And it stretched all the way up to its waist.
Alicia was transfixed, like a corpse on display. Agosh did not bother to introduce his new creation; its presence prevented him from doing so. He all but handed over his staff infused with depraved might. The pus-muscled corpse accepted it and attempted to sever the force field, projecting a crescent blade-shaped red energy at Alicia's sanctuary. As the power pulsed, Alicia's hands began to blister until they smouldered. She almost screamed. The gash in the force field became more pronounced, and eventually, the Arcane barrier exploded!
Alicia was sent sprawling into the innocent stone statues.
Wisesa and Barong were preoccupied with their own battle when the explosion caught their attention. They charged Agosh for harming Alicia, but the hulking green corpse raised its staff once again. Red energy flooded the blade of the scythe before it was directed at the Barong-possessed.
If an Arcane wielder like Allicia could not repel that devastating energy slash, then the distracted Wisesa could not hope to work miracles! Wisesa and Barong were still entangled in a complex fray, each vying for an opportunity to come to Alicia's aid. As a result, when the young lad’s hands released the magical power, the red blade raked through the energy, taking on the form of a flaming skull, impossible to suppress. Wisesa was sent hurtling with abandon before crashing into a cross-legged statue near the ceiling. Barong neglected his being. He had learnt enough.
"Isn't it amazing?" Agosh shouted after the Muscular Corpse had slithered back into his mouth. "His name is Wreckingholic. He can absorb mana and infect it with Khaos, resulting in a projection of Khaos energy five times stronger than myself!"
The corpse mage then resurrected new corpses from the ground. "Now, you must come with me."
Alicia trudged towards Wisesa. She and Orb blocked Agosh Grendi.
"Give it up, Alicia," pleaded Agosh. "Do you truly believe that your current strength is enough to defeat me once more?"
"Even if I die, you will never have me or Orb. You won't lay a finger on Wisesa or Barong, either!"
Alicia did not need to engage the necromancer in battle. She had a much more effective weapon at her disposal—the Arcane's magical flashbang! The blinding light and deafening noise disoriented Agosh Grendi and his undead minions.
Alicia grabbed Wisesa and poured all of her strength into lifting them off the ground. They remained airborne even after they exited the temple's floors. She refused to land until they had flown a great distance away, then her Arcane veil flickered, and they crashed into the forest below. It was not the most graceful landing, but their souls were tethered and their bones remained unbroken.
"Alright, Wisesa?" Alicia asked while lying on the ground and groaning.
Wisesa looked up at Alicia with a solemn expression before sinking back to the ground. "I'm fine," he assured her.
The crimson-haired girl extended her gaze at the dim sky and the silhouette of the towering vegetation. They were safe, which was a relief. The first piece of bad news was that their enemies awaited them in the capital. The second piece of bad news was that Khaos was about to descend upon Lojitengara, as large-scale black magic was about to be performed there, and Alicia was the only Kalimasada wielder in the vicinity. Orb dismissed Alicia's thoughts of the possible dangers of stopping Bathara Kala. An attempt that could potentially deplete the Arcane source and cause her to suffer the same fate as the Grand Magus and all Arcane wielders centuries ago. Whether Ki Semar and his sons' reconnaissance and attack plans would succeed remained to be seen. Alicia was not the most adept scout, after all.
"I'm hungry," Alicia announced.
"Good. You make your own fire and food. I've had my fill of corpses," Wisesa responded in a muffled voice—his nose still sniffing the ground.
Alicia was too lethargic to move any further. Perhaps she'd remain sprawled there until the next morning, provided Agosh Grendi's infatuation with her had subsided.
"By the way, you do know where we are, don't you, Wisesa?" []