Marshmallow lay unconscious on the ground, coughing violently and spitting out a thick mixture of blood. Every single breath was agony, as if a red-hot blade was piercing his lungs. But with an effort that would have shattered the will of an ordinary man, he managed to stagger to his feet.
His knees threatened to buckle with each step, but the looming figure of Serthar advancing toward him prevented any weakness. The monstrous creature advanced slowly, probably intent on prolonging Marshmallow's agony.
At that moment, Balor's massive shadow came between Marshmallow and Serthar. The fire giant glanced over his shoulder and his glowing eyes pierced Marshmallow.
"Mortal..." his cavernous voice boomed. "Once again you rise up after being trampled like a worm in the mud. Your stubbornness borders on sheer idiocy, yet I cannot help but feel a certain respect for your determination."
Marshmallow muttered a hoarse thanks, unable to formulate a coherent response. At this critical moment, his mind was focused on a single priority: victory at all costs.
Balor was not Serthar's target. He knew full well that even killing him would soon bring him back to life, albeit in his lair. He hesitated to attack him with his mighty tentacle, and it was then that a purple glow behind them caught the attention of those present. Balor and Marshmallow turned sharply, just in time to see the Goat Horse.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL HIM, YOU FUCKING MONSTER! GALACTIC PURPLE DEMOLISHER!" the Goat Horse shouted with all his might. With a feline leap, the Goat Horse rose in a great burst of glowing purple light that swept over Serthar like a divine deluge. The purple wave struck the monster with a deafening roar, forcing it to retreat and cover itself with its giant tentacled arms. The hideous creature seemed to falter for a moment, distracted by the holy light of this unexpected attack.
"Courageous," Balor murmured with a hint of respect. "Though such a bold move proves utterly futile against such a force."
It was then that Serthar, in an act of pure evil, punished this outrage by changing targets. For Serthar, this strange cross between two quadrupeds did not even need to be calculated, but this divine blow had truly sent him into a rage. If there was one thing Serthar could not stand, it was divine light. And for some reason, he remembered that purple light. Where had he felt it before? In the Ashenwood, of course. Despite his devilish transformation, Serthar had never forgotten his satyr origins.
And he was determined to forget them. That damned Goat Horse had to die.
Turning the horizontal opening that was his hellmouth, he focused his attention on the Goat Horse.
In a dark flash, a beam of solid darkness erupted from its jaws and hurled itself at the Goat Horse at supersonic speed. The impact was terrifying: the beam pierced his chest and struck him square in the face.
What happened next was almost instantaneous.
Fragments of the Goat Horse rained down around him, while the rest of his body fell back in a grotesque trajectory. Empty orbits that still seemed to express the astonished horror of the last moment, a jaw deformed by the last gasp of agony, guts swollen with organic fluids that splashed everywhere like a hellish goo.
The Goat Horse had just exploded in a cloud of blood, in the most gory way possible.
Marshmallow had watched the scene in astonishment. What had happened? Did what he had seen really happen?
Marshmallow's emotions were the most furious rollercoaster for an endless moment. He felt a rush of despair, confusion and frustration all at once, but then all his anger exploded in a roaring scream.
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"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Marshmallow's scream rang out like thunder as he witnessed the hideous scene. His best friend, the one companion who had never abandoned him, had been torn apart in an instant by this evil force.
"No! No no no no no noooo!"
Without realizing it, tears flowed freely down Marshmallow's cheeks, mixing with the congealed blood and sweat of battle. Even though this was not Marshmallow Merson's real body, he could still cry. His mind was suddenly flooded with memories of all the time they had spent together with the Goat Horse.
He recalled their very first real challenge, the one against the Kingroach, that huge, bear-like, disgusting bug. Marshmallow remembered clearly that he would never have made it if the Goat Horse had not been there. He remembered the ensuing life-and-death battle against the Grimgoat, and then the momentous battle against the Mechanical Cerberus, that titanic three-headed dog of wire and flesh, which they were only able to defeat by teaming up with Eldrin.
He relives their heroic ascent of the Tower of the Mechanical Moose, culminating in their encounter with the Novgovians, whom they defeated only with Raven's help. And finally, he relives that terrible time when only the intervention of the Goat Horse had saved him from the clutches of hallucinogenic abominations that were causing him to lose his mind.
With each memory, Marshmallow's tears grew more abundant and the pain more excruciating. The Goat Horse had been more than a virtual ally. He had been a loyal friend, always by her side in the worst of times. Someone who had laughed and suffered with him in that digital reality that, however fleeting, had been immensely real in the emotions experienced.
More enraged than ever, Marshmallow looked up at Serthar, flushed, with eyes purple with pain. Those memories were more than just pixels on a screen. They were real emotions shared with a true friend. He had just lost more than a fellow adventurer.
Despite his grim frown, even the giant Balor could not help but feel a certain respect for the Goat Horse's tragic sacrifice. After all, he had been by Marshmallow's side at crucial moments, and his resolve must have been commendable, daring to defy death itself to protect him.
"Typical of lesser beings to give their lives for an ideal," Balor grumbled in a harsh voice. "Still, I admit he showed admirable courage."
But Marshmallow's pain quickly turned into something else, something dark, something wrong. Something primal and dark began to simmer in the depths of his being, and Marshmallow felt his body vibrate with an uncontrollable energy.
"I cannot... I will not let his sacrifice be in vain!" Marshmallow cried with tears in his eyes. His aura exploded in a blaze of dark light.
In an instant, his eyes were bathed in a reddish light as Marshmallow's aura glowed. The inarticulate scream that came from his throat, charged with vengeful rage, seemed to split the air itself.
Marshmallow spread his arms wide. A strange, corrupted energy began to flow from his body, and a dark rumbling filled the air as the ground began to shake.
"By the Flames of Oblivion!" Balor exclaimed, stunned. "What is happening to this mortal?"
A vortex of dark energy manifested before Marshmallow, writhing like a living, suffering being. Slowly, blackened bones began to appear within it, rippled by lines of pure necromantic power that pulsed with an unnatural vermilion light.
The creature's bulk grew more imposing as it took shape until it stood nearly ten feet tall. It was a ghostly warrior of anthropomorphic proportions, endowed with brute strength, agility, and a constitution worthy of an A Rank player.
"Impressive..." Balor whispered, eyes darting around Marshmallow's terrifying creation. "This worm never ceases to amaze me."
Balor could not help but be amazed. Marshmallow had just created a Super Undead, an entity capable of shaking heaven and earth just by existing.
Marshmallow was panting heavily, sweat pouring from his brow as his life force was shared with the Super Undead. "I must...succeed...for him! OVERDRIVE: DOOM PATROL!" he growled between clenched teeth.
The Super Undead was on Serthar in an instant, its razor-sharp claws slicing through the enemy's armor with deep purple streaks. The deformed creature growled in pain and tried in vain to wriggle out of the undead's grasp. It was as if an inescapable and cruel force had captured it.
The Super Undead had managed to hurt Serthar more in a single move than Marshmallow had managed in the entire battle.
But time was running out.
Time remaining: 00:04:52