Matsui peered up uncertainly at the cemetery's imposing iron gates looming from the mist. She clasped her staff tighter, breath fogging in the chill air. Their surroundings lay obscured behind swirling banks of fog that muffled sound and formed endless phantom shapes. They had entered the land of the dead on their desperate last hunt for the undead's queen.
Passing among the silent headstones, Matsui strained every sense, trying to pierce the veil enshrouding them. But only whispers danced playfully on the breeze, fading whenever she turned towards their source. Whatever unknown threats lurked nearby, the vaporous shroud kept them concealed, and her nerves on edge.
From his aerial vantage, Dorki said, "My magical senses are clouded in this fog. But remain alert together, and no darkness can overwhelm your light." His confidence lifted Matsui's spirit. United, she believed nothing could stand against them, no matter how dire their quest seemed.
When her legs threatened to give out beneath her, Matsui directed them to a barren tree, its gnarled branches clawing upward as if trying to grasp free of its earthly tomb. They slumped gratefully at its base, every muscle screaming and victory still seeming so far off. How much further could they go?
Rations had dwindled to a few stale crackers and some water. But their growling stomachs relished the meager crumbs, reminding Matsui of simpler times camping with family what now felt like lifetimes ago. Matsui never imagined how dearly she would cherish the mundane moments of carefree days beneath the dazzling stars when they were gone.
Across from her, Reira chuckled wearily. "Gotta admit, I never pictured us crazy zombie slayers chilling in a graveyard when this weirdness started. We're like a cheesy metal album cover now." Her weak attempt at levity lifted the gloom slightly.
"If we ever get out of this, I'm so done with horror crap," Jayla added around mouthfuls. "No more movies, costumes, haunted houses...none of it!" She mimed retching dramatically, eliciting tired laughter from the group. Matsui was grateful for her friends' persevering humor against hopeless odds.
As they ate, she asked on impulse, "So...what does everyone want to do after?" She needed to envision their lives beyond this nightmare. Her question sparked longing looks all around.
"For me, I'm gonna be a bestselling author," Matsui declared first. Images filled her mind's eye - book tours, readings, her words cherished, and changing lives. She hoped now her own insignificant life could help shape that dream world.
Reira ignited a weak flame, making it dance across her fingers. "I'll be a rockstar, sell out stadiums and go platinum." Her fiery passion for music could inspire the masses, Matsui believed.
Jayla mimed a jump shot. "WNBA star, baby! Gonna be schooling chumps on the court." Matsui knew of her skills securing glory.
They turned expectantly to Dorki. The creature tilted his head, contemplating. "My only purpose is aiding the forces of good across the multiverse. But doing so brings me… contentment." His race's emotions worked differently, but Matsui sensed true nobility in his calling.
Together, they sat in contemplative silence for a time - three dreamers and one eternal sentinel keeping watch against the dark. Matsui tucked this memory close to her heart, a talisman against despair. Soon they would have to move again into shadow, but right now, they had each other. And that was enough for her.
Of course, the creeping shadows rarely left well enough alone. Around them, forlorn moans crept from the mist, accompanied by shambling silhouettes. Matsui forced her exhausted body upright, every movement protesting bitterly. But she called on more strength, enough for whatever this place still demanded. And beside her brave comrades, she knew they would face the unknown as always - united against overwhelming odds.
From the swirling mists, decrepit forms emerged snarling, decayed fingers grasping hungrily. Matsui leaped to her feet, muscles protesting and magic sluggishly rising to her call. They were in no shape for this fight, but surrender wasn't an option with so much at stake.
"Stay on the move. Don't let them surround us!" she shouted to the others. Running felt beyond her depleted body, but she pushed past the fiery pain, blasting through corpses at every turn. Tombs and monuments flashed past in a blur of gray granite.
At one point, she glimpsed Reira grappling fiercely to dislodge a zombie that had crawled halfway out of its disturbed grave. "Get off, you lazybones!" the fiery girl yelled, bashing its head in with a shovel lying nearby. "Have some respect for the dead!"
Despite their dire situation, Matsui managed a choked laugh at her friend's fury at being taken out on the troublesome undead. Reira's disgusted outrage echoed her sentiments. They might defile this sacred ground simply by being here, but darker powers had made for them the choice. All they could do was survive.
Darting behind a massive stone monk, Matsui placed her hand on its weathered foot. Silently, she prayed for forgiveness from any restless spirits or gods upset by their violent trespass. Dorki had said her light could purify even the grimmest darkness. She had to believe that was still true.
With each passing minute, Matsui's strikes came slower, ice crystals weak and half-formed. Their exhaustion was finally catching up. As Jayla avoided a swipe from a mangled zombie child and Reira burned out, Matsui knew they had to get off the open ground immediately.
Scanning around desperately, she spotted a small shrine just off the path. "The temple, hurry!" she rasped. They battered their way inside the cramped building, dropping a heavy beam across the entrance behind them. In the dusty dark, Matsui finally collapsed against the concrete wall, every shallow breath stoking the fire in her lungs.
For untold minutes, the only sound was their ragged breathing slowly steadying. In the silence, Matsui noticed tombstones visible through dusty windows. She felt disturbingly like an animal darting down the foxhole away from the starving predator outside. And still not wholly safe.
A soft moan pierced the heavy air, freezing Matsui's blood. She saw Reira and Jayla's outlines tense, weapons raised against the enveloping darkness. Matsui clenched her staff tighter, ice crystals spreading across the smooth wood. They were not alone in this place of the dead.
Another moan, even nearer, seemed to come from directly behind them. Whirling desperately, Matsui strained for any sign of the noise's source. But the shadows yielded nothing.
She pressed back against the altar behind her, fear rising in tandem with shame at letting panic overwhelm her resolve. They had survived every horror somehow. She recited that litany internally like a prayer as the shuffling presence drew closer through the concealing gloom. All lost. It couldn't ever be, not while their lights still flickered faithfully against hungry darkness.
Matsui's shallow breaths echoed in the cramped shrine, matching the pounding tempo of her heart. The inky darkness revealed nothing, but she could hear shuffling growing closer, accompanied by groans that turned her blood to ice. They needed light now.
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"Dorki, can you produce a flare?" she whispered urgently. But before the creature could respond, a whoosh sliced the air, followed immediately by a fiery impact on them. Matsui dove aside instinctively as her friends scrambled away from the magical explosion.
"Take cover!" she yelled, stomach sinking. Something out there could wield deadly magic against them, and they remained blindsighted. They had to regain some control quickly, or the next attack would finish them.
Crawling along the wall, Matsui blinked rapidly, willing her vision to cut through the veiling shadows. The groans and shuffling continued random patterns, thwarting efforts to pinpoint their pursuer. Then Reira cried out in discovery.
"Candles, I've got candles here!" A spark flashed nearby as Reira lit the makeshift wicks, wreathing the small shrine chamber in a flickering amber glow. Matsui sagged in relief, able to see her companions at least. Jayla gave her a fierce grin, electricity dancing around her fist.
As her eyes adjusted to the gentle lighting, Matsui took in their surroundings - bare concrete walls surrounded by storage cases containing small shrine relics. In the chamber's center, an enormous Buddha statue loomed, gazing benevolently down at them. But no attacker waited within the still sanctuary.
Focused fully on tracing any sound's origin, Matsui almost overlooked the shadow plummeting from the ceiling directly overhead. "Look out!" she cried in warning, bringing up her staff. But the zombie monk had already landed nimbly between them, crouched low like a leopard eying cornered prey.
Matsui stared in dismay at the decaying Buddhist uniform hanging from the corpse's skeletal frame. A conical straw hat sat askance atop leathery flesh barely clinging to bone. Strange energy seemed to radiate from the scroll clutched in its clawed hands. They faced no mindless zombie, but some undead agent of Revena herself.
Before Matsui could shout a warning, the monk had begun feverishly chanting the cryptic syllables adorning the tattered scroll. To her shock, the inked characters flared with a spectral fire that coalesced around the zombie's free hand. With a bellow, it flung the concentrated blaze toward the girls.
Only swift reflexes saved them from immolation as the explosion impacted the chamber wall, sending aged relics flying in every direction. Rolling back to her feet, Matsui now understood the genuine threat they faced. "It's using magic!" she yelled. "Revena's enhanced it somehow - be ready!"
On cue, the monk resumed its mystical assault, blasting flames and lightning around the cramped space. The girls fled from point to point, ducking behind storage cases and marble statues. But the attacks kept coming relentlessly, fueled by endless undead stamina.
"We've got to disable that goddamn scroll!" Reira managed between desperate leaps, away from a bolt of energy. But getting near enough to act seemed impossible for certain death, hounding their every step. This foe leveraged all advantages of the environment against them.
Matsui's thoughts raced as she analyzed the patterns of assault and any openings. If they could just coordinate distraction and attack... her eyes fell upon the giant Buddha overlooking the chaos. That was it! "I've got a plan. Follow my lead!" she shouted.
Trusting her friends to act in sync, Matsui rolled into the open, directly facing the zombie monk as it prepared a mighty spell. As expected, the attack surged straight at her - along with a massive chunk of ceiling torn loose by Jayla's lightning.
While the monk flinched from the debris at the last second, Matsui hurled an icy blast at the ancient statue looming over them both. The Buddha teetered under the freeze ray's impact before crashing directly atop the zombie in a cloud of plaster.
Not hesitating, Reira raced in to snatch the magic scroll from its crumbled hands. Lighting it aflame, she then roasted the trapped creature until only ashes and potent smoke remained. Silence slowly settled over the ravaged shrine interior as the last candle flickered out.
Stepping over smoldering debris, Matsui embraced her exhausted friends tightly. Though only a minor victory, each small light they preserved was a worthy feat. And together, their hopeful beacons remained undimmed even against swelling darkness.
*****
Leaving the cemetery's hallowed ground, the girls finally passed through wrought-iron gates back into the city street. Matsui blinked against the sudden sunlight breaking through the overhead clouds, breathing a sigh of relief. The persistent fog had always unsettled her, its swirling opacity obscuring any threats lurking nearby.
Glancing around the quiet block, she spotted a deserted parking lot across from a public library. In the distance, the skyscrapers of downtown beckoned them onward. Seeing no immediate dangers, Matsui led the group toward an idling sedan, hoping to rest briefly after their battle against the undead monk.
Slumping gratefully onto the car's dusty hood, the girls caught their breath and regained strength seeping back into depleted muscles. Matsui massaged her aching shoulder, wincing as pain radiated down from the healed joint. They had survived another paranormal trial but at a grueling cost.
Tilting her head back, Matsui took in the towering skyscrapers looming closer now that the sky had cleared. But the relief instantly turned to dread in her gut. High above, the ominous vortex still churned malevolently among the clouds. She sat up sharply, dread chilling her blood.
"Hey, you guys seeing this?" Jayla pointed up urgently. Matsui followed her gaze to see a shadowy shape emerging from the vortex's center. The spectral figure glided unhurriedly towards the soaring KTNN News Station tower. Without question, it was the dark queen herself.
"Revena." Matsui's voice was barely a whisper. After endless searching, their target had drifted right to them at the eleventh hour. Locking eyes with her friends, she knew a desperate purpose flooded them all. They had to reach Revena before she slipped away again.
Forsaking rest, the girls charged down debris-strewn streets toward the imposing high-rise. Around them, rotting arms flailed from alleyways and broken windows, but their attacks barely slowed the group's panicked race. Nothing could deter them from their goal now.
Skirting an overturned bus leaking noxious fumes, the lavish station lobby appeared before them at last. Matsui flung open the gleaming glass doors, stumbling over the moldering receptionist, grasping hungrily at them from behind her ornate desk.
"No stopping, go!" Reira commanded, blasting the staggering lobby corpses aside. Days ago, the once-lavish interior would have awed Matsui, but now it was just another blood-spattered tomb. All that mattered was the elevator ahead.
Slamming her fist on the highest button, Reira unleashed fiery pulses around the cramped carriage, incinerating cadavers piling around their feet. Matsui eyed the rising floor numbers tensely, willing the mechanism to ascend faster.
When the doors finally slid open, the scene awaiting was one of the newly wrought chaos. A palatial office floor stretched before them, now a battlefield against zombie personnel. Matsui braced herself before leading the headlong charge through the carnage.
They moved as coordinated units, powers synergizing seamlessly to flatten anything blocking their route. Matsui screamed in desperate fury, blasting through a zombified cameraman to clear their path. Focusing became automatic, her entire being bent solely towards reaching the rooftop portal ahead.
Skidding to a halt before heavy double doors marked 'ROOF ACCESS', Matsui hesitated, chest heaving. Beyond lay their destined confrontation, but suddenly doubt crept in. Could they survive what came next? Were they truly ready?
The ominous pulses of dark energy radiating even through concrete steeled Matsui's nerves once more. Gripping her staff tighter, she turned to meet her stalwart friends' gazes. Their courage flowed between them, wordless and true. Together, they slammed the doors open.
A blast of cold autumnal wind scoured Matsui's face as she emerged atop the soaring tower. Around them, the rooftop helipad stood eerily deserted, metal railings glinting under the whirling vortex. Matsui slowly turned, squinting against the piercing glow. Had they missed Revena already?
But Dorki's hiss drew her eyes to one shadowy corner of the expansive roof. From around hulking ventilation units crept a lithe spectral shape, almost gliding over cracked concrete. Revena. She seemed unaware of their presence, drifting steadily towards the hypnotic portal.
Then the flaming skull swiveled, empty sockets fixing directly on Matsui across the divide. She froze under that penetrating gaze, feeling Reira and Jayla tense on either side. How long they stood locked in a silent standoff. Only destiny knew.
Revena's mouth crackled like a giggle. "Oh, boy! I'm so happy you came back to face me! Now I can finally kill you!"
With an unearthly screech, Revena suddenly shot skyward, her cloak billowing violently in the vortex's shrieking winds. Turning back to face them one last time, her death's head split into a rictus grin. Maniacal laughter echoed as she aimed a crackling bolt straight at the helipad under their feet.