Witchers of Nifelheim - Finale

Kaylee painfully coughed, just barely breathing, as Twilight pulled her out of the water. You heard her wheezing breath and the eerie sound of her ribs cracking, restructuring and snapping back into place. The sound made your skin crawl and made you nauseous.

Kaylee's eyes were barely open, she was wincing in pain, the scar on her  right eye especially prominent.

As you placed your arm under her back, trying to prop her up and stop her from drowning, the teal glow of your Dispel envelopped her body, but the only thing it removed was her Water Dance spell. The Amethyst crystals continued to spread, devouring more and more of her skin and muscle tissue.



Suddenly Kaylee gasped and hungrily inhaled, as her ribs finally moved out of her punctured lungs and she was able to breathe normally again. Her eyes opened wide, noticed you and she began weakly flailing, trying to push you away:

"No! Don't touch me, you'll get infected!.." her flailing died down, giving way to exhaustion and she looked at you weakly and whispered:

"Watch Kaz... if there's a way to stop this, she'll go for it."

There was no strength in her left, her eyes started closing again, it doesn't look like she can keep herself afloat anymore.






Off to the side, Rogue was surveying the battlefield. Most of the dead Witchers remained underwater, pulled to the bottom of the pit by the heavy gear they were packing. But several bodies resurfaced, eerily drifting across the surface face down, one had his arm torn off at the shoulder, another had both of his legs sliced off by an incredibly sharp limb of a parasite, and their bodies began painting the water red.

You can't seem to spot any potions at first, they may be underwater. But after a moment you saw a burst of bubbles come up from below and three different potions popped up, together with a traveling bag. The potions glass surface was completely stained with blood and dirt, and you can't seem to tell which potion's which, just by looking at them from afar.



Kaznachey reached her destination, moving with the speed of a bullet train. Adam tried raising his forearms, using the protruding bones as swords to shield himself from the attack, but Kaznachey moved so fast, it felt as if Adam was moving through wax by comparison.

In a single motion Kaznachey knocked both of his arms aside, exposing Adam's upper body to attack, and in one fluid motion, sliced open half of Adam's neck, opening one of his carotid arteries.



Blood shot out in a fountain, smearing Kaznachey right in the face, making the acidic black liquid drip down her neck and her clothes. Kaznachey seemed to revel in it, smiling and seemingly exposing herself to the toxic substance as much as was possible, directing Adam's neck to spray blood over every inch of her face.


(Adam suffered -50 HP damage)



Adam emitted a helpless, pittiful croack, flailing weakly in Kaznachey's grasp, as the wound on his neck attempted to mend the catastrophic damage, painfully slowly. And Kaznachey was smiling, holding her eyes closed, reveling in the toxic substance that was supposed to erode her. Only it didn't.



It was another 5 seconds before Kaznachey's eyes opened wide in surprise, an emotion that quickly turned into realization, panic and indescribable fury, as she touched the Amethyst formation on her cheek, and found her fingers covered in crystal.

Adam looked at her sideways and all traces of helplessnes faded away from his face, replaced only with fatigued smugness.

"What's the matter, Kaz? Caught the wrong Sinner?" Adam smuggly croacked, spitting out dark blood with a smirk, as Kaznachey roared and planted her palm on his face, casting Dispel. A loud sound of breaking glass filled the air, accompanied by a flash of green light, and the image of Adam shattered like a glass casing, reveal Lightning underneath.



"BITCH!" Kaznachey's face became distorted by a horrible grimace, as the blood on her face turned red. Her fingers snaked around Lightnings throat and the girl began gasping "I'll kill you for this!!!" Kaznachey hissed.

She locked Lightnings neck in a death grip, squeezing it with both hands so hard, Lightning's face began turning pale.

The pegasus, coughed, tried to inhale but it was no use, she couldn't breathe anymore. Her fingers weakly scratched and tried to peel off Kaznachey's hands, but the parasite held her by the throat with a death grip, choking the life out of her, and Lightnings flailings slowly grew weaker and weaker. Her eyes started to close, hands slipped down and fell slowly beside her, as Kaznachey started crushing her windpipe and her spine with brute force.

Using the floating corpses as stepping stones, Thena along with whatever of her duplicates remian dart towards Kaznachey as fast as she can move. With quickness of hand Thena swaps attunement to her chakram and sends them out in a barage of green at the teal parasite. As soon as she is within melee range the God Killer is reattuned and a barrage of attacks are unleashed.

The beast emits a furious growl as the blade slashes across its face, and an even angrier bark as Kaz slips from her teeth. The moment of weakness was only momentary as she escapes millimeters away from the beasts jaws as they close again with a very loud 'POP'. It splashes back beneath the water, A black blood trail follows it as it repositions itself, pushing up waves and creating large ripples across the water as it swims. It appears this thing is just as adept in the water as it is on land.

It circles as the party attacks. viewing the mayhem from the comfort beneath the water. As Kaz takes her beating, Its calculating, looking for a moment to strike. When it sees it, a B-line to Adam. It didn't reach it in time, and can only watch on its approach. and when the realization hits, Circi is already right beneath her, fake dark blood pouring down and clouding the water, showing Kaz's position. In a splash, Circi's manticore blade swings out in an arc, Right between Kaz and lightning, cleaving right through her arms. A mere moment later, and a hand wraps around her ankle, and yanks her under.


Rain looks off in shock at Lightning, "that stopped her entirely but how are we going to-" When Circi breaks the surface again Rain exclaims in the back of squiggles mind, "Shes gonna drown her!" she points to them, the gesture felt somewhat strange in your head, "Make sure Kaz doesn't get a moment to breath! Keep her under!"

Kaylee Brown wrote:Off to the side, Rogue was surveying the battlefield. Most of the dead Witchers remained underwater, pulled to the bottom of the pit by the heavy gear they were packing. But several bodies resurfaced, eerily drifting across the surface face down, one had his arm torn off at the shoulder, another had both of his legs sliced off by an incredibly sharp limb of a parasite, and their bodies began painting the water red.

You can't seem to spot any potions at first, they may be underwater. But after a moment you saw a burst of bubbles come up from below and three different potions popped up, together with a traveling bag. The potions glass surface was completely stained with blood and dirt, and you can't seem to tell which potion's which, just by looking at them from afar.

Rogue wades over to the floating bag as quickly as he can, and goes over the potions one by one, rubbing some of muck off to inspect their contents.

"Can't do that, Kaylee." Twilight said. "You can't even swim. You're with me."

She lifted the crystalizing girl over her shoulder and settled her on her back. "We'll find the solution. together."

She nodded and turned to the field, taking note of Kaznachey's movements. Especially the last one, where she seemed a bit too eager for sinner's blood.

First confused, it then clicked. "Sinner blood removes the crystals..."

She looked to Kaylee. "What do you say? Let's try? Because I will."

She casted The great Masquerade, and began to weave some illusions. Multiple copies of her flew out to harass the strongest parasite, and some overlapped themselves with allies. she herself aimed for a shot to stun him. But that was not all. A very bright explosion was painted on Kaznachey's face, aiming to blind him with sheer sensory abuse. After the initial flash, she bombarded him with several memes per second for that extra confusion. all to create an opening.

Kaznachey hissed and gritted her teeth, as the Chakram began striking her, but she didn't loosen her grip on Lightning's throat. Simply turning her back to the 9 Thenas, the Parasite seemed willing to just absorb the incoming damage, if it meant she could kill Lightning. The girls face drained of all color, becoming ashen pale, her eyes slowly closed and her head uselessly fell to the side, even as the Chakram continued to strike the Parasite that choked her.


(Lightning suffered -50 HP damage, 5 HP remaining)

(Kaznachey suffered -480 HP damage, 3712 HP remaining.)



Desperately flinging the freezing blade of Kusarigama at the back of the Parasites head, you were barely 4 meters away now. And in that instant, as soon as the bright flash of synchronization with the Godkiller washed over you, Kaznachey turned in your direction without fail, as if she knew, precisely, which of the 9 decoys was real.

You only realized what happened, when the chain of the Kusarigama already left your hands, flying right into Kaznachey's face.

All 8 Decoys were mimicing your movements, all of them jumped over corpses and rushed toward Kaznachey, and all of them threw their Chakram at her, but only one Charkarm actually did any damage, the rest were nothing but fireworks. And when Kaznachey turned her back to you, slowly, she must have felt exactly, the direction of the Chakram that actually hurt her, and she zeroed in on you without fail.


As the blade Kusarigama flew at her face, Kaznachey jerked her face to the side, letting the edge of the weapon pass her, snaked her arm around the extending chain, grabbed hold of it tight, even as the freezing metal left frostbite on her palm, and yanked the chain hard, toward her. The whole sequence lasted for a fraction of a second.

And in the next instant, you felt yourself being yanked off your feet, dragged by the chain of the weapon straight toward Kaznachey, and she waited until you were at point blank range, before punching you right in the face with the force of a jackhammer.


You felt your nose break, your jaw dislocate and the base of your skull crack, as the punch connected point blank, reverberating in every part of your body, making you fall flat on your back into the water and sink below Kaznachey's feet, just next to Lightning's body who was finally released from Kaznachey's grasp.


By sheer force of will alone, you fought through the encroaching darkness, even as you sank into the murky waters beside Lightning, sinking deeper and deeper into the water, while Kaznachey remained floating on the souls of her feet on top.

Somehow, you're still conscious, even after that devastating attack. Somehow, you're still alive.



(Thena suffered -70 HP damage, 50 HP remaining.)

(The Amethyst Crystal covers 50% of her body. It is becoming difficult to move.)




(Kaznachey suffered -150 HP damage, 3562 HP remaining.)

(Kaznachey suffered Frostbite damage, her reaction time is further delayed for 1 turn.)

(Kaznachey suffered -20 HP Poison Damage, 3542 HP remaining, she's still affected by Poison Status effect for 19 turns.)

(Amethyst Crystals cover 30% of Kaznachey's body.)

(Her Blindness Status Effect has expired.)




As Thena and Lightning sank, a frighteningly large silhouette swam up beside them and vanished. Something big was resurfacing.

The next second, a furry paw grasping the Manticore Buster Sword burst out of the water and slashed both of Kaznachey's arms, slicing her muscle right up to the bone. Kaznachey bellowed in outrage, as she felt the swords venom seep into the wounds, before she was yanked underwater by another massive, furry paw.



(Kaznachey suffered perpanent injury and -350 HP damage, 3192 HP remaining)




As both the Sinner Wolf and Kaznachey began to sink, the Parasite suddenly displayed enviable flexibility and speed. In one fluid motion, the woman collected herself into a ball, summoned her searing red blade, and as it sizzled and burned underwater, she cleaved a very long cut, right through the side of Wolf's neck, severing her carotid artery. Before the damage even registered you felt Kaznachey's teeth, her front fangs, locking around the wound in your neck.

She actually bit you, sank her teeth deep in your neck, around the wound and you felt her literally sucking out your blood that came gushing out in droves out of your artery. She was gulping it down in droves, hungrily, desperately, in a state of complete frenzy. You saw her eyes, right next to yours, she wasn't even looking at you, she just stared into space with a vacant expression that showed only anger and fear, like a wild animal that's been cornered.



(Circi suffered -55 HP damage, 18 HP remaining.)

(Kaznachey suffered -300 HP Sinner Toxic Damage, 2892 HP remaining.)



By the time Squiggles descended on her from behind, Kaz had already drank her fill, violently kicked off the Wolf, making her sink faster and breaking the distance between them. And as Squiggles darted right at the Parasite, mandibles first, attempting to impale Kaz on 6 different limbs simultaneously, Kaznachey swamp
up and around, mimicking the barrel roll maneuver that jet fighters usually used, and when Squiggles overshot her, passing nearby, Kaznachey grabbed his head and went berserk.

The beating she delivered was savage, violent and brutal. She punched Squiggles in the head repeatedly, then started smashing him on the side of his face with her elbows, time and time again, when the distance between them was minimal. She ran her knee under his jaw, one, two, three times, then finally did a somersault to gather momentum and planted her foot on top of Squiggles' head.


It was the most vicious, merciless beating you have ever seen. Each strike so devastating it was akin to a strike of a jackhammer pounding the asphalt. You finally understood why Kaznachey was so feared. When she was pushed into a corner, a single strike from her fist could split a mans skull in half, liquifying it, caving it in like a tomato.

If you weren't in the Berserker mode right now, you have a distinct feeling you would have died here, at this very moment.


The damage was so devastating that you passed out, the last thing you saw before the darkness swallowed you whole, was Kaznachey's tryumphant face. The Amethyst on her cheek, had turned black and melted away.



(Rain and Squiggles suffered -175 HP damage, 32 HP remaining.)

(The Limit Break has been broken and deactivated.)

(You have been Stunned for 1 round.)








Up on the surface, the water level continued to rise in the pit, already 100 meters above the floor. If this keeps up, then in a few minutes the water will rise another 200 meters until it spills out of the pit up top.

Swimming toward the floating, dirt covered bottles, Rogue quickly wiped the muck off them, until the magical contents inside began to shine through. Two Sanity restoration potions, glowing and alternating between a brown light and orange. And another blue glowing potion of Mana.

Twilight wrote:"Can't do that, Kaylee." Twilight said. "You can't even swim. You're with me."

She lifted the crystalizing girl over her shoulder and settled her on her back. "We'll find the solution. together."

"Twilight.." Kaylee weakly smiled, before her eyes closed. You can't tell if she passed out. Lifting her over you shoulders produced an eerie crunching sound, as the crystals broke and cracked when Kaylee's limbs moved and some Amethyst dust rained on your head and passed your eyes. You don't feel any pain yet and don't sense any crystals forming on you, but this seems to be a matter of time. It seems each time the crystal came in contact with an open wound, they festered in it, like an infection.


"Those infected, on me!!!" You heard Adam scream from the edge of the pit. The boy was hovering over the water on the souls of his shoes, sending small circular waves to disperse from his feet. His palms firmly pressed together, you saw the veins on his arms pulsating and turning visibly black. He's cooking something:
"Hurry!" He called, then almost fell backwaters into the water, as a massive wave passed over the pit.



Kaznachey had emerged. Holding her palms together in the shape of a sphere, with something cooking in the middle. A spark of light that kept changing color, alternating through every color of the visible spectrum. Her fingers were blurry for some reason. You couldn't quite see them. It took you another moment to understand, it was because she was weaving hieroglyphs in the air, with unnerving speed. One after another, she weaved a sign for every spell in the book, over and over and over again, drawing dozens of different ones in a single second, and she just kept going.


As Twilight activated her Masquerade and unleashed a barrage of sensory overload in Kaznachey's direction, the Parasite blinked and a Level 4 Shield materialized over her entire body, absorbing attack after attack.

The doppelgangers of Twilight came off transparent and easily discernible from the real one. It seems the Great Masquerade was ill suited for creating decoys, those too, attacked and were unable to penetrate Kaznachey's shield.



The Parasite's eyes became misty, the irises vanished, her eyes becoming a uniform milky white. She slowly rose above the surface of the water, almost a whole meter high and you heard her voice ringing clear in your head, she was speaking telepathically:


"The number of my enemies who necessitated the use of this technique, can be counted on one hand. And they are all dead. You should feel honored." Kaznachey pleasantly smiled:

"You survived for 12 months, because I allowed it. And now you will die, because I demand it."




Off to the side, you saw Sasha, Zoy and Larsen making their way toward Kaznachey. Almost half of their bodies were covered by Amethyst ridges now, they looked sickly, disfigured, so much of the substance was growing out of their flesh, splitting their skin open and spread further and further in every direction.

Just as they reached Adam, Sasha looked back to the old Parasite and closed her eyes briefly, drawing a sign for a Scan spell. Her eyes flew open immediately and she silently gasped:

"Guys..." her voice came out hoarse and quiet, and you weren't sure if it was because of the crystal infection, as she spoke:


"...Kaznachey's Mana bank just lost 4000 points..."





A second ticked by in silence, before what seemed like the entire floor of the pit had lit up below you, deep underwater. As if near every pentagram lit up at once. Kaznachey's fingers finally stopped dancing and her palms came together. She smiled:

"Ketz."





Hundreds of spells erupted out of Kaznachey's body like a barrage of machine-gun fire, shooting everywhere in a 360 degree angle, all at once. Every known spell, all at once. The spell saturation was so dense, at least 50 different spells were flying toward each Witcher present, and what's worse, the spells were trying to home-in on you.

Watching the Parasite from afar, it looked as if she launched a thousand homing missiles at every person present, all at the same time. The only saving grace is that the spells were flying slow, which only bought you some 3 seconds to react, before the first ones would start to hit you.




(Thena, Kaylee, Zoy, Sasha and Larsen have 50% of their bodies covered in Amethyst.)

(You don't see any Amethyst formations on Kaznachey.)

Circi sinks to the bottom of the oasis. The warewolf is stunned, like it cant understand whats happening, or what just happened.

Circis burning rage for Kaz had burned hot for what felt like forever, but with that single action. The symbolic injection of her person into her hated enemy pushed her anger over the edge, and her blood runs ice cold. Her blood was for her use, nobody elses, she took on this blood to protect herself and her friends to survive and kick and and fight on nifelhime. Her body is her temple. It wasn't just fury anymore Kaz had spit and kicked into something that made Circi. Something far more personal then the parasite or anyone in the party could come close to understanding.

The wolf levels itself on the bottom of the oasis before it crouches and sends itself shooting back up towards the surface, it concidered its approach, what it wants in return for being Kaz's antidote before coming to a conclusion.

It doesn't break through, the wolf grabs the blade with both hands and whips it through the water, breaching the surface without exposing its body to chop off Kaz's entire left leg at the knee.

Kaylee Brown wrote:Up on the surface, the water level continued to rise in the pit, already 100 meters above the floor. If this keeps up, then in a few minutes the water will rise another 200 meters until it spills out of the pit up top.

Swimming toward the floating, dirt covered bottles, Rogue quickly wiped the muck off them, until the magical contents inside began to shine through. Two Sanity restoration potions, glowing and alternating between a brown light and orange. And another blue glowing potion of Mana.

"Finally" Rogue grunts in frustration, opening first a Sanity potion and then a Mana potion, and quickly gulping them both down.

As Kaznachey unleashes Unlimited Spell Works, Rogue dives under the water, not really having any other options.

The pain has finally caught up with Thena and can barely focus on anything right now. All of her effort is in trying not to drown so she doesn't notice the spell barrage.

Twilight moved backwards, aiming and firing low level fire to detonate the spells early, maybe even dealing damage to Kaz's shield. To hide what ones would blow up, she let an entire stream of spells out as a decoy, to make it harder to spot.

"You've been too generous with your gifts. Your kindness will be your undoing."

With the masquerade, she made five copies, who flew off in random directions, her own body amongst them. It was punishing her body, but if she slowed down, it would be the death of everyone, of everything.

Everything...

through her power, an eerie red glow started to appear under the water, the color remeniscent of that from a certain memory orb. Twilight looked at it, and horror washed over her face.

"What is he doing? What is he doing?!" She stutters. "WHY DID HE ACTIVATE IT!?"

The potions tasted extremely bitter to Rogue, like gulping down the worst type of medicine imagination, only in quantities approaching 500 milliliters total. Which proved foul indeed. The Sanity potion actually tasted so bitter, it caused your stomach physical pain.


(Rogue restored 40 Sanity points, 41 total Sanity remaining.)

(Rogue suffered -20 HP toxic damage, 125 HP remaining.)



The Mana potion was somehow worse, its foul taste was one thing, but after images of the Slavegear attack started flashing before your eyes, adrenaline started shooting through your body, making your hands shake, even as you felt a surge of magic course through you.


(Rogue restored 40 Mana points, 40 Mana total remaining.)

(Rogue lost 20 Sanity points, 21 Sanity remaining.)






It was extremely difficult to determine what exactly was happening on the battlefield, as hundreds of spells began to crisscross in the air, fired by Twilight and Kaznachey both, but you could haven sworn you saw several of your projectiles hit Kaznachey's spells head on. And while some did detonate as a result, making the spells explode loudly off-target, other spells you fired had collided with Kaz's spells head-on, and passed through, as if there was nothing to collide with.

Likewise, the several pot-shots you took at Kaznachey's shield, passed right through the teal sphere, not damaging the shield in the slightest, and one of your spells actually struck Kaznachey in the stomach, making her wince.


(Kaznachey suffered -5 HP damage, 2887 HP remaining.)


(Twilight lost -50 Mana in her barrage, 175 Mana remaining.)



You managed to shoot down 17 spells out of 50 that were aimed at you and Kaylee, the rest zig-zagged and homed in on you like angry hornets. It reminded you of a heat-seeking missile barrage that was charging right at your face.

Your training kicked in and you flew through the air like a bullet, perhaps faster than you've ever flown  before. Clutching Kaylee in your hands, you performed aerial maneuvers more akin to a jet-fighter, using all 360 degrees of mobility. The wind harshly lashed at your face, as you approached to cruising speed, pulling of incredibly sharp and painful maneuvers, zig-zagging toward the surface of the water, then sharply up, toward the wall, then a barrel roll away from it, and each zig-zag was accompanied by a spell flashing inches away from your face, striking the water and the stone wall behind you, only mere millimeters away.

Dozens of spell strikes followed right in your wake, peppering the water's surface, then the stone wall behind you, striking right in your tracks, one after another, and you got the distinct feeling that if you slowed down even for a split second, they would bombard you into oblivion.

But as you deployed your decoys, the spells veered off, splitting and distributing in equal measure to chase after every decoy present. The entire pit was soon covered in the fire of explosion that rang uncomfortably close behind you. And by the time you looked back, the spell barrage had ended.

It seems your quick thinking and fast reflexes allowed you to avoid every single one of the 50 that shot at you.

At this time Kaylee finally opened her eyes and stared at you, and the fires behind you, wide-eyed. From what you can tell, she regenerated enough to move again on her own, but that didn't change her remaining 10 HP.





Rogue, Thena and Lightning fared worse, diving under the surface of the water provided limited cover, as many spells that were homing in on them just fizzled out, when coming into contact with the surface of the water, fireballs went out, turning into black smoking rocks that slowed down and drowned. Various colorful spells just vanished out of existence, turning into gray steam.

But some punched through continuing their pursuit and shining bright underwater. And with your maneuverability limited, they homed in on you and struck hard, with at least 15 spells or more striking each person.


(Thena has been afflicted with Blindness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Thena has been afflicted with Deafness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Thena's Magic has been disabled for 5 turns.)

(Thena suffered -35 HP damage, 15 HP remaining.)

(Thena suffered -50 Paralysis damage, Thena has been Paralyzed for 24 hours.)





(Rogue has been afflicted with Confusion status effect for 5 turns.)

(Rogue has been afflicted with Deafness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Rogue suffered -85 HP damage, 40 HP remaining.)





(Lightning has been afflicted with Confusion status effect for 5 turns.)

(Lightning has been afflicted with Blindness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Lightning has been afflicted with Deafness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Lightning's Magic has been disabled for 5 turns.)

(Lightning suffered -40 Sanity damage, Her Sanity has been reduced to 0.)

(Lightning suffered -90 Paralysis damage, Lightning has been Paralyzed for 24 hours.)





Kaznachey barely even heard Twilight's frantic shriek through the barrage that covered almost every square meter of the pit. Everywhere, Witchers were flying, diving and sprinting in zig-zags across the surface of the water, to try and throw off the barrage of homing missiles. Some succeeded, others, less so.


By the time the Parasite looked down, at the eerie red glow at the bottom of the pit, she didn't even have time to react. Her body still frostbitten, left her slow and sluggish, and by the time she noticed the glow, and subsequently, the massive wolf silhouette, growing larger and larger below her, it was already too late.

Kaznachey tried to dodge, throwing herself frantically to the side. Frostbitten, her reaction wasn't fast enough.



A massive furry paw burst out of the water, grasping a giant Manticore sword and cut Kaznachey's leg off, just above the knee.






You saw the blue appendage fly off in slow motion, leaving behind an uncontrollable spray of blue colored blood, before a shriek so piercing assaulted your hearing, you almost went deaf.

(Kaznachey suffered -1500 HP critical damage, 1387 HP remaining.)


There was no arrogance, or fury, or smugness left on the womans face, as she clutched her profusely bleeding stump, as she crashed on her back and sank deep into the water. The only expressions left on her face was denial, disbelief, horror and pain.



As she sank deep beside the wolf, the homing spells found the Berserking Sinner, assaulting her just like they did everyone else.


(Circi's has been hit with Dispel, her Berserker Limit Break has ended.)

(Circi has been afflicted with Blindness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Circi has been afflicted with Deafness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Circi has been afflicted with Confusion status effect for 5 turns.)

(Circi's magic has been disabled 5 turns.)

(Circi suffered -75 Sanity damage, no lasting effects).

(Circi suffered -10 HP damage and 5 Poison damage, 3 HP remaining.)

(Her Poisoned Status Effect has ended.)





By the time Rain and Squiggles regained consciousness, they found themselves floating about a meter below the surface and in need of air, urgently.

And in the murky teal waters, they saw Kaznachey, swimming fast and desperately, like a wounded shark, leaving behind a long bloody trail from the stump on her left leg.

And you realized, she was swimming fast, right toward Adam, who was still hovering on his feet, just on the surface of the water.




Sasha, Larsen and Zoy had gathered around him, and it seems Adam had finally finished cooking whatever spell he had in mind.

"THENA! TWILIGHT, KAYLEE!!!" The boy yelled frantically "ON ME! NOW!"



(Thena, Kaylee, Sasha, Larsen and Zoy have Amethyst crystals covering 60% of their bodies.)

(Twilight has Amethyst crystals covering 5% of her body.)


You spotted the Amethyst starting to grow on Twilight's palms and forearms, where small scratches and bruises had formed during the fight, scratches that must have come in contact with Kaylee's Amethysts and were now starting to have crystals peak out of them, in alarmingly larger quantities.



Adam is extremely concentrated on whatever spell he has cooked between his palms. He doesn't see Kaznachey speeding toward him below, homing on him like a torpedo.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief for not being damaged, but then mentally slapped herself seeing the others were blasted by the result. She made a mental note to copy others too to give them more of a chance.

Hearing Adam's cry, she dashed in his direction. However, rather then just stopping outright, she made a turn to let Kaylee down from her back.

"This won't take too long. I should've done this ages ago."

She made a copy that headed towards Kaznachey, to deter him. Since Adam was his prime target, her movements seemed simpler, more readable. She tried to control her path so she could strike her with her sword, to do what must've been done so long ago.

"Adam, how far can I move?!"

Paralyzed there isn't much Thena can do at this point. She attempts to shift in to Shadowform and head over to Adam. However, if that doesn't work she retreats into her mind and starts to count her heart beats in order to stay calm. Letting her body drift and relying on something or someone else to save her.

In a heartbeat instinct kicks in for Rain. Squiggles is dispelled and as Rain sinks she casts wall run. In a second heartbeat, Rain pulls her dagger, its cold steels suddenly slipping under the straps of her armor, slicing them off in a single motion, accidently cutting herself in the process but still the motion was well trained, and clearly engraved in her memory. She kicks off her armor into the oasis wall, and as soon as her hands hit the wall, so do her feet and she shoots back up to the surface, using the wall to propel her.

Not breaking her focus she sprints up the wall after breaking the surface. With rains armor dropped, she moved faster, free from her armors burden. She sprints up then sideways in a parabola line before leaping off of the wall and with one pair of wings open parachutes herself down like a hawk towards Kaz, she disconnects from her god killer, and switches to her mace, she yanks back the lever, exposing the balista. The maces tip pushing out about 2 inches and rotating a touch diagonally as she takes aim with the massive arrow before unloading it right into the Center of Kaz's back. Her second pair of wings shoot open as she narrowly avoids Kaz's spells. With a heavy flap shes flying out of range before turning and readying to snipe at the parasite in case her first shot missed.



Circi stares up at the waters roof. If she could. Was she even facing the right way? A kind of acceptance seeps in. Beneath the oasis, she holds her breath, in blindness the pressure apon her by the depth was a sort of comfort. That was it, her hope of survival depended on those who dragged her into this. Her legs cross at the bottom in quite meditation on what to do.


It dawns on Circi. Something she had forgot. She carefully reaches into her bag and pulls out the potion of brotherhood. At the very least this will guide her to the top, and not just adam. But Kaz. She quaffs it, Slamming it like its the last drink she'll ever have before coming to a crouch at the bottom of the oasis and shooting off to intersect with either her son, or the one who stole from her.

It was going to be her son or her who likely ends up with Kaz and whatever god be damned if she was going to let Kaz have anything close to an easy or restful attempt at embeding herself into her sons soul.

The Great Masquerade was never designed to create decoys, so the copies Twilight had made, all looked transparent and glowing. As one of them charged right at Kaznachey, the Parasite ignored it completely, swimming right through it, without even bothering to deflect the phantom attack.

The next second, Rain's bolt flew into the water, but Kaznachey was swimming too deep, and the bolt had slowed down its descent, allowing the Parasite to sense it and dodge at the last second, letting the projectile pass within several inches of its body, as Kaz swam sideways for a moment, wiggling her whole body like a fish, before continuing her charge towards Adam.




Darkness weighed heavily on Circi, or perhaps, it was just the water depth. As you unscrew the cork of the potion, some of it began to sip out into the water, but you managed to drink most of it and the reaction was immediate. With the next heartbeat, you felt two more heartbeats nearby.

One, a young heart, strong but nervous, beating fast and making the Sinner blood course fast through the body, trying to keep him muscle tissue well fed, but you sensed this person was reaching a limit.

The other heart, ancient and infinite, like a machine that would keep moving forever. This heart was racing incredibly fast, much faster than the other one. This person was likely reaching their limit too, or simply, in horrible pain.

You thought you felt the direction of both and began swimming toward them.






Thena tried to shift into Shadow form, but it didn't work. Nothing worked anymore, not her arms, or legs. Her mouth just barely moved as she tried to hold her breath, the weight of her armor and gear making her sink further and further blow. How long could you hold your breath. One minute, two, maybe three if your life depended on it. And it did. So you did your best.

Panic and fearful thoughts tried to push their way into your mind. What if this was the end, what if this watery blanker all around you would become your tomb. And then you felt a pair of hands wrapping around your stomach, and start pulling you upward.

But the time was ticking in the meantime and you felt the first uncontrollable reflex to inhale, just barely fighting it off. Your body was reaching its limit, and the water just wouldn't end. How much time passed? A few seconds? A minute? Two? You couldn't tell anymore, all you could think about, was your consciousness slowly drifting away into darkness, and the primal reflex of your body to inhale, even as water surrounded you.

You felt you couldn't hold it in anymore, your mind went blank and suddenly, you felt yourself resurface. Taking a hungry, massive breath, you grew scared when you didn't hear your own voice and saw only darkness around you, even though you felt your eyes were open.

In the next second, you felt yourself struck by two spells in quick succession, point blank, right in the face. The feeling was, unpleasant.



(Thena was healed for +40 Health, 40 HP remaining. You are no longer Paralyzed.)

(Thena has been Dispelled of all Status Effects.)


You blinked, coughing wildly and finally heard your own voice, and saw Rose, holding you from the back and trying to keep you both from drowning, as she struggled to stay afloat, she was swimming rapidly toward Adam, and as you drew close, the boy finally brought his palms together, releasing his spell.


A massive blast of black smoke erupted out of his body, enveloping a large area of almost 5 meters in every direction. The moment you inhaled it, your throat started to burn, so did your eyes. In a delayed reaction, you realized Adam had released the Sinner poison, in a gas state and it seeped into your eyes, your lungs, your open wounds and bruises.

It stung horribly, but even as it did, you noticed the crystals on you starting to melt, painfully slowly, but surely. Their spread has stopped.




And in the next instant, Kaznachey had erupted out of the water. In slow motion you saw how tiny droplets sprayed in every direction, each individual drop reflecting the lit Witcher blades. You saw Kaznachey's face, distorted by pain and desperation, as she emerged less than a meter away from Adam, outstretching her hand. And you sensed a tiny spectral thread, extend out of Kaznachey's soul and snake toward Adam's.

On a subconscious level you realized, she's attempting to infect him, to take a permanent residence inside his soul, forever. You have less than a second left to react.

Circi smiles as she closes in on the two. her legs kicking as she propels herself up, and up, closer and closer. She could feel them closing in on each other with each heart beat all she would have to do is put herself in the middle.... or die in the process.


Circi intersects again right between the only two things she can sense. One last time.


Rain is lining up another shot, and clenches her teeth as she fires another bolt at the emerging Kaz, "its not going to make it in time!" The thought crosses her mind after she fires the shot.

Kaylee Brown wrote:The potions tasted extremely bitter to Rogue, like gulping down the worst type of medicine imagination, only in quantities approaching 500 milliliters total. Which proved foul indeed. The Sanity potion actually tasted so bitter, it caused your stomach physical pain.

(Rogue restored 40 Sanity points, 41 total Sanity remaining.)

(Rogue suffered -20 HP toxic damage, 125 HP remaining.)

The Mana potion was somehow worse, its foul taste was one thing, but after images of the Slavegear attack started flashing before your eyes, adrenaline started shooting through your body, making your hands shake, even as you felt a surge of magic course through you.

(Rogue restored 40 Mana points, 40 Mana total remaining.)

(Rogue lost 20 Sanity points, 21 Sanity remaining.)

...

Rogue, Thena and Lightning fared worse, diving under the surface of the water provided limited cover, as many spells that were homing in on them just fizzled out, when coming into contact with the surface of the water, fireballs went out, turning into black smoking rocks that slowed down and drowned. Various colorful spells just vanished out of existence, turning into gray steam.

But some punched through continuing their pursuit and shining bright underwater. And with your maneuverability limited, they homed in on you and struck hard, with at least 15 spells or more striking each person.

(Rogue has been afflicted with Confusion status effect for 5 turns.)

(Rogue has been afflicted with Deafness status effect for 5 turns.)

(Rogue suffered -85 HP damage, 40 HP remaining.)

Recognising he's been affected by Confusion, Rogue dare not launch any attacks in case he hits allies, so he dives down towards the calibration stone to check what spells are available.

Thena melts into her last Shadow form and closes the distance betwen her and Adam. Materialzing in front of him and firing a lightning bolt directly into the thread and by extention at Kaznachey.

Twilight had been waiting for the moment to strike. To finally disrupt the path that Kaznachey was taking for real. She may not have controlled him like she wanted to, but that was more to gather a few more seconds. That didn't matter anymore. All there was to do, was to prevent the parasite from taking over another host.

She headed towards Kaznachey, accelerating as much as she could. The Masquerade may not have the effect it had before, but she still used it. One finel delay option.

With it, she made it seem Kaznachey blinked in that moment.

Not an actual blink, but like a brief moment of blackness that didn't let her see what happened. That moment, was when Twilight struck. Swinging her sword as fast she could, she slashed at the outstretched hand, aiming to chop it off. This wasn't her final attack though, as Twilight immediately began to follow it up by swinging her sword at the body flung into her direction. To deal as much damage as possible, crippling the ancient being with slash after slash. If all she achieved was that no one was lost to the attack, it would be fine. Any extra was just a bonus.

//Fuck it, if I'm going to a high-risk zone tomorrow, I'm going in with no regrets. I don't care if I die tomorrow from a stray rocket or a hundred years from now from old age, I'ma post till I die, I don't give a fook




Circi swam, faster than she ever did in her life. The Sinner heartbeats in the distance growing closer and closer. A split second passed and she burst out of the water, ending up between them. But instead of Adam's voice, you heard Sasha and Larsen, as you collided with them.

You realized you were still under the effects of Confusion, and you flew in between the wrong pair. Adam and Kaznachey were elsewhere, nearby.





Rain's bolt left her crossbow, just as Kaznachey burst out of the water. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, as the Parasite neared Adam. You could see each individual droplet, falling off Kaznachey's hair, her rabid blue eyes, distorted grimace, her scowl, the Red Sword burning behind her in her left hand. Her right, outstretching toward Adam's heart.


And at that moment, several things happened, simultaneously.

As if moving through wax, Adam brought his palms together, his lips moved faintly, mouthing the Nifel word for 'Concentration'.

"Ketz!" and an explosion of purple mist and breaking glass swallowed him whole, creating over a dozen Adams where one had once stood. Releasing an outraged shriek, Kaznachey grasped the one that stood in front of her just a moment ago, sinking her fingers deep in his chest, and that Adam exploded in a burst of glass and purple mist that flowed right through Kaznachey's fingers.


A bolt came flying down from above, piercing the Parasite's outstretched hand clean, becoming embedded deep inside and knocking it down. And as the Parasite screamed in pain, Thena materialized right in front of her and shot a Lightning bolt the width of a car, right in the Parasites chest.


The Level 3 Lightning spell had a devastating effect, as Kaznachey was soaked in water, what amplified the effect of the electrical charge ten fold. Kaznachey screamed and contorted, her torso becoming covered by a thick layer of ash, as her skin and muscle were burned away.

And then Twilight came crashing down from above and with a single, precision strike, cut off Kaznachey's hand, clean. The slash was so fast, it barely registered in the eye, and indeed, Kaznachey hadn't even felt it, continuing to stretch her hand through the purple mist, until her forearm separated from the rest of her body.


Kaznachey looked at it in confusion, then slowly lowered her gaze at her torso. Twilight's sword was a blur of purple fire, leaving only after images behind, passing through Kaznachey's singed torso, as if the parasite was made of air.



The teal colored woman blinked, studying her charred body for another moment, and then 6 different lines of purple fire, ignited inside her torso, signaling where Twilight's blade had passed. She didn't even notice the strikes until now, the Parasites reaction time was that delayed.


Kaznachey slowly looked you in the eye, each one of you in turn, before releasing a fatigued smile and lifting her head up, toward the star filled sky:


"Michi..." Kaznachey faintly whispered "...I'm coming home."


A faint gust of wind blew by, passing through Kaznachey and turning her slowly to ash. First, her ankles turned dark, then her knees and legs, all slowly turning to gray dust and ash, and scattering away with the wind, as Kaznachey's upper torso and head remained hovering in the air for a moment, the fatigued smile never leaving her lips.


Sasha winced and took hold of her own elbow, her gaze became fixed on the Parasite and she whispered:
"I hope... one day, you'll be reunited with the person you love."


Kaznachey shifted her gaze toward Sasha, and a trace of tears appeared in the Parasites eyes. For the first time, since you saw her, Kaznachey seemed at peace.



"...Thank you." the teal woman whispered, before her torso and face turned to gray ash, scattering over the sparkling snowdrifts by the wind.






By the time Rogue had reached the Calibration stone and confirmed that it housed every known spell in the book, you slowly realized that the water level had risen so high in the pit, it lifted you up all the way to the surface.

Flying, swimming, or gliding on the souls of your shoes away from the precarious lake, trying to get to solid ground, you noticed the Horde.




It was indeed a Horde. The Parasites numbered in the billions. They stretched out before you like an orange wavering carpet, covering the land to your north-east, all the way to the horizon. There was no end to them. They had become, the planet.


But none of them moved. You haven't realized it right away, but they all stood perfectly still, watching you. Billions of eyes, all locked at you, and you felt the silence for the first time. All sounds of battle faded, the clashes of steel, the snapping of jaws, claws scratching on armor, it was all gone, and the silence was deafening.



Billions of Parasites stood before you, and none of them moved. None of them shifted their eyes away from you, and from the spot where Kaznachey stood, a moment ago.


You tried to understand, what was it exactly, you saw in her eyes. Fear, maybe?

But when you took a step forward and the Horde began to part, you understood.
It wasn't fear. Not just fear. It was respect.




They stood before the beings who slayed Kaznachey, the one constant of Nifelheim. The immortal Parasite that watched over this planet, perhaps since its birth. The one who commanded all, the one who could not be killed.

And now she was gone.


You read confusion in the Parasites eyes, they weren't sure what to do, not in this instant. But as you grimaced at them, scowling, the Parasites stepped back.

They began to part, creating a passage for you, slowly, quietly. The silence over the frozen platto was heavy and deafening.

Kaylee Brown wrote:They stood before the beings who slayed Kaznachey, the one constant of Nifelheim. The immortal Parasite that watched over this planet, perhaps since its birth. The one who commanded all, the one who could not be killed.

And now she was gone.

You read confusion in the Parasites eyes, they weren't sure what to do, not in this instant. But as you grimaced at them, scowling, the Parasites stepped back.

They began to part, creating a passage for you, slowly, quietly. The silence over the frozen platto was heavy and deafening.

"That's a nice change" Rogue says.

Rain brings her aim up as Twilight unleashes a storm of attacks on the ancient entity. She witnesses the death of Kaznachey from the top of the oasis. An arial view, and a full view of every witcher present for the memory orb later, so every witcher who survived this ordeal gets their commendations, "...and thats that..." she says quitely in her head to Squiggles, "...Will we even have to use the machine?"


Circi growls, dispite not being able to see she hears her death rattle, "Damn you Kaz! I hope you finally take the full brunt of the shimmer in death... Rot in hell Kaznachey. May your mind find no rest, and your soul forever toil beneath Nifelhimes crust." She curses her in spite of Sashas blessing. She lets out a tired sigh, "Im at the end of my rope here... anybody have a dispell... or a heal."

// I live! The hotel I'm staying at, is pretty cewl. I'll send videoo later.



"Do we still need to use the Dark Machine?" Squiggles repeated in thought "Who knows." He sounds distracted, too stunned at what had just happened.

Slowly and in complete silence, your comrades began gathering into a tight group, still weary of the Horde, beads of sweat rolling down their foreheads and drying blood covering their palms.

They split into two groups pretty quickly, under Zoy's silent hand signals. One group began applying first aid, healing and Dispelling all those blind and paralyzed. The second group began raising the blue foxes that laid paralyzed by the edge of the pit.


The foxes were stiff, sore and pittifully whined, as the Witchers pushed them back on their paws. They spent too many hours laying in the snow and could barely stand on four paws, but there was little choice left, and the Witchers began pouring healing magic into them, mending the foxes muscles, albeit temporarily, with magic.


"Come on," Zoy quietly waved, hopping atop the nearest fox "Mission complete. Lets get the fuck out of here, before they change their mind. We're pushing the Migration dead-line as it is." She said, watching the billions of parasites non-stop. "...lets go everyone.

Let's go home."

(Best of luck out there.)

At the time of the kill, Twilight turned around, and was surprised to see the most ancient of parasites fade into nothing. It was something she wasn't expecting, something she didn't dream off.

Exiting the cave and seeing the horde stopped in it's tracks didn't make the act less unbelievable to her. It made things even crazier. Yet, she proceeded to do her part.

Not having the mana for lvl 5 spells proved useful, as she used her remaining magic to heal some wounded and bring the foxes back on their feet. After that, she muttered to herself.

"Kaznachey... Died..."

She took a few steps away, before letting out a crazy howl.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Then she began to briefly, but horribly dance. Dear god. How can someone be a 5th Dan and still dance like a leper?

After this brief moment of madness, she composed herself a bit more, and spoke. "Okay, let's get ready to move out. Take the dark machine along just in case, we might find a use for it."

She held her hand out to her child. "You've done great, Viki. Let's go back, we don't want to keep Ryu waiting." She smiled, one formed from the feeling of relief, as the grip of Kaznachey was gone.

Thena casts a basic heal on Circi then proceeds to use the rest of her mana to help the foxes. Heal and Dispel at their lowest levels so she can get assist as many foxes as possible and always starting with Dispel.

She keeps quiet as she works, but there is a fire of condifdence in her expression as she does.

To Rose, within her mind: "And now the next step is to figure out how we can get you your own body. I know I agreed on an 'if' in terms of you being free, but I don't want that option to just be theoretical. So, once we get to Kepler I'm going to dedicate the rest of my life and effort to finding a way to fully control the Glassglow in such a way that both souls can inhabit their own body if they want to. That's the first step at least. I have ideas beyond this, but figuring out how to get you your own body and any other Glysteria who wish the same is first."