Underearth/Book 4/Chapter 10

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"I take it Serif is dead, then..." Frisk heard Toriel say as he walked into the front courtyard.

Toriel was standing by the large dead tree that stood at the center of the courtyard. She looked back to face Frisk, her eyes cold, yet wet.

"Why?" she asked, "Why are you just like *them*? Has nothing really changed in all these years?"

Frisk stepped towards her. Just as he took his first step, a massive firewall erupted between the two of them.

"I am sorry, Human..." she said. "But you are a great threat to us all. I cannot let you leave here."

Frisk stepped back in surprise. "This is interesting." he said. "I never really took you as somebody who'd take direct action against anybody. You seem more like the type who just runs away from all her problems and... responsibilities."

A nasty grimace spread over Toriel's face as her eyes tightened and her teeth clenched. "What do you know?" she snapped.

"Heh. Seems like I struck a nerve."

"You vile welp!" she spat as her arms ignited in flame.

As soon as this happened, Frisk jumped backward, engulfing his own arms in a blaze as though it were second nature, much to the bewilderment of not just Frisk, but Toriel as well. In the presence of each-other, however, neither let it weigh too heavily on their minds.

The two glared at one another endlessly, each one waiting for the other to make a move, the wall of fire still burning brightly. As time went on, the two watching the other's moves carefully, the flame on Toriel's arms flickered for just a moment, the wall of flame vanishing in that instance. As soon as her arms re-ignited, she shot them forward, a great column of fire extending from the palms of her hands. As she did this, Frisk preformed the same motions, blasting a column of fire from his own hands. When the tips of these columns met between the two, a great explosion of fire erupted in every direction perpendicular to the pillars, scorching the purple floor and walls of the courtyard and incinerating the dead tree that stood at its center.

For what seemed like an eternity, each one held their own pillar, not giving the other an inch. This all ended when Toriel stopped her own blaze and summoned a shield around herself. Protected from the fire that now engulfed her, she prepared her counterattack.

Seeing Toriel's pillar fade, Frisk held his own up for just a few more seconds before stopping his as well.

*That was easy.* he thought as he dispelled his attack. In the next moment, a fireball then found itself hurling towards Frisk, who caught glimpse of it just in time to summon a shield between him and it before it made contact.

"Your spells." Toriel said as she regained her posture. "There is an eerie familiarity to them. Almost as though... you copied them from me."

"Oh, whatever could you mean?" Frisk played off as Toriel glared at him with eyes he had only truly seen twice before.

"You are not a Human." Toriel said. "I do not know *what* you are, but nothing I know of can simply copy the spells of another like you have of mine without as much time learning how to manipulate their AURA like that."

"Maybe I'm just lucky." Frisk said.

Toriel shook her head. "Skill and luck, especially in magic, do not mix."

Frisk thought on this statement. He then thought about how he knew how to do all this unbelievable stuff, the frightening power he simply flicked out as though it were second nature. Not long into his train of thought, an answer came to him. Toriel's SOUL from the previous World. When he had absorbed it, his mind raced through all the arcane knowledge she had held. The same of Serif's. So that means...

Frisk focused power into his left wrist. Quickly, a boney handle took form just above it. Grabbing it, Frisk pulled it out like Serif had done before, revealing the spinal sword that Serif wielded in his own fight against him. Without pause, Frisk shot the sword forward, the different parts moving independently yet united by Frisk's will.

As the tip of the sword approached the wide-eyed goat-Monster, Toriel brought her arm up to block the attack. Reaching ever closer, the sword bounced off a shield that she had summoned to protect herself. Predicting this, Frisk caused the sword to swiftly coil around the side of the shield, behind Toriel. Once there, the point then thrust itself into Toriel's neck.

Toriel, shocked by the sudden pain, dropped the shield and grabbed for her wound. As she did this, the point extracted itself, and the sword began coiling itself around Toriel's neck, tightening as it did so. After a few seconds, Frisk pulled on the sword, forcing it through her flesh and cleaving off her head, which turned to dust upon hitting the ground. Toriel's body then collapsed forward, rapidly turning to dust as it fell towards the ground.

Frisk walked towards the ashes, dispelling the sword. When Toriel's SOUL appeared, Frisk snatched it and absorbed it. When the last of the particles entered him, he felt rejuvenated like he had just awakened from sleep. With Toriel dead, Frisk didn't want to waste any more time. He sped through the house, down the stairs, through the hallway beneath, and through the door that led to Snowdin.