Underearth/Book 4/Chapter 12

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"It's ironic..." Grillby said as he stared at his bar, Grillby's. "After everything I'd fought for, here I see it all crashing down."

The Riverperson, who was standing nearby, let out some kind of mix between a laugh and a sigh. "And yet, you were right, for the most part." he said. "Of all the Humans to have survived falling down here, only one has shown a true passion for murder."

Grillby continued to stare into the front window; the light of his body flickering off the glass, Grillby himself deep in thought on the matter.

While Grillby pondered, the Riverperson looked out towards the entrance of the town, seeing a relatively short humanoid figure approaching.

"It's him." the Riverperson said.

Grillby looked away from the window and towards the entrance of the town as well. The Human approached.

Ahead of him, Frisk could see two Monsters standing outside Grillby's, staring at him. Even from a distance, he could recognize that one was the fire Monster, Grillby, though instead of being in his regular bar outfit, Grillby was clad in a set of pitch black armor, the helmet of which was held under his arm at his side. The other Monster Frisk recognized to be the Riverperson, who was still wearing his long, dark purple cloak, though at his feet lay a rather wide spear.

"Human," the Riverperson called, his voice unusually active, like when Frisk had seen Toriel's house in the tunnel in his second World. "hold there."

Frisk stopped right next to the great decorated tree in the middle of town.

"You're here earlier than we'd anticipated." the Riverperson continued.

"Oh, sorry." Frisk said sarcastically. "I would have been here sooner if it hadn't been for a crappy smiling skeleton."

Both the Monsters stepped back.

"Sans... is dead...?" Grillby asked so quietly it was as though he was whispering.

"Yeah, his dust is just outside town if you wanna take a look."

The Riverperson looked over at Grillby. Being completely made of fire, Frisk couldn't make out an expression of any kind. The Riverperson must have made out something, due to him asking "Grillby, are you alright?"

Grillby remained silent. After a few seconds, he raised the helmet that was held under his arm up to his head and donned it, followed by him drawing a sword from a scabbard in his belt. Seeing this, the Riverperson bent down, stretching out what looked to be a slender, heavily rotten-looking Human hand, and picked up the wide spear.

Seeing the Monsters arm themselves, Frisk stepped back, igniting his arms. Upon igniting them, Frisk stopped and thought for a second. *One of these Monsters is completely made of fire...* he thought. *Using fire probably wouldn't be best.*

Thinking on this problem, a sudden pain appeared in Frisk's head, a pain that swiftly vanished. When Frisk focused back on the Monsters in front of him, he noticed that Grillby appeared to be in two places; though one was standing still and clearly visible, the other seemed extremely faded, and was approaching him.

When the faded Grillby got close to Frisk, he shot up his sword and brought it down on him. Just before it made contact, Frisk summoned a shield to block the strike. As soon as the sword hit the shield, Grillby jumped away, becoming fully visible as the other faded.

"What just happened?" Grillby asked the Riverperson.

"The Human seems to have some skill in illusion magic. I don't know how much, so until their power is gauged, I will not be helping you directly in this fight."

"I understand."

The Riverperson, as he finished speaking, knelt on the ground, his eyes glowing a brilliant dark grey, followed by him disappearing completely.

Frisk turned his attention back to Grillby, who was now slowly approaching him. As he began walking again, Grillby brought the sword up just beside his head, his opposing arm stretching out across his body to hold it up alongside the arm of the side it was held.

Seeing this peculiar pose, which left a massive section of Grillby's body open to attack, Frisk drew his own sword. In his next step, Frisk shot a wave of fire through the ground. Upon entering the ground, it expanded around him, melting all the surrounding snow. When the wave of heat reached Grillby, a thick wall of ivory-colored energy halted its progression towards him, this wall covering Grillby's exposed side.

*I see...* Frisk thought. *So, he's using... shield magic, I believe it was called, to protect himself.*

The two began circling each-other, neither one daring to move in to strike the other.

As this circling continued, Frisk felt a sudden pain in his head again which vanished just as quickly. When he refocused on Grillby, Frisk's eyes began to hurt. Blinking a few times, Frisk tried to focus on Grillby, but found that he had trouble trying to focus on two armored fire elementals. Another aching in his eyes, like he was trying to focus too hard on an optical illusion, forced him to close his eyes completely, only to find four Grillbys when he re-opened them. The four Grillbys then approached Frisk, surrounding him.

Frisk looked around frantically at each one. *What's going on?* Frisk thought.

In the next moment, one of the Grillbys charged Frisk, bringing its sword down at him. Frisk brought up his own sword to block the blow, but Grillby's sword simply passed through it, slashing Frisk straight down his chest. As soon as the sword made contact, a great surge of pain erupted in his chest, causing Frisk to collapse to the ground from the pain. When he looked at where he was hit, however, he saw nothing. Upon seeing there was nothing, the pain immediately vanished. Hearing another Grillby approaching from behind to attack, Frisk jumped off to one side, straight into the attack range of another. As this Grillby brought its sword down, Frisk set off another pulse of fire. Upon hitting each one, however, an ivory barrier appeared around each and every one.

Frisk delved deep into his mind, trying to think of what was going on. Getting away from all the Grillbys, it occurred to Frisk that the Riverperson was missing. Thinking back, Frisk realized something. *The boat guy said something about illusion magic.* he thought.

In that moment, Frisk focused as hard as he could to pierce this veil. As he focused, three of the Grillbys slowly began to fade, and the distinct image of a cloaked figure, the Riverperson, far in the back, sitting on the ground.

Upon seeing the Riverperson, Frisk shot forward, charging at the line of Grillbys. Each one brought up its sword, getting ready to strike at him, though Frisk simply passed though the line at the side which the real Grillby was not. Getting close, the Riverperson looked up at the Human now charging straight at him, the horrific creature raising the sword it held as it approached. When Frisk had closed the gap, he brought down the sword, the Riverperson only staring up at the incoming blade.

Just before the blade slashed through the Riverperson, Grillby appeared from behind Frisk, bringing his own sword to block the swing of the Human. Upon blocking, Grillby heaved Frisk's sword up and charged him against the front wall of the establishment, Grillby's. Once there, Grillby used what little weight he had behind him to hold Frisk there.

"CHARON! RUN!!" Grillby shouted as he held Frisk against the building.

The Riverperson stood up and began to step away. "What about you?" he asked.

"Don't worry about me. You just get out of here, tell your cursed nephew everything. I'll keep this... thing here for as long as I can."

The Riverperson began running towards the Waterfall Caves, not looking back.

"Real, erh, *foolish* of you." Frisk said, his strength barely being able to hold back the Monster of fire.

Grillby didn't say anything, he simply pressed harder.

As Frisk barely held his own, a way to break the stalemate they were in came to him. Ice; the way he killed Serif.

As Grillby pressed more of his strength into his sword, Frisk's eyes began glowing light blue. A few seconds later, ice began climbing up Grillby's arms. As soon as ice began forming on his armor, Grillby lost focus and let go of his advance, the burning of the ice distracting him from the fight at hand. Seeing this, Frisk dropped the sword and pressed his advantage, forcing the ice to advance further. Once Grillby's forearms had been enveloped in the ice, Frisk grabbed the Monster, forcing enough energy into him that he completely froze almost instantly.

With Grillby frozen, Frisk stepped back. *He's dead...* he thought.

This confirmation came quickly after as Grillby's SOUL emerged from the ice sculpture. Spotting it, Frisk snatched and absorbed it. The flow filled Frisk's head with many new techniques for fire magic, alongside a new arcane technique masked in blue. When this surge of knowledge passed, Frisk sat down on the ground.

*What is this... new magic?* Frisk thought as he sat there.

Frisk looked to the great decorated tree that stood in the middle of town. Staring at one of the ornaments, Frisk raised his hand towards it. Like it was nothing, the ornament slid off the tree and flew through the air, towards Frisk, who caught it when it came close enough.

"Whoa!" Frisk said. Seeing this power, he was reminded of Sans and his manipulation of various things, such as the different parts of the Gauntlet. "So, this is one of the powers you held, huh Grillby?" he then said to the sculpture.

After a few more minutes of sitting in silence, Frisk stood up and began making his own way towards the Waterfall Caves.