Underearth/Book 4/Chapter 13

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The Waterfall Caves were darker than the "outside". Not being lit by the light from Helios Station, the Caves were instead lit by various glowing rocks that were embedded within the ground, walls, and ceiling, alongside various bioluminescent plants and animals that appeared every now and then. The most prevalent of these plants was the echo flower, which had even had its eerie whispers silenced.

Further ahead, Frisk passed Sans's Waterfall sentry station, forever empty now that he was dead. Beyond the sentry station was a river, headed by and leading to a waterfall. Upon seeing the water, Frisk began channeling magic. Stepping foot onto the water itself, a pillar of ice extended from the sole of Frisk's boot straight down to the base of the riverbed. His next step did the same. This process continued until he had crossed the river, completely dry. Looking back over the river, he noticed the ice melting away into nothing. With the river crossed, Frisk continued further into the Caves.

Beyond the river was a small patch of grass. Approaching the patch of grass, a glowing light blue spear suddenly shot past, grazing his face as it went, puncturing the ground at his feet. Looking up, Frisk saw the Captain of the Royal Guard, Undyne, jumping down from the cliff above.

"HUMAN!!!" she screamed, a new spear appearing in her hands before she hit the ground.

Frisk reached to draw his sword before remembering that he left it behind in Snowdin. Instead, he reached to his wrist and summoned his own weapon; the spinal whip-sword.

Seeing Frisk arm himself, she jumped backwards, summoning a number of spears that shot themselves straight at the Human.

Seeing them fast approach, Frisk focused a bit of magic around himself to form a shield, which blocked the approaching spears with ease.

In his next movement, Frisk swung the sword, which shot out towards Undyne and slammed her into the wall beside her, cleaving her in half as it continued.

Frisk marched forward, further into the Caves. Seeing the Human simply walk away, Undyne summoned another spear in her weakened state, shooting it at him. As it approached, Frisk flipped around and deflected it before causing the sword to shoot back forward and cut off her arms at the elbow. He then caused the sword to wrap around her lower half and slam it into the dirt beside her, turning it to dust on impact. He then retracted the sword and continued walking, laughing inside at her helpless screams.

A few minutes later, when Undyne could no longer be heard, Frisk heard the voice of the machine echo inside his head.

"BE CERTAIN TO KEEP YOURSELF ABOVE THE INTOXICATING INFLUENCE OF LOV, YOUNG FRISK." it said. "IF YOU ONCE AGAIN FALL UNDER ITS INFLUENCE, THERE ISN'T MUCH THAT CAN RELIEVE YOU FROM IT."

"I... what did I do to make you say this?" Frisk asked, pulling the Timepiece from his pocket.

"THINK BACK TO UNDYNE. DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO ASK?"

Frisk stopped walking and looked back.

"SHE IS ALREADY GONE."

Frisk took a seat by the wall, a small crystal glowing nearby.

"I'm doing it again..." Frisk mumbled to himself.

"DO NOT LET IT CONSUME YOU."

"Yeah, and how do I do that?" Frisk snapped at the machine.

"BE MERCIFUL IN YOUR KILLING."

Frisk scoffed at that remark.

"YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IT POSSIBLE?"

"No, no, what could possibly give you *that* impression?"

The Timepiece went silent for a bit.

"ALWAYS GO FOR THE KILLING BLOW." the Timepiece began again. "ALWAYS MAKE DEATH AS PAINLESS AS POSSIBLE. WHEN YOU SEE SUFFERING IN A DYING CREATURE, END THEIR SUFFERING AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ADDING TO IT. THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MERCIFUL IN THIS WAY. THE WAY OF THE MERCIFUL KILLER."

Frisk thought long and hard about this. "I understand..." he said.

"EXCELLENT. THEN LET US HURRY AND CONTINUE."

Frisk stood up, pocketed the Timepiece, and once again progressed further into the Caves.