Underearth/Book 4/Chapter 9

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A sudden gasp for air erupted throughout the hollow caves as Frisk awoke upon the bed of golden flowers, shooting up as though waking from a nightmare.

"This is it..." he mumbled to himself, pulling the dagger from the sheath that still hung to his belt. "One last purge before the end of this nightmare..."

Sheathing the dagger, Frisk then stood up and walked into the next room. Flowey was nowhere to be found; unusual, despite the constant death. As he walked forward, the sound of an explosion echoed into the room, quickly followed by a few more explosions.

*What the hell!?* Frisk thought, running through the doorway to the Citadel to see where the noise was coming from. Upon exiting, the first thing he noticed was that the Torchweb was already lit, burning fervently as great flashes of white light briefly preceded the sounds of explosions. His vision of what was happening was hampered by the great tower that was the entrance of the Citadel Frisk marveled at so long ago.

Running up the staircase to the entranceway, Frisk entered the main structure of the Citadel. Upon entering, he noticed a gaping hole in one of the walls that had never been there before. Beyond this hole was a stairwell that went up.

*What is this?* Frisk wondered, approaching the hole as another explosion went off. He then ascended the staircase, arriving at the top a few minutes later. The top of the staircase featured a short ladder that went up to an open manhole. Climbing through, Frisk was hit with a massive wave of heat. Looking to the source, he found a great bonfire burning, an armored humanoid feeding the flames.

When Frisk climbed fully through the manhole, the armored figure spotted him.

"Esy!" it shouted, drawing a sword and charging him.

Frisk jumped out of the way before the blade connected, drawing his own blade, the dagger.

As soon as the armored figure missed, it jumped straight at Frisk, its off-hand clenched in a fist as though holding a shield. As it got close, Frisk's own shield flashed into existence between the knight and him, flashes of off-white energy popping just above the knight's off-hand and Frisk's shield. Taking advantage of the knight's apparent shock, Frisk brought his dagger over, flames trailing behind, and slashed at it, missing, swiping again, missing, then finally thrusting the blade into the Monster's lower abdomen. Upon penetrating, Frisk shot a bolt of fire into them, causing them to slowly catch fire and collapse to the ground, turning to dust swiftly thereafter.

*What was that all about...?* Frisk thought, reaching down and grabbing the sword the Monster carried. Looking at the dust of the Monster, Frisk noticed that a few other things were left in the ash, namely the scabbard. Picking it up, he found that the symbol stamped into the leather was different to that of the orb, wings, and three triangles that the Royal Guards wore. This one instead featured a sword situated behind a shield, the words "ΕΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΜΕΣΩ ΔΥΝΑΜΗΣ" imprinted on the shield.

Sheathing the sword and dagger, Frisk then looked around. He was currently high up. Higher than he had been in this area, at the very least. In the distance, he could see other towers just like the one he now stood on, a point of light flickering from each one. Another explosion then went off, instantly preceded by a bright flash of light above the city far below.

*Fireworks.* Frisk thought to himself. *But what are they celebrating for?* Watching a few more fireworks explode above the city, a new thought came to mind. *They're not celebrating... these are warning signals!*

Flipping around, Frisk extended his hand to the bonfire that burned and felt a cool sensation emit from his hand. Seconds later, the flames died, and the fuel beneath froze, becoming completely encased in opaque ice. No sooner had the ice formed had it began fuming with a sort of steam just as opaque as the ice.

Just as Frisk turned back to face the city, a red firework exploded. A few seconds later, tiny lights from the other towers of the Citadel began flying towards the tower Frisk stood upon, hitting just below the top, the lights vanishing quickly after. A few seconds after the lights started hitting, eight greater lights appeared down in the city below. The source of these lights then appeared from behind the buildings; great balls of fire, hurling themselves straight at the tower Frisk stood on.

Seeing the fireballs flying towards him, Frisk shot himself back towards the manhole, slid down the ladder, and began running down the spiral staircase when a sudden explosion shook the very foundations of the tower as the fireballs struck the top, completely destroying it all. Quickly after, Frisk had made it all the way back down the staircase and back into the room from before.

Gasping for air, Frisk stood up and entered through the other hole, the one that led further into the Citadel.

Continuing along as normal, Frisk eventually reached the long hallway where Toriel used to test his independence. All he found within this time was the imposing nature of two more armored humanoids. Taking a deep breath, Frisk stepped towards them, drawing the sword, along with the attention of one of the Monsters.

"Stasé ekei, Anthropos!" it shouted, exhibiting a glowing sensation in its mouthpiece for each sound it made as it drew its sword. Alerted, the other Monster drew its sword as well.

As the Monsters approached, Frisk readied himself for the coming fight. Upon getting close to him, the two Monsters stopped, holding their blades in such a way that they could strike at any given second. As he watched them, he suddenly got a sense of exactly what they were going to do. In the next moment, they did just what he had thought.

The Monster on the right feigned an attack that was quickly followed up by its partner preforming the attack instead. Knowing this was coming, Frisk dodged to avoid the one that actually attacked and sent his own sword into its back, igniting the blade after it had penetrated. He then summoned a wall of flame behind him between him and the other Monster just as the other Monster lunged for a free strike as Frisk's sword remained stuck inside the first. Just as the other Monster entered the flame, its armor began bubbling, and it itself let out a scream of pain, falling backwards out of the inferno.

Once the first Monster turned to dust, Frisk dispelled the wall and approached the second, who was writhing on the ground as its arms, face, and upper chest blistered. Upon getting close enough, Frisk thrust the sword into the Monster's throat, turning it to dust soon after. With the two Monsters dead, Frisk sheathed the sword and pressed forward.

As Frisk progressed forward, he could hear more action going on outside. Fireworks exploding, metal footsteps clanging along as Monsters mobilized, and an ever-present feeling of dread weighing him down as his footsteps echoed off the bright purple walls of the Citadel.

As he passed the bottleneck where he used to find Napstablook hanging around, Frisk began hearing voices from close by. Identifying that they were coming from the room just beyond the left doorway, Frisk carefully walked through. Within the room, he saw Toriel speaking with... another Human...?

Frisk blinked a few times as he looked at the pair talking. What was another Human doing down in the Underground? Was he the one the Monsters outside were originally searching for?

Stepping closer into the room, the Human talking with Toriel spotted him. Immediately after catching sight, the Human grabbed Toriel, throwing her behind him, and then caused hundreds of bones to erupt from the floor, all shooting towards Frisk. Seeing this, Frisk summoned a shield to surround himself, protecting him when the flying bones struck, and countless more bones erupted from beneath, trying to impale him. Instead, the bones simply sent him upwards, their points sparking at the edge of the shield.

In the height given to him by the bones, Frisk got a better look at the other Human in the room. It was a male with long, straight black hair and dark olive skin. While glaring at the Human, Frisk realized that he wasn't actually Human. Bones protruded slightly from his skin at the elbows, knees, and a few other places, as though they'd malformed and had nowhere else to go while growing. The most prominent of these bones were six massive outgrowths that protruded from his back going outward to his sides, giving the vague appearance of wings.

"Interesting..." he said, retracting the bones back into the floor. "So, you must be the Human we were so kindly warned about. And yet, you're just a child. Despite this fact, my nephew seems to believe that you're some existential threat to us all, seeing as he stopped just passively observing and actually came out of hiding to warn us about you. Yet, for a child still holding his suckle-fat, you managed to summon a shield far more powerful than that of even the most elite warriors of the War. Tell me, who are you?"

Frisk glared at the Human-like Monster. "You first!" he said.

"Ah, it speaks. Very well. I shall do you the courtesy of knowing my name, as it *is* the most basic manners. My name is Serif Gaster, Grand Protector of the Unitary Republic of Home, duly appointed such by its people, and supreme commander of the Homeguard. And you?"

Frisk stepped back. He had not expected such a polite, yet honest answer. "It's Frisk." he said. "Frisk Anendotos."

Serif tilted his head down slightly. "Ah, Anendotos. Ee bastarthee. Even after all this time, you are still slaughtering our people." he said, his voice gaining a touch of malice. "At least back then they didn't send mere children to fight their battles. Ananthree." Serif then turned back to face Toriel. "Toriel. Run. I'll kill this Anendotan katharma before he kills anyone else."

Toriel fled through the door behind her, leaving Frisk and Serif behind.

"Just you and me now, katharma." Serif said, reaching his right hand to his left wrist before seemingly pulling a long spine-like structure from it. "I'm going to enjoy flaying you!"

Serif then charged Frisk at high speed, swinging the whip-like sword of a spine when he got close. Seeing the bone of the sword coming, Frisk summoned a shield to block it from hitting him. As predicted, the sword hit the shield. Upon doing so, however, it began twisting around, more than half of it bypassing the shield and setting course back at Frisk. In response, Frisk expanded the shield, expanding further every time the sword coiled around the end. Eventually, it turned into a full aura surrounding Frisk, the spinal sword completely wrapped around it.

"Once again, an impressive shield." Serif complimented. "But how much pressure can you resist?"

The sword began coiling tighter, squeezing hard against the shield. Almost immediately, Frisk began feeling a strain within himself as outward pressure built against the shield.

*Think, Frisk...* he thought. *What can I do...?*

Thinking back to him staring at himself through the mirror, summoning various types of magic, a thought came to him. What if he tried freezing the sword?

Acting on it, Frisk began focusing on the spinal sword that pressed down on the barrier around him. After a few seconds, he sent a pulse of ice magic straight into it. Just as he had thought, the parts hit began freezing, and the parts that were frozen froze the parts around them. In just a few seconds, most of the sword was completely frozen. Catching sight of Serif while this was happening, Frisk noticed a look of astonishment broadcast from his face. In the next moment, Frisk caused the shield to rapidly expand, putting strain on the frozen elements of the sword, until it exploded. As Serif stepped back from the sudden explosion of ice, Frisk charged him, summoning a spike of ice on his own arm. By the time Serif realized what was happening, it was too late. As soon as he got close, Frisk brought the spike over and slammed it straight into Serif's chest, continuing to run as he was impaled, eventually slamming into the wall behind him.

"C... Clever..." Serif coughed out. "I didn't anticipate that you'd turn my own magic against me. Even so..." Serif then began raising one of his arms. "... you should have gone for the head."

Frisk noticed that, after Serif had finished speaking, a red glow appeared around the pupils of his brown eyes. Realizing what was about to happen, Frisk quickly brought up his other arm and summoned another spike of ice, this one immediately shooting out and sinking through Serif's head. Not long after, his body went limp and turned to dust.

Frisk fell backward, the ice encasing his hands melting away into nothing. Upon hitting the ground, Frisk started breathing harder, his arms and legs feeling heavy as they were hard to move.

*Damn...* he thought. *I feel as though I just ran all around Athens...*

As he sat there, trying to catch his breath, he noticed that, from Serif's ashes, a small, heart-shaped object rose. Upon seeing it, Frisk swiped for it. Once inside his grasp, red sparks flew along his arm and into the SOUL. In the next moment, the SOUL exploded, all its particles subsequently imploding into Frisk. Methods of conjuration raced through his head briefly. When it finished, and Frisk opened his eyes back to reality, he found the great exhaustion that clung to him to be gone. No longer suffering from exhaustion, Frisk stood up and proceeded through the doorway that led to the end of the Citadel.