Hours later, after winding through subterranean hell, the area became wider and the air seemed to be filled with a bloody glow.
Finally, from a jagged ridge they saw it…
"That's a lot." Staring down from atop a large rock, Enzo looked in the distance at an army of infected monsters scattered all over the depression in front.
There were hundreds of them of varying sizes, each forming clusters around, sprawled for battle. This was the guarding army, an army of beasts gathered with the purpose of killing Victoria.
"At least we found the blood pool," Enzo muttered as he noticed, on the far side behind the army of infected, a pool of blood sat surrounded by an altar of white stone.
It was clear what the layout here was: battle through the army and have the opportunity to save your friends.
"Yes, this will be a tough battle though," Victoria spoke calmly, caressing the head of Nibbleskin who sat comfortably in her hand.
"An unnecessary one too," Enzo said begrudgingly.
He had told Victoria everything at the end, but she didn't seem moved. It wasn't that she didn't believe him; rather, she had known this from the start.
Yes, Victoria knew that Thane was not himself, and neither was Kara. They had been taken over.
But still, she pushed on. Why? Enzo didn't understand that at all.
"Enzo, it's very necessary. These are my people. Not just their souls belong to me, but also their bodies. They are my responsibility," Victoria explained.
Watching Thane scheme against her all these weeks was the most painful experience she had gone through in a while. She could remember this innocent slave boy, the hope in his eyes. It was all overwritten by that godforsaken legion.
She hated it, but she endured, waiting for the right moment… She wasn't here to rescue them in the truest sense, no. She was here to make sure they received true rest… one away from all this nonsense.
"Sigh."
Unfortunately, Enzo didn't understand that. He just saw what she was doing as reckless.
"You don't have to help," Victoria muttered reluctantly. Of course, she didn't mean that. He was very crucial to what she had planned.
But her pride…
"Mehh, I'm already here. Besides, I have a score to settle." Enzo smiled sheepishly.
This was a worse situation than he made it out to be, but he had no choice but to be involved. If Victoria was captured, he would fail the voyage and ultimately die.
This was all he could do.
"Thank you," Victoria said as she walked over to the void coffin Enzo had conveniently placed on the side. Her hand caressed its edges as she proceeded to walk straight into it.
"Where's she going?" Thane asked, a look of confusion and panic on his face as he walked over. They had already agreed on what to do: they were going to attack the horde head-on, drawing their attention while Kara and Enzo would head towards the blood pool to free the rest.
"She's preparing," Enzo muttered slowly as a cool breeze blew his hair.
"Preparing?" Thane frowned, then looked to the side where the void coffin stood. Immediately he felt a wave of unbridled power burst from within the coffin, seeping from its sides.
"Oh no, I thought it was destroyed…" Thane muttered, his eyes widened as a chill went down his spine.
When Victoria went to face her brother Raz, she had taken with her two of the strongest treasures of their faction. One was the coffin Enzo had been carrying around all along.
Only Victoria could use it at the time, and it was extremely hard to control. From what he heard, it was later turned against her and used to imprison her until Enzo came along.
As for the second treasure—
-Wang
The doors to the coffin swung open and a fully clad humanoid monstrosity stepped out from within it. Victoria now had a blood-red armor on that smelt of death. Its shoulder pads extended like spikes and the eyes shone with red light.
Red God Battle Angel.
A gift from her father, forged from the core of a dying white star, this armor set placed Victoria on par with the most dangerous beings in the universe.
"Enzo, you and Kara can head to the blood pool. When we're done here, we will join you," Victoria said with an almost robotic voice.
She was confident in slaying every infected here, no matter how strong. However, time was limited. From what she could gather, that parasite far away was undergoing a metamorphosis.
That thing had purposefully kept her here, a challenge of sorts. It wanted her to see it becoming the god of this world.
Victoria could not let that happen, so she had to be fast, extremely fast.
"Okay." Enzo nodded sharply as he got up and walked towards Kara.
Immediately after, Nibbleskin expanded in size into his battle beast form and lowered his head for Victoria to climb.
"One hour, that's all we have," Victoria said, looking down at everyone.
She knew everything that was going on, much more so than Enzo and the rest.
You place a beast that grows stronger by acclimating other beasts on a planet full of strong monsters? That was the mistake of the legion. Now this thing had grown so strong that it was bordering the realm of a god.
Only she could stop it now, and she had to be fast about it.
"Go!!" Victoria barked, causing Nibbleskin to leap forward into the air and directly towards the army of infected.
"Good luck, kid." Thane patted Enzo on the shoulder as he too walked towards the army of infected.
"We'll both need it," Enzo responded with a snide remark, pointing at the fact that Victoria had received a massive power boost.