Truth of Rot

Kan'na stretched out her hand, several magic circles began to spread across the battlefield. Spreading outwards with a chain reaction. Circle after circle, they appeared around the feet of the Guild members, anyone alive found one underneath them. 

Raising her finger she was mere moments from triggering the spells, all meant to teleport everyone to safety. The circles spun and brightened. . . then shattered. A mocking laughter rang about, "You think you can leave? After what you've done?!"

Kan'na raised her hand and formed a magic circle to see it shatter. Yet her gaze turned from the magic circle to her hand. Slowly her skin seemed to take a sickly appearance. Looking about she spotted everyone else suffering similar effects.

Yielya had it worse, she was shaking violently trying to keep herself up. Gripping her staff as support she found her skin sinking and tightening around her bones. Eventually she no longer had strength and collapsed to her knees. 

Tilia knelt and asked, "What's going on?"

"Probably because I'm still Second Stage. . . This Rot is taking effect quicker than it is to you."

Repeatedly summoning various magic circles Kan'na then soon found the issue. The Rot inflicted upon her was interfering with the creation of magic circles. As the mana traveled through her body it too was inflicted with the Rot. The magic circle fell apart at a fundamental level and thus failed. As she tried to use the ambient mana to form the magic circles she frowned.

It worked, technically. The magic circle didn't shatter. Yet it lacked the power and effects of The Key to All. She didn't have enough strength to teleport everyone away, at most she could teleport one person at a time. Immediately she moved to Yielya and explained this.

Yielya coughed as she almost laughed, "No good? Well, we're screwed then."

Travis clenched his fist and felt the Holy energy within him fight against the Rot. As a different species of both Abyss and Holy he had some resistance to the Rot. Yet it was clear that he was not immune, and a Threefold Truth was simply too strong. Especially from a Fourth Stage. 

< The Truth of Rot takes effect! >

< Those who die while under its effect will suffer a major death penalty! >

The Undead King descended to the ground and pointed a scepter, "You all, without fail, will Rot!"

The weaker players of the Guilds were the first to fall. Their death removed a significant amount of levels and Stats. Essentially setting them back days worth of progress. As this news spread to the other Guild members a mass panic took place. Their desire to fight to the end was overwritten with the desire to not lose their progress. Immediately they fled, sprinting towards the boundary of the Territory.

Determined Souls, Bakery Basics, and the three players from the Gated Arena started to escape now that their targets were dealt with. Regrouping they sprinted away, but several traps suddenly sprang upwards and snagged several of them.

Ninn looked to the side and spotted a zombified Nime placing traps on the floor. Immediately she turned and threw one of her knives through the air and it implanted itself on an invisible Hairn. His zombified self now forced out of stealth. Uyana moved almost immediately upon realizing what was occurring. Several floating cherry blossoms descended as the traps were cut apart. Hairn and Nime had zero mercy as she sliced them apart. 

"Get moving!", she commanded.

Yet several of them fell to the ground. Immen gripped the dirt as he struggled to lift himself back up. The Rot had weakened many of them to the point they couldn't move. Uyana, thanks to Synced Nexus, stood in a far better condition. Immediately she caused a swirl of cherry blossoms to surround the fallen players, slicing the approaching undead.

Yemm rolled and sat down with a sigh, "Any of us who can move best get going. The rest of us will buy time at most."

"What?"

"Those are orders Uyana! You're the only one here who's in good enough shape to escape unscathed! Leave us be and get moving! The rest of us will try to not let them chase you down."

"I won't be the sole survivor here!"

Quol clicked his tongue, "But you will be a pointless casualty! That sword of yours seems quite rare, so get moving! The rest of our equipment is gone, you certainly have a purpose to escape!"

Uyana grit her teeth and sheathed Wooden Blossoms. Hesitating for a moment she turned around and sprinted. As she traveled a thunderous boom of Silver Aura would knock several undead aside. Upon seeing the energy bit her cheek and further intensified her sprint.

Scenes like this spread to the players. As they weakened they couldn't walk any further and were attacked by the horde of undead and turned into undead themselves. Friends were taken down by their comrades, and the Guilds began to suffer a tremendous loss. 

Akiol noticed these and immediately felt the weight of responsibility. It was him who organized this raid, and now he owned a part of responsibility for these losses! Who knew just how bad the death punishment would be, but everyone was here because of him!

Bending his knees he launched forward, "All of you leave!"

Sword flickering forward he clashed with the scepter of the Undead King. The sunken eyes of the Undead King's skull looked at Akiol, "None leave! Not alive!"

Givale spun through the air and transformed mid air. Unsheathing her daggers she aimed to dig them into the Undead King's back. The Rot affecting her was also tampering with her magic, and she couldn't properly utilize it without substantial risk.

Mira remained fine, his regenerative properties far outweighed the Rot. Jumping into battle he swung his axe, two copies made of Spirit manifested on each side of the axe. The Undead King moved swiftly, thrusting a palm towards Mira he shot forth a wave of the green energy which knocked him in the opposite direction. Snagging the wrists of Givale he spun her around and summoned a wave of green energy to slam her into the ground.

Akiol zipped past the scepter and swung Stars towards one of the wounds. The Undead King caught Stars, but to his surprise Akiol abandoned his grip on the sword and threw a fist towards the Undead King's face. 

Dodging the strike he tossed the sword aside and clashed with Akiol. Gripping Akiol's head he aimed to throw him downwards but found Akiol's body morphed out of the grip. 

Opportunity suddenly descended from the air and swung downwards onto the Undead King's shoulders. Ryolu flew at an increased speed and morphed into her human form mid flight, keeping the momentum she executed a flying kick onto the spiral wound on the Undead King's chest.

Grabbing Ryolu's legs he slammed her into the dirt and stomped onto her knee, crushing the bone. Opportunity hooked her axes and pulled the Undead King back with as much strength as she could muster but could not budge him! 

The scepter flew and slammed into Opportunity's stomach which loosened her grip on her axes. Spinning around the Undead King unleashed a blast of green energy which sent flipping back. Grabbing the axes he gripped them tightly, rust spiraled across them before he shattered them with a clenched fist.

Givale stabbed into his calf and space swirled on the impact before slowly returning to normal. Gripping her head the Undead King lifted her up, "How utterly youthful of you Dragon. Far too prideful to know you're aiming for something far beyond your reach!"

< All Reaching Dragon declares that's her specialty! >

"All Reaching means nothing!"

The scepter flung forward towards Givale but a bronze semi-translucent shield blocked its path. It rang out from the impact and Tilia felt her skin spasm. Her shield was barely on the verge of cracking against the higher Stage opponent, but she still was able to hold on without it breaking! 

Akiol recovered Stars and turned, "What are you all doing? Go!"

Opportunity immediately argued, "As if! We're seeing this until the end!"

Kan'na arrived behind Tilia, "We can't save anyone but ourselves anyway. The Rot has already done too much in damage and they're going to die regardless. Only those in Third Stage have a chance to live, and it looks like all of us are here."

Travis frowned and watched as the black triangles on his body shattered. Immediately his strength dropped, not just from the removal of a Berserk ability but also from the aftereffects. Just as he was about to sheathe his blades and take the opportunity to escape, Averoth manifested in the corner of his eye.

"Running are we?"

"It's clear we can't win."

"Isn't stopping them.", Averoth pointed to the battle.

"I have a lot to lose."

"Sigh, if it weren't for the promise I made earlier I would've left you to make that mistake. However I am a man of my word if nothing else.", Averoth looked towards Travis, "Stay."

Travis gripped his blades, it would just take a single moment to get out of this area with [Truth Twofold: Existence], yet Averoth's words were compelling.

"Damn! From now on I'm not mixing myself up with anything else to do with Six Lights!", Travis made himself a promise and dashed towards the Undead King.

Akiol sprinted and joined Travis' dash. The two swung towards the Undead King, Travis aimed at another revealed mark while Akiol swung towards an open wound. The scepter flew forward to block the attack but was blocked by a kite shield manifesting. Tilia placed her helmet on and with a click [Ignition] took place. Downing a bottle of the Droplets of Life she also gained the effect of [Life Stirring].

Kan'na made the ambient mana turn into various magic circles. Although lacking in efficiency or power, she still could participate in this battle! 

Many were tired, Berserk skills were not much of an option, Yielya couldn't heal, magic was being thwarted by Rot, their bodies were slowly being eaten away by the Rot, and their trump cards were dwindling. The Undead King knew this, he could feel a sense of desperation in their fighting. Yet still they fought, and not a single Third Stage fled! 

How infuriating!