Chapter 18: Chapter 16: Trial's End

“I’m guessing I have to fight you,” Veronica said to Malachite. He had stood still, unassuming but slightly intimidating.

“Something akin to that,” Malachite said. He began to pull out a giant scythe from a small portal he created. He pulled it out handle first, closing the portal after it fully appeared. “This is my friend Spider.”

“Very original,” Veronica said with snark.

Malachite smirked, “Let’s see how many more jokes you have after this!” As he yelled, he swung the scythe, sending out a blade of bloody slices.

“Interesting,” Veronica thought, jumping out of the way.

“Dodge these ones too!” Malachite yelled, sending out 4 slices.

“Fwoom!” One went straight past her, creating debris and cracking the brick wall it hit. “Fwoom! Fwoom!” Both directly hit her, dealing damage.

{600-}

“Damn, that’s a lot of damage for a non-boss!” Veronica thought. She had to find a way to avoid getting directly hit from that attack. She figured she would combine them with skeletons.

“I forgot, I have skeletal archers!” Veronica thought to herself. With quickness, she said the words, “Summon Archer Skeleton!” she amplified the summoning amount and they rose as soon as she finished.

“Too predictable!” Malachite yelled, sending a slash that destroyed 3 of the 4 skeletons, but left an opening for said 4th to land a hit on this arm with a bone arrow.

“Grh!” It made out an audible sound of pain.

“I just have to use this tactic and maybe mix it up a little bit, and I could beat this trial easily,” Veronica thought to herself, summoning 4 more skeletons.

“Enough!” Malachite growled, sending out a giant wave of blood that sliced through all of the skeletons and directly hit the center of Veronica’s cuirass. A second after being hit, Veronica was too focused on the flowing of the cuirass to take note of the damage that was dealt. The glowing ended, the yellow seeping back into the cuirass.

“Woah,” Veronica said.

“You should be focused on me!” Malachite yelled as he sent another horizontal slice, most of it missing because of Veronica’s near-perfect dodge of it. She saw the glow again.

“Maybe I should try something,” Veronica thought to herself. She narrowed her view directly at Malachite’s scythe, waiting to see his next move. Likewise, he was watching her movements as well, trying to see what she would try so he could counter it.

{Passive Skill: Sunbane]

“Summon Skeleton!” Veronica yelled, creating skeletons that ran to him. He took them out with close-ranged physical attacks, and as he did, Veronica ran to tank the last hit for the last skeleton, letting it hit her in the center. The glow came again, but it was brighter. Her guess was correct, she figured that the cuirass had some sort of built-in counter. A passive that would deal light damage when hit enough, or by enough dark attacks.

“That little brat!” Malachite said out loud before swiping at Veronica with his scythe’s blade. He missed Veronica. She had developed a small habit of jumping out of the way just in time.

“I guess he’s talking about his sister,” Veronica thought to herself. She dodged another swipe from him and then jumped back, preparing to summon another batch of skeletons. “Summon-”

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“No!” Malachite yelled, running forward and slicing at her, and dealing damage

{-300}

“Damn!” Veronica thought. She wasn’t fast enough. Her plan was to get hit by him intentionally while he was using melee attacks on the skeletons, lessening the damage she took while charging the Sunbane Passive. It appeared she didn't think it through too clearly though. She got back and gathered her stance again, ready for the next attack from Malachite. Sure enough, he was back on his assault, scythe readily springing back before he left it go to do a full-force swing at Veronica

Veronica narrowly missed it, but it cut a little piece of her hair off.

“Okay, my best bet to do this is to take dark damage.” Veronica said. The falling strands of hair showed as a reminder of how serious their battle was.

“I’m growing tired,” Malachite said, quickly cutting at Veronica.

“So am I,” she said, dodging most of the attack but still taking some damage.

[-100]

“Okay, it’s going to be risky, but I think this should work.” Veronica thought to herself. After the attack landed, she hit herself with dark damage. It wasn’t even a skill, but she had just remembered Bike using healing magic and not a specific skill all those days ago.

“So it works!” She said, seeing the glow that happened as confirmation of her theory being true. Now she could put her actual plan to action.

“Fwoosh!” Malachite sent out bloody slices that narrowly missed her, Veronica took the time to damage herself more.

“Are you insane?” Malachite asked, jumping at her to get an attack in and doing his own damage as well.

[50-]

“A bit,” Veronica said, jumping back and damaging herself more with dark damage on her hand.”

“Whatever!” Malachite yelled as he went back into the circle of combat for another hit, missing, giving Veronica another chance to damage herself without worry. Eventually, the damage was building up. Veronica saw the glow become stronger and stronger with every hit, until she decided it was time.

“Summon skeletons!” Veronica yelled. The skeletons rose and started an assault on Malachite, attempting to tear at him as he tore them asunder, Veronica used her Mana to summon 4 more skeletons, one of which she destroyed herself.

“Damn skeletons!” Malachite yelled as he slashed at them, clearly saving his saucers for Veronica. But as he was destroying the last skeleton. Veronica dashed forward with a skeletal ribcage around the cuirass. Malachite hit it directly with a physical attack as he did before. His eyes widened, “Shit!”

Just as he said that, the cuirass illuminated the entire room.

{Passive Skill: Sunburst]

In an instant, the cuirass let out light energy, blowing the red light away, Malachite along with it. It sent him flying so fast that he went through a brick wall and landed in an entirely different section of the catacombs. He laid there, still conscious but certainly defeated and out of energy to go on.

Veronica went to him and helped him up, “So, I’m guessing I passed?” She asked with a smile on her face.

“Yes, you pass,” he said as he began to get up. “Don’t be too prideful in yourself, you had some assistance,”

Just before Veronica could ask, she heard the giggle she had become all too familiar with, “Sure did!” The princess dropped down, dusting her heeled shoes off from the catacomb dirt.

“I should have known you would meddle!” Malachite said angrily at his sister.

“Sorry, Mally,” Meryl laughed while covering her mouth. “But you do agree, We should stick to the plan?”

“Sure,” Malachite said after he dusted himself off as well.

“What plan?” Veronica asked both of them.

“The plan for you to prove yourself to our parents,” Meryl said.

“For real this time?” Veronica asked.

“For reals,” Meryl said with a giggle.

“Follow us,” Malachite said, starting to walk into the Catacomb, using his scythe to light the way with its red material.

Veronica followed them fully. The catacomb was a maze, it still felt like even with its tour guides showing her the way. They passed by, went in, and came out of multiple corners that she didn't even think of exploring before. After 4 minutes of walking, they came to some sort of trap attic door. Malachite pulled the lever and it opened.

“Up here,” he said, helping Veronica up.

The group went in some sort of chamber, covered from ceiling to floor in intricate red and black detailing, even with black bricked walls. Veronica was amazed at the chamber, but had to follow along so as to not get lost. Eventually, they made it to what appeared to be the actual amazing design of the building. It took a while for her to notice, but it soon became clear- she was in the Castle.

“This is the castle?” Veronica asked.

“Yep,” Meryl said, followed by a nod from Malachite, who had put his scythe away. The chandelier light was more than enough for them. They went up a pair of stairs, leading onto a carpet.

“Watch your step!” Malachite said, holding Veronica back before stepping on the carpet. He placed a handkerchief down for her to clean her shoes with. She swiftly wiped them.

“Fancy much?” She thought to herself. They continued going forward, eventually coming into a grand door surrounded by servants. They were all cloaked in red and gold. As soon as the royals that acted as Veronica’s tour guides were noticed, the atmosphere changed. They all assumed upright postures and stopped talking amongst themselves.

Malachite motioned his hand up, the servants nodded and opened the grand door before his hand had even finished landing back to his side.

The world it revealed, was one of clear luxury, gold, red, and black gothic accessories decorated the walls. The chandelier shined with reflective black diamonds on it. It was the biggest and brightest chandelier in the castle Veronica had seen.

Quickly, Veronica saw who was in the throne room, it was all of her allies.

“Where have you been?” Cardinal yelled.

Before she responded, she was stopped. “Who is this?” The woman's voice questioned.

Veronica looked. It was clear the woman was none other than the Queen of Wistgardia.