『Mist of the Legion』

"Sikesh," shrieked Gray, before a black goo emerged from the black gem embedded in his silver sword.

"How isn't he dead?" wondered Artemis, constantly stabbing at Gray with her tentacles, however despite his gruesome injuries, he continued struggling.

After several seconds, the blue chains that held Gray down had completely dissolved under the influence of the black goo.

At this point, the red mist that propagated from his skin now shrouded the battlefield in near darkness.

"Princess, get out of the mist," shouted Sirfene, for the first time showing signs of panic.

'I don't know any wind spells. If this mist is what I think it is, then we've already lost this battle,' thought Sirfene as he ascended into the air.

"Hahaha," laughed Gray, although the primary voice sounded like the echo of a collective of beings, amongst the different voices, one could clearly hear Gray's own laugh.

"W-What's going on?" coughed Artemis, the mist made it harder for her to breath, and a searing pain began radiating from her lungs.

"H-Hel-" the muffled screams of elven troops began filling the air, playing a symphony of suffering and despair to the rest of their comrades.

"Souls," echoed Gray's voice, it sounded as if he were everywhere at once, steadily approaching.

'I have to get out of here,' thought Artemis as she began making a break for it. She couldn't afford to aimlessly send out her tentacles for fear of killing her own men.

"P-Please, s-sp-" another elf's voice ended in what sounded like the gurgling of blood.

The mist became thicker with every kill, what started of as a mere red fog, was now a crimson red blanket that hampered vision so much that Artemis could barely see her own hands.

The screams of dying elves soon died down, now not a single sound could be heard within the cloud of red.

Only Artemis remained.

"Souls," although Gray's voice sounded like a collection of beings, this sound actually sounded like it came from more than one source. Something about it made Artemis's skin crawl.

"Souls," shouted the voices once more, before a horde of dried-up, headless elves lunged towards Artemis.

"What the-", although they were a large number, due to their dried up muscles they didn't quite pack a punch, merely causing a few scratches on Artemis's face.

"A necromancer?" whispered Artemis as she used her tentacles to move the moving corpses out of her way.

"Souls!" right as Gray was about to stab through Artemis's body, Sirfene came flying down, grabbing Artemis out of the way just in the nick of time.

"T-Thank you Sirfene," stuttered Artemis as she looked to the ground.

"What spell is this? It's like a sea of blood," muttered Artemis in awe. The crimson blanket that covered the ground was so dense that it seemed fluid, almost as if a red sea had suddenly flooded the ground.

"I don't know princess, but whatever those things are, they aren't undead," replied Sirfene with a grim look on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Those things, they're destroying the mana in the air. I have a hunch on what they are, however, there's no way it could be what I'm thinking about,"

"Anyway, we'll have to retreat for now. This wasn't a complete failure at least. We can still report this to her majesty, something dangerous is brewing, and we ought to prepare for it," continued Sirfene as he flew through the sky, deeper into the forest.

'What is this?' thought Tesse as she tried making out what was going on.

*Miii* cried the cub at her feet, it seemed disturbed by the red mist.

"We have to find the master," said Tesse, picking the cub into her arms before running through the mist.

Her breathing had become labored, however, due to her healing ability, she could withstand the effects for a prolonged period of time.

"Souls," shouted a dried-up elven corpse as it lunged towards her.

"Huh," exclaimed Tesse, kicking the rather weak corpse away.

"What's going on here? Do they have the power to raise the dead?" wondered Tesse as she examined the corpse.

"Souls!" screamed a dozen other dried-up corpses, all running towards Tesse.

"You fucking scum, what have you done the master!" shouted Tesse, anger straining her voice to a near howl.

She dropped the cub and lunged at the group of walking corpses, scratching and punching at them non-stop.

However, even with her increased strength and healing, it seemed as if her life force was being dragged out of her.

'What the? Why isn't my healing working?' thought Tesse as she realized that her injuries weren't healing as fast as they should've.

After scuffling for a few moments, she finally dismembered and/or disabled every corpse in the vicinity.

"I have to find the master quick," whispered Tesse, before picking up the cub and continuing her blinded search.

"Souls," whispered another voice. This one had a distinct sound from the others, however, it sounded weaker, as if it were a flickering flame on the verge of being extinguished.

"Master?"

Two glowing black eyes pierced through the mist in front of her, before a familiar hand grabbed onto her shoulder.

"W-What have they done to you," stuttered Tesse, both anger and sadness audible in her voice as tears began collecting at the rim of her eyes.

"Souls," replied Gray weakly, a black network of veins expressing themselves on one half of his face.

It seemed as if he had aged rapidly over this short period of time, where he should've looked like a healthy 17-year-old boy, he now looked 60, a certain ghastly paleness plaguing his skin.

His touch seemed to suck the energy out of Tesse, even through her suit.

"I-I'll heal you, please wait master," said Tesse, fighting through the feeling of lethargy that came with his touch.

As she raised her hands to Gray's face, a bright light engulfed his body, healing him.

"Souls! Souls! Souls! Souls!" as Tesse healed him, images of more than a million black specters filled her mind. Eating away at her consciousness.

"M-Master," cried Tesse, tears now streaming down her face as she fought the urge to pass out. The specters screams flooded her mind, making her feel as if she were losing her own identity in a pool of lost apparitions.

"Y-You're safe," whispered Tesse before passing out.

Both her and Gray fell to the ground, the mist around them slowly thinning out, and the moving corpses becoming inanimate under the bare sun.

*Nii* cried the cub, poking its paw at Tesse's unconscious body.

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[System Information]

『Mist of the Legion』

Due to an interaction between 『Bloodlust Mode』and the Specters that possessed Gray's body, a new skill was created.

Only usable in his specter possession form, the specters that flood his mind are freed from his body under the effects of the mist, giving them a medium to move in the conscious world and possess the bodies of the fallen.

The mist itself is created by expelling his blood, using it as both a medium for the specters to move in, and as a medium to absorb the lifeforce of those trapped within it.

The fighting strength of a specter-possessed corpse is negligible, without the corpse retaining their strength, speed, skills, or magic they are of very low threat.

However, their numbers are not to be underestimated. Within the low visibly and effects of the『Mist of the Legion』, they can become exponentially dangerous.

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