As Kai Xin walked slowly and raised his arms up to the air to indicate that he was not there for a fight, it was all going to go downhill now.
"Kai! Get back!"
Zach continued to raise his voice to get Kai Xin's attention and to stop him from trying to communicate with the remnants of these Slayers.
The statue-like undead who were still holding their weapons up began to swing it at Kai Xin.
He easily dodged them by leaping upwards.
"Everyone! Battle stances! We will call them the 'Reanimated' for now."
Kai said as he instructed the others to get ready for a fight.
Zachary provided a suppressing barrage of spells to help Kai back out and recon with them.
He took out his grimoire and began casting a spell.
"Azure : Flamethrower!"
A concentrated blue beam of fire came out of Zachary's palms as he aimed it at the Reanimated with no hesitation.
Roars were heard from their mouths as their skins were burnt away. The sound of crackling skin was haunting to those who were there.
Yin called forth the black lightning from the skies and enchanted his fists. The C Rank Slayer was ready to throw hands right now.
"Do not hold back! They are no longer one of us! I do not know what happened to them or who the hell did this, but it is either us or them! Treat them as you will the Angels or monsters!"
Kai shouted.
Cosette began rushing at the burning Reanimated Slayers with all her might.
She started by decapitating one of them to render them immobile.
June Alcindor, who was still in tears at the horror he was seeing right before them, was attempting to cast a skill for pretty long now.
"Gale Typhoon!"
He shouted while sniveling.
A typhoon the size of a house began to manifest out of thin air in front of him.
"Everyone! Back off for a bit!"
He shouted, in order for them to avoid getting caught up in his spells.
Kai doubled down on June's warnings and told them to disengage right now.
The sheer concentrated Anima cells this kid was focusing was definitely no joke. Kai realized that the High Council placed him in the squad for a reason.
His Anima control was very good for that of a rookie.
The typhoon slowly turned larger and larger until it had swallowed in the 5 Reanimated Slayers whole.
Kai observed if that did significant damage to them.
"Remember, they are no longer Slayers under the servitude of Niflheim! Their anima cells are still active but it is far more volatile than ever, I have the feeling that this battle is going to be far from over…"
Sure enough, Kai Xin's words were true.
As June Alcindor's spell typhoon finished its cyclonic attack, it had vanished and become one with the earth.
Yin clapped his hands together once.
He was now ready to do whatever it took to put these poor restless souls out of their torment.
"We did not sign up for this…"
Cosette said under her breath, Zachary heard her, however.
"Yeah, neither did I. Neither did everybody else in here."
The rookie Fire Slayer said as he gripped his scythe hard to quell his anxiousness.
When the typhoon's aftermath finally subsided, what greeted their sights were the five Reanimations still limping towards them.
One of them mouthed something out, but no voice ever came out of its mouth.
They could just barely make out what the ex-Slayer wanted to convey.
"K-Kill me…"
Kai took out his grimoire and casted an advanced enchantment spell.
He applied elemental enchantments of fire to his limbs and got ready for combat.
But before that, the S Rank Fire Slayer bowed to the Reanimated Slayers walking their way.
"I hope your souls find peace."
Kai gripped his sword and dashed forwards, cutting all of their legs off. He saw what Cosette Akim did earlier in order to limit their mobility and the Dragon saw that it was definitely effective.
Their bones were severed cleanly as Kai Xin chopped them all off in one swing.
The Reanimated Slayers fell to the group with no proper ground support.
"Finish them off, Yin!"
"Got it!"
It was now Yin Sohaya's time to put an end to their suffering.
Yin took off the restrictive gloves that The Commander gave him and proceeded to activate his decay aura.
"Get them, Yin!"
Cosette shouted as she cheered on her friend.
Yin nodded and rushed at three of them, sending them flying with his fists as well as crumbling them into dust afterwards.
"I-Impossible…How is he doing that?"
June Alcindor was both confused and amazed at the same time. After all, he had ever seen anything like this before.
"Zach! Cosette! Take each one of them out!"
"Alright!"
Cosette took out her grimoire and made the entire ground shake lightly, just enough to stop these Reanimations from crawling after them.
She threw her grimoire to the ground and leaped towards one, with a huge revved up swing from the back, she successfully decapitated one of them.
But this was difficult to do for her, she still saw them as her co-Slayers serving the Emperor and fighting for the banner of Niflheim's freedom.
Zachary Lancaster took care of the other one left with ease as he split it up in half with his blue, burning scythe.
"May you find peace."
Zach said before he sliced the last one.
They ran towards June and helped the young rookie calm himself down.
"What the hell is happening to this place…"
Cosette said as she sighed.
"It keeps getting worse and worse every single time I come out here, I swear."
Kai Xin shook his head.
"Just what the hell are these things, Kai?"
Zachary asked their squadron leader.
"From the looks of it, it seems they are the dead corpses of our fellow Slayers. Their squad was probably sent here and got turned into one of these things by another monster we do not know about. Judging from their earlier wounds before we even made contact and attacked them, they already had injuries which were fatal." Kai Xin took out his notebook and wrote about the encounter with the Reanimated Slayers. "I am going to write about these things in my report. For now, I will send a message via my carrier pigeon back to the Grand Castle. I am telling them that we are pursuing the mission and are tracing the root of this abominable evil…"
Kai Xin's anger was palpable even more now.
As much as he was carefree, Kai cared about the Slayers in the Corps.
"Did you know someone here, Kai?"
Yin asked in a sad tone.
"No. But I do know they are our brothers and sisters in arms. Till death and towards their last dying breaths. I will never forgive the person who did this."
The S Rank Fire Slayer announced.
"Let's go, then." Yin turned around and pointed towards the direction north of them. "I want to avenge our comrades. Nobody deserves to go out and have them breathe their last breath only to get reanimated and fight their allies. How truly damn despicable of these Angels or whatever monster it might be who did this."
Yin Sohaya was locked in.
Cosette calmed June down as they went on forwards.
"So, this is the life of a Slayer in the Corps…"
June said as he kept his head down.
"Make sure you are strong enough to survive the next conquest you get deployed to, June. You are strong. Just focus more on your spellcasting, you will be a valuable asset to humanity in the long run."
Kai sad as he turned around and placed his hand on June's shoulders for a second.
"By the way, terrific symphony of attacks back there, all four of you. You really did good." The Dragon complimented them. "But if we come across an Archangel or a Seraphim, well, they are pretty much the same thing, promise me that you will turn tail and run off without me."
He said.
"That's absurd. You know full well we are not leaving you to fend off against a Seraphim."
Zach protested.
He had read about the Seraphims back in his youth.
The very first report of one which was taken down by the Basilisk Slayer was Sarathiel, one of the Twelve Seraphims.
"No offense, Kai. You definitely do not seem stronger than sir Artorias." Yin's words irked Kai off, but no longer after what he said next. "But with all of us fighting alongside you, we would definitely have a much better chance of taking these Angels down."
Kai could not help but laugh.
"You kids have a death wish or something?"
He asked.
"I-I would also not leave without all of us making it out safely, sir. I am prepared to deal with the repercussions of not listening to your orders but I will do so only if we get back home in one piece."
June Alcindor's words were serious.
This had made Kai laugh even more.