Epic of Caterpillar

Ding!

[You and your Party have slain an incredible quantity of foes!]

[Calculating EXP earned…]

[You earned 38650000 EXP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 25 to Level 32!]

[All Your Stats have increased!]

[You Earned Bonus Stat Points and Skill Points!]

After glancing at her gains, Kireina nodded with a confident smile. She had leveled up seven times more after acquiring the EXP from all slain Undead, including the shared EXP of the slain Necrotic Death Overlords.

Her max level was now one hundred, so she was barely a third before her next, and probably very powerful evolution. Nonetheless, this boost in stats also boosted her confidence, as she led her party to the Netherworld Tower's top trough the skies.

In there, they found her.

Elfina.

She was sitting over a throne made of bones, zombies, and ghosts, which seemed to be an Undead of its own. Her entire body was covered from head to toe with a Black Armor which emanated a deadly Necrotic Power and Miasma Essence.

And using this armor as its vessel, while also Elfina herself, there was something else, a darker, and more monstrous presence. It wasn't even originated from this world, but from Genesis itself, where Kireina had come from.

Kireina's new allies were all about to confront an enemy that came from her very world to kill her, it surprised them, but they simply couldn't leave their friend fight her alone.

Even less when she was using the body of Elfina as her vessel.

"Is that Elfina?!" Frank wondered. "She's completely covered by a terrifyingly powerful Ego Armor… It is parasitizing her own body and infusing her body with Miasma and Necrotic Energy…"

"Elfina!" Luminous roared, his eyes filled with fury after seeing her being used like a tool.

"Young Lady Elfina… How could they use you for such a thing?!" Fiere cried, gritting her teeth. "We'll free you, Lady Elfina!"

"Ah, the fragments of a past I want to forget." Elfina sighed, her voice, unlike always, was devoid of her energetic vibe and childishness. She seemed bored of everything, and at the same time, heartless and emotionless.

"Lady Elfina… Your heart feels so cold, your eyes feel so lifeless… What have they done to your beautiful smile?" Sol sighed.

"She's not here…" Fiere sensed it. "The real Elfina is not the one talking right now, it is merely an aspect of her emotions, but not the real one!"

"Well, it's not as if we don't know who's behind this. HEL! Show yourself!" Kireina confronted Hel, knowing that talking directly with Elfina would be futile. Her eyes were sharp red and her glance seemed completely lost. The girl wasn't even present here.

Her shadows slowly started to distort, forming into the appearance of a pale young girl with long white hair and sharp red eyes. Kireina immediately sensed her. She wasn't here completely. But a large part of her powers and souls were summoned here through Elfina's powers.

Could the Genie and the Demon King somehow use Elfina's powers to summon Hel here and make Hel use Elfina as her vessel? It was the only reason Kireina could find about how she ended here out of the blue.

"Kireina! You're finally here…! I've been DYING to see you!" Hel laughed, her phantasmal shadow form distorted, resembling a monstrous specter, or a banshee. With long and sharp fingers, and a creepy smile.

The daughter of Loki and the one that betrayed the World of Genesis to attain the Title of a Supreme Goddess of Death and the End, and the one Kireina had intended to end since she sailed into the Miasmic Sea of Death was now here, right in front of her once more.

"With the same terrible sense of humor as usual, huh?" Kireina smirked. "It is a pity the real you is not here, I would had loved eating you alive."

"Hahahaha… Bwahahahahah!" Hel laughed. "Oh you're such a funny comedian sometimes! You've only come here to delay the inevitable. This entire world- well, perhaps only half of it? Will be swallowed by the Nether Void, and it shall become nothing but nourishment for the Netherworld Realm!"

"Not if we stop you!" Luminous roared furiously, channeling his Primordia Light Divinity and his Daos. "I will not allow an otherworldly deity to destroy the world I've been working hard to maintain! I have just finally maturated, this world has yet to end! It has a future… I saw it!"

"Huh, the only god of this world is but a pitiful lizard?" Sighed Hel. "Well, struggle as much as you want! If you ever want the world to not end, do your best!"

Hel laughed evilly, as Elfina quickly stood up from her throne.

CRACKLE!

Her entire throne began to shapeshift and distort around her own body, covering her completely and then fusing into a gigantic armor of flesh and bones, Elfina couldn't even be seen anymore, and the thing they were confronting could be said to be something like…

"I've figured out a way to make this fun! Elfina has now become a pseudo Netherworld Death Queen by channeling the powers of this entire formation! I do wonder… can you defeat her before everything is destroyed?!" Laughed Hel.

"We sure can! And we'll free her!" Roared Fiere, pointing her blazing arrows at Elfina.

"We'll do so!" Said Sol. "As a Knight myself, I would never raise my own hand against a lady I loved, but this… is different! Elfina, I hope you can bear with this!"

"Alright!" Kireina said. "Fiere, Sol, Luminous, Brunhilda, and I will take down Elfina! Frank, Ariant, Eriant, you three destroy that Black Crystal with everything you've got!" Kireina commanded.

"Very well!" Everyone seemed to agree.

"Come with me!" Frank said, bringing the twins at his side by spreading his Shadows and shaping them into two hands, grabbing the twins rather forcefully.

"W-Woah! W-Wait, don't be so rough!" Cried Ariant.

"We can fly by ourselves, you know?!" Eriant panicked.

FLAAASH!

As the three went to destroy the crystal atop the skies, Elfina began moving towards Kireina's group

"Everything… I will end everything… And like that… Like… that… We'll finally be at ease…" Elfina sounded completely broken, as if she was asking to be saved.

"Don't worry dear! We'll save you." Kireina said confidently.

CLAAAASH!