-BOOM-

And then Aki wasn't there anymore. Caramella blinked owlishly and then grabbed for the sword that had somehow been left behind. The Ninja girl threw her chain knife and Caramella cried out as the blade sank into her forearms before a pair of long, pale tendrils closed around the zombie, wrapping around her waist, wrists, and ankles, snaking around her neck, and coiling over her chest. Then they began to constrict.

Caramella stared, clutching at her forearm as the Zombie was lifted from the deck, struggling and kicking furiously. Rising from a deck hatch, body squeezing through a space that by all reason shouldn't have been able to hold him. The researcher turned slug type mob, Kimura, casually tossed aside a still smoking cannon with a loud -clunk- before turning his attention back to his . . . Caramella almost used the word 'Victim', but she didn't know if it applied.

Kimura regarded the zombie curiously and then began to squeeze. The girl fought back, arms straining, teeth sinking into one of the tentacles as if to bite free. But Kimura simply squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed.

The Swordswoman actually felt her stomach knot up, the girl was literally getting smaller under the tremendous pressure. Fae bodies were tough, tougher than a human by a long shot, but even they had their limits. At first, flesh resisted, bones and tissues much stronger than any humans bearing the incredible stress. Squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed. A strange organic groaning came, accompanied by crunches and pops as ribs began to crack and splinter, limbs were slowly pull free from their sockets, and soft tissues were pulped to nothing. Squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed. Then, with a final wrenching motion, Kimura squeezed just a little bit further and the thing, which by this point no more resembled a human being than a hunk of hamburger dressed in blood soaked clothing, simply broke apart, limbs, head, and torso squeezed neatly into pieces.

The slug let the bits of Zombie fall to the deck with a curious expression before looking over to Caramella and Wales. "Wales-sama." Kimura lifted the ridiculous hat that he had come to wear at all times. The gesture was so ludicrous that it almost made Caramella's mind rebel against what she'd just seen him do. It was easy to forget just how dangerous a slime type mob could be, it had been Kayaba Akihiko's own little inside joke to make them high level monsters. "Caramel-chan."

For once she was glad that the bastard was on their side, "I could kiss you right now." The slug blinked his large, golden eyes with interest. "I mean . . . I could hug you right now." Caramella corrected. "Erm, pat you on the head . . . Eh, you're alright Kimura-kun."

"I suppose I could settle for a small favor of your affections." The slug said in his maddeningly calm voice.

She snorted in disgust at the thought of what she knew he was asking for. "Not just no . . . but hell no." She replied before grabbing her sword and helping Wales to his feet.

"Caramella, this has gone on long enough!" Arguile shouted as he he finally arrived. The other Zombies had been clued in by the distraction on the top deck and the open path presented by the Eagle's bow. Three more of the undead Fae were already climbing onto the deck as Kimura began to cower back down, remembering the way that Arguile had sliced him nearly to ribbons on their first day in Halkegenia.

Caramella and Wales followed close behind, Wales delivering a parting wind shrike to keep the Zombies at bay while Kimura closed and barricaded the hatch. Loud hammering came from overhead, but the Eagle's deck was built of old hardwood and magically warded. The Zombie could probably chop their way through, but that would take at least a few minutes.

"Okay." Caramella looked around. "What now."

Stupid question, now they waited. Kino would be back soon. In the mean time they just had to keep the undead hoard from bursting in and killing them all in horrific and indescribable ways.

Looking around, they were on the Eagle's gun deck, dimly lit by what little light was seeping in through the few open gun ports which were guarded by fully loaded cannons. There were around twenty men on the deck with them, all commoners except an officer at the back who was half unconscious from his wounds.

"Prince Wales, Sir!" One of the Sailors lowered his musket and saluted.

"Airman Evans." Wales breathed. "What is going on here.

The man grimaced. "Well we've . . . as you can see . . ."

"They hit the dock, climbed up from below like some kind of spiders." Another of the airmen said. "We didn't notice them until it was almost too late. Would have gotten the drop on all of us if not for this lad." He gestured to still form that had been lain out on a cot. Caramella recognized him, Guiche, the damn little pervert that Wardes had dragged along with him. The boy's head was swaddled in bandages and as he breathed, an unpleasant grinding noise rose and fell.

Beside the unconsciouss mage, an animal the size of a small bear huffed softly, fretting over him like a dog and its pups.

"I see." Wales said.

"So, Sir Lucane didn't sound the alarm then." Evans said.

"No." Wales answered quietly. "No he did not. But we sent Kino for reinforcements, they should be here presently."

"Aye, good lad, good lad." Evans grunted, exchanging nods with some of the other airmen. "If that's the case, we'll stop'm here sir for as long as it takes for Mister Kino to get back."

They were silenced as a regular chopping noise began above their heads. The Zombies, it seemed, had found some of the ships axes and were starting to go to work on cutting their way through the deck.

"Make ready men, load muskets." Wales ordered, we need only hold them for a brief time.

Surprisingly, the sailors seemed entirely less frightened then they should be. "Eh? Muskets?" Evans asked. "We've got something a bit better'n that. Show'm Mister Kimura."

Blinking once in the dimness, Kimura opened his slime filled mouth and extracted a quartet of ominous cylinders. It took Caramella a moment to realize that they were light deck cannons like the one Kimura had used on , that explained where he was keeping them. The muzzle of each loaded gun had been covered by a wrapped canvas sheet to prevent Kimura's slime from going down the barrel and interfering with the gunpowder.

"All that's missing," Kimura said calmly, "Is an 'Ominous Hum'."

"Mister Kimura." Wales quirked his brow. "You do know how to use those?"

"Oh yes." Kimura seemed to smile, though Caramella was never sure with him. "I've been practicing. Like I said, Cannons are cool."

The chopping was changing in pitch, the Zombies finally had the tempo and had found a weak spot in the deck. The sailors grabbed their muskets, and Kimura readied his cannons. Caramella pushed Wales back away from the noise, putting herself between him and any danger.

The axes broke through one after another, super human strength cutting a narrow hole that was then widened swiftly from the sides.

"Fire! Mister Kimura!" Wales shouted and the slug touched off the lighter of one of his cannons. The gun had been loaded with shot and the resulting blast would have made any zombie survival officianado envious. The Leading zombie was reduced to a cloud of blood red mist, and so was the next.

Muskets cracked within the confines of the deck as the airmen added their fire, aiming for heads, that seemed to slow them down at least. Each time the Zombies made some progress, Kimura fired one of his cannons, but with each shot that was one less to hold the next wave.

Finally, Kimura threw his emptied cannons at the next trio of zombies before resorting to grappling with his tentacles. Most of these people were former 'civilians' not even at Caramella's level, most were probably even lower than Kino. But weak was a relative thing, after all, Caramella was still squishy enough for a human to shank her to death for all she could beat a grown man to a pulp, and besides, the dead were fearless.

One zombie, an older, graying man, tall and wielding a spear, lopped off one of Kimura's tentacles, and when Kimura tried to grab him, his partner, a dye job thug who Caramella vaguely remembered, took off another.

The sailors were driven back losing two of their numbers to the super humanly strong freaks before Caramella managed to neutralize one via swift decapitation, locking swords with another, a black haired boy with a bowl cut. God, he couldn't have been any older than Kino.

'Don't think of him as a kid'. Caramella thought. 'Don't think of him as a kid. It's just a thing moving his corpse around.'

Wales noticed her hesitation and ended the stalemate with a swift air needle to the back of the boy's skull. And then . . . and then the zombies stopped poring in, and the sound of muskets came from on high.

Caramella looked up through the hole in the deck in time to see one of the Zombies dance as he was riddled by musket balls and then the sound of more firing, shouts, and cries to attack. Caramella nodded to Wales and some of the sailors as they booster her out through the hole. There were no Zombies left on the deck, instead, the surviving dozen undead were running across the docks to meet the reinforcements. Twenty Musketeers and twenty pikemen stood at the base of the stairs, forming an advancing human wall as a pair of mages cast behind them.

At first they beat them back, the combination of shot and magic crippling several more of the Zombies, but the mages didn't yet realize what they fighting and were slow to switch to fire or dismembering attacks. This gave the remaining undead time to close, and wherever they neared, commoner troops died.

The Zombies didn't care if they were were shot, and didn't hesitate when they were sliced or impaled. Two sacrificed themselves, taking the brunt of the commoner spears and opening the way for Arguile to slash a path through to the backpedaling musketeers.

The zombies had been smart, they'd sacrificed their weakest when they had assaulted the Eagle to try and use up their shots. Now the the remaining ten were tearing their way through the shattered reinforcements like a pack of berserk velociraptors in a den of baby kittens. The mages were the only ones who could make a difference, but not without hitting their own men.

Caramella sprinted to help, not sure what she could do, but sure that she had to do something, just as the second wave leaped over the withdrawing musketeers.

Red, her first impression was that of pure redness as a small, coppery haired woman met a downward slash from Arguile and was sent stumbling back.

"Not so fast! I'll be your opponent!" The woman shouted confidently, dodging to the side and guarding again as Arguile spun about. She was followed into the breach by a pair of walking tanks wielding broadswords, and then a trio of more lightly armored fighters, a red robed girl, and . . .

Kino broke into the lead almost immediately, her deadly little partner picking his fist target, using his small size to stay low, slashing at the legs of one zombie before sending out of a fistful of throwing picks at eye level to blind another.

The other Faeries started spreading out, picking a zombie and giving it hell, the armored warriors wading into the worst of its while their leader dueled with the fallen Clearer. She was good, Caramella thought, fast and precise. She could keep up with Arguile, that was all that needed to be said.

The fight stalemated, the balance of inherited skill seemed to lay with the remaining zombies who had been among the stronger 'civilian' players while their fearlessness and ability to suffer mortal injury simply tilted the odds even more in their favor. They were still losing, but not as fast as they ought to be, thanks in large part to Arguile holding the attention of the strongest fighters and matching them all at once.

"Kino, switch!" Caramella barked as she overtook her partner, delivering a blow that severed the off arm of their own a opponent, another twenty something she'd barely met. The more she fought these things, the more she was grateful that only a few had been as sociable and outgoing as Aki. But at the same time, that just made it worse. These faces could be anyone. Good, bad, now all that they were was puppets for something evil.

The copper haired woman got the drop on Arguile, finally getting into his guard, she let out a roar of victory as her sword plunged into his chest, only realizing her mistake a moment too late. It had been a reflexive attack, and definitely a mortal blow against any living thing, but that was the problem, living thing.

Arguile's hand reached out, peeling her own grip from her sword. He withdrew the blade, flourishing it once experimentally, and delivered a swift strike to a joint in the woman's lightweight body armor. A gasp of pain was all that came out before he grabbed her by the head and threw her to the side.

"Commander Lydia!" One of her armored subordinates stepped between Arguile and the stricken woman, swinging his broadsword with startling speed. But again, it was like a repeat of Arguile's last fight against Sir Dunwell. He was a Clearer, and no matter how good his opponent was, the other man simply was not.

Arguile's strikes were precise and relentless, seeking the precious few weak points in the heavy armor until his blade were intercepted by Caramella's own sword.

"Hey now, how bout we leave the newbies out of this." She took her sword in a two hand group, matching Arguile who had slightly less leverage with his smaller sword and damaged chest. Even so, it took everything she had to hold him back.

Then it got easier, and easier. At first she didn't know what to make of it. An electrical rush that filled her and spread into her limbs, numbing the aches and making her whole body feel like she was back at the peak of the endorphin high rather than on the verge of burning out. Then she heard the chanting and saw the red cloaked girl standing off under the watchful guard of one of the other swordsmen.

"Hey!" Caramella shouted."Keep it up!"

The girl nodded, repeating her chant, Caramella feeling herself being hit up with another surge as the strength buff took full effect. Every muscle in her arms, shoulders, and back screamed as she matched and then overcame Arguile, driving him back. The Knight glanced to the side and then leaped back as a blade narrowly missed him.

"Kino!" Caramella shouted.

"Right!"

They launched themselves forward, Kino diving in to slash every time that Caramella guarded, Kino's attacks making openings for Caramella's thrusts. Arguile stumbled backward, losing the initiative.

Caramella's sword bit into Arguile's off arm, cutting through muscles and tendons, the limb fell limp. Kino followed, a throwing knife grazing Arguile's left eye. Slowly, they were taking their dead friend apart, muscles, tendons, joints. Every blow reduced him and his ability to fight back.

Suddenly Arguile did something unexpected, kicking out, he caught Kino, throwing the boy into Caramella, turn around for what she had done earlier with Aki. The brief opening was all the Clearer needed to stab out, solemn expression never changing.

-fwoosh-

The blast wasn't very big, but it had been right on target. Arguile staggering back as his head was consumed in flames. The Salamander mage who had buffed Caramella panted anxiously as she observed her handiwork, and then went even paler as Arguile turned to face her. Or would have, if he had much of a face left.

Caramella probably would have lost her lunch if she hadn't been in the midst of a buffed blood frenzy at that moment. The eyes, his eyes were the only thing that was mostly intact, and they tracked the girl lidless, huge, and obscene now that the skin had been burned away.

Arguile, or rather, the Zombie of Arguile, the disfigurement made it so much easier to think of it as the monster it was, made right for the girl who was now frozen in terror. Her swordsman guard got in the way and was swiftly overwhelmed, he would have been beheaded if Caramella hadn't moved just then. Blade sliding close along Arguile's own she managed to repeat the impaling strike that had thrown Lydia off guard. But now, with only one good arm, Arguile couldn't take advantage of it.

"You want your sword back? Here, take it!" Caramella screamed as she drove the undead back, slamming him into the stone wall, the Aincrad alloy and its incredibly keen blade finding a gap and sinking in. He was pinned like a bug.

"You, girl!" Caramella cried.

The Mage girl looked startled.

"You're a mage right?"

The girl's eyes widened, she nodded hesitantly.

"Then torch this thing, now!" Arguile let out an inarticulate roar.

There was a split second of indecision, just a heartbeat of hesitation before she began to chant. Casting away her staff, a light gathered in her hands, building, first glowing dull red, then orange, yellow, then white. Caramella ducked clear as the girl thrust her hands forward, a geyser of flames exploding outward and crashing into the wall. The fire didn't just burn, and hiss, it roared, and Caramella felt the heat frazzling the hairs of her neck as she continued to back away.

An unearthly scream came from the depths of the flames. Not something that could be created by a human, nor by a Faerie. Whatever it was, it scared Caramella to the bottom of her soul.

"Don't stop." Caramella shouted to the girl. "Don't stop until nothing's left!"

She didn't know if the girl heard, it didn't matter anyways. When she finally collapsed, having used up her mana, all that remained was a blackened smear of soot, cherry red stone, and the sullen, orange glowing remains of Arguile's sword.

Caraemella felt like someone had just hit a light switch as she fell to her hands and kness. It was over, she'd just seen him die, again, she'd seen a friend die again. Someone she'd come to trust. And yet, instead of grief, she felt relieved.

"Caramella?" Kino asked.

"It's alright." She breathed softly, putting a hand around him. And it was.

The sounds of fighting began to die down. The remaining Zombies were dangerous, but Arguile had been their champion, with him gone there was no one left to anchore the assault. The remaining undead exchanged glances, and then as one, the six survivors stepped off of the side of the docks, vanishing from view. Caramella doubted that they were running out of fear.

She returned her attention to her surroundings as a desperate gagging sound was followed by an unwholesome patter, the mage girl disgorging the contents of her stomach until the wooden deck. She trembled, hugging herself tightly as Caramella approached and put a hand on her shoulder. Damn, another innocent lost.

"Hey." Caramella said gently. "Thanks. You did him a kindness."

"Him . . . I killed . . ." The girl mumbled.

"He was already dead." Caramella said quickly. "That things was a Zombie, it wasn't a person. And now it's gone. Guile-kun would have thanked you. Now, what's your name?"

The girl looked up, red eyes wide and anxious. "E-Enya." She mumbled. "My name is Enya."

"Well then, Enya-chan." Caramella wiped a few flecks of vomit aside with the sleeve of her blouse. "Thanks for pulling our assess out of the fire there. That goes to all of you." Caramella looked over to where the Salamanders and Halkegenians were already starting to Triage their wounded. The badass Swordswoman who'd managed to stalemate Arguile, until her little miscalculation, was being propped up and her armor disassembled so that one of the mage officers could treat her wound.

Others were gathering up the dead. That just left one last detail to deal with. "Hey, worry about our guys later." Caramella said, receiving looks of outrage from most of the soldiers. "I mean it. These things," Caramella gestured, trying not to look at a severed head as it looked back, "I saw one get up from a gunshot wound to the head. And I had to fight one I saw get blown to hell a week ago. I think they might be able to regenerate."

"She's right." The affirmation came from Wales, who was currently limping down from the Eagle, followed by Kimura who was carrying something that reminded her of bagged burger meet. As it got closer, she realized it was the netted remains of the ninja girl which were feebly writhing about and beginning to stick together in a fashion that was disturbingly reminiscent of where everything ought to be. "I urge you all to take a moment and see to the disposal of these creatures. For the sake of our own comrades and for the sake of their departed souls."

The gathered soldiers nodded slowly and began to go to work at the grizzly task. Separating dismembered limbs so that they couldn't nit back together and gathering parts for incineration.

"Kino" Wales said.

"Uh, yeah?" Kino was startled from his own thoughts.

"Go back up stairs and report that the situation here is under control, but that we will need additional men to make the Eagle ready for departure. Tell them that there has been heavy casualties both among the dock crew and the reinforcements and that we need additional healers to treat the wounded. We'll load the injured onto the Eagle for evacuation."

"Right." Kino nodded and turned to leave before stopping. "And what about . . . that?" Kino looked a little nervously at the contents of the net.

"We'll grant the founders mercy to the rest of these things." Wales observed the next and its contents. "But we need to know more about them. We'll keep this one for now and bind it up as it heals so that it can't escape." Now then, Airman Evans, get these men back to work. I want guards posted and men on corpse duty. We shant leave our comrades behind. Now more than ever."

Wales gave a solemn nod of his head. "The Eagle must make ready to depart," The Prince looked around with a pained expression, "And be well done with this place."