"Go! Get help!"
Sister Riley wiped the tears from her face, struggling to pull her sister along as they ran.
She and her sister weren't any help to Mom and Sister Sara—they were dead weight!
They had to find someone else to help!
"Help? The Withered Lands go on forever. By the time we get back, Mom and Sister Sara will be..."
Sister Anna froze, a small shadow blade forming in her hand.
Seeing her sister wouldn't budge, Riley gave up too, her hands sharpening as dark energy swirled around them.
On the battlefield, the two women were gasping for air, standing back-to-back, not giving the monsters any opening for a sneak attack.
"Sara, this is all my fault. If I hadn't charged ahead like an idiot back then, you wouldn't have gotten caught up in this mess and cursed ten years ago. You wouldn't have lost your ability to build up Spiritual Essence!"
"Shut up, Yolanda! Focus on fighting! I haven't gotten married yet—I'm not dying here with you!"
The two women channeled what little Psionic Energy they had left, taking down several more beetle monsters and breaking a hole in their circle of death.
"Now's our chance!"
Just as they were about to break through, rustling sounds filled the air—another swarm had showed up!
"We're screwed!"
Sara, who'd been holding it together until now, felt her hope crash and burn.
"Anna, Riley, run!"
Catching sight of her daughters in her peripheral vision—still there, still not running—Yolanda's heart sank like a stone. What was the point of all this fighting if not to give her girls a shot at survival?
"Mom! Sister Sara!"
Riley and Anna came rushing back—they couldn't picture a world without the people they loved most.
The sight warmed Yolanda and Sara's hearts even as despair closed in around them.
"Crazy kids..."
Both women felt tears sting their eyes as they squeezed out their last reserves of strength, desperately holding back the monster hordes.
What if... what if lightning struck twice?
Just like ten years ago...
The miracle was still nowhere in sight when several beetle monsters swung their massive scythe-arms, lunging straight at the twins.
Riley and Anna had seen their share of fights these past few months. They immediately hit the deck, rolling away from those razor-sharp blades and slashing back with shadow claws and daggers.
But they weren't out of the woods yet—more Black Beetles burst from the pack, multiple gleaming scythes cutting through the air from every direction.
No way out!
The twins felt despair wash over them as they took one last, longing look at their mom and 'sister' trapped in the monster swarm:
"Mom, Sister Sara... we'll see you on the other side."
"No! Riley! Anna!"
Yolanda and Sara screamed in agony, desperately trying to fight their way over...
Then something incredible happened.
"BOOM!"
"CLANG!"
Two towering purple figures suddenly materialized, tearing into the monster pack like a tornado.
They casually swung absolutely massive purple-veined greatswords, instantly cutting monsters clean in half wherever the blades touched, dropping them dead on the spot.
Black Beetles and even nastier Yellow Beetles swung their scythes in retaliation, but got sliced apart along with their weapons by the purple skeletons!
The smell of blood drove the monsters into a frenzy as they abandoned the four women and threw themselves at the purple warriors, but it didn't matter—not a single monster could handle those terrifying greatswords, all of them getting turned into hamburger!
"Yolanda, please tell me I'm not hallucinating..."
Having dodged death by a hair, Sara wanted to pinch her friend's face to make sure this was real, but grabbed nothing but air.
"Huh? Where'd she go?"
Spinning around, she saw her ride-or-die 'sister' had already bolted over to her 'nieces.'
"Mom!" (x2)
"Riley! Anna!"
The twins and their mother crashed into each other in a group hug, savoring the sweet relief of cheating death.
"Ahem! This isn't exactly the time to get all warm and fuzzy!"
Sara cut through the touching family moment with her usual attitude.
"Sister Sara!"
The twins immediately wrapped 'Sister' Sara in their arms too, showing how much they cared.
"Alright, alright."
Sara acted annoyed on the surface, but she was grinning from ear to ear, totally smitten with the girls.
Yolanda smiled warmly, watching her daughters bond with her best friend.
After a quick round of hugs and reassurances, most of their attention snapped back to the battle.
Two mysterious purple skeletons of unknown origin were systematically wiping out the remaining beetle swarms.
In just a few minutes, dozens of beetle monsters had been whittled down to a handful, about to be completely annihilated!
"That's insane!"
"They're unstoppable!"
The twins kept shouting in excitement, like they were watching their favorite action heroes—the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards—absolutely demolish the monsters that had nearly killed Mom and Sister Sara.
But Yolanda's expression stayed serious.
"Sara, any idea what those things are?"
Sara shrugged it off:
"Who cares what they are, as long as they saved our butts. Maybe they'll take off once they're done with the cleanup."
"Yeah, things can't get much worse than they already were."
Hearing this, Yolanda relaxed a little, though she kept a tight grip on her greatsword, same as Sara.
Even though these two terrifying skeleton warriors hadn't shown any interest in attacking them—hell, they'd actually saved their lives—this was the Withered Lands. You had to watch your back with everything.
Who knew if they might casually kill them once they finished mopping up the monsters?
"SLASH!"
"CLANG!"
As the last monster got cut down by the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards, the one-sided massacre finally came to an end.
The two Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards stood on the pile of corpses, drove their greatswords point-first into the ground, and went completely still.
Only their ghostly pale soul-fire kept staring at the four women.
"Mom, look! They killed every last one!"
The twins were bouncing with excitement, about to run toward the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards—apparently wanting to thank them properly.
Yolanda and Sara each grabbed one, stopping the girls before they could do something stupid.
"Keep it down. Don't mess with them."
The twins didn't get why they were being held back.
But right now Yolanda and Sara were too focused to explain, both staring toward the west where two more mysterious skeleton warriors were slowly appearing on the horizon!
Wait, there were more behind them—actually a whole damn army of mysterious skeleton warriors!
"What the hell is that?"
Both women's eyes went wide—ten more of those absolutely terrifying skeleton warriors had shown up!
Even weirder, four of the skeletons were respectfully carrying some kind of strange black coffin, while the other six formed a protective circle around it.
They moved in perfect formation, like a disciplined military unit, radiating serious killing vibes and bone-chilling murderous intent.