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Maria desperately tried to heal Lancelot, and although his body was constantly regaining flesh and arms, they suddenly started turning into ashes.
His soul… wasn't any better. The enormous pressure he forced upon himself by assimilating Maria's powers ended breaking it apart too much. Maria tried to stitch more souls together to maintain his own, but the roots of his soul were far gone.
No matter how hard she tried, his soul started to break apart into tiny pieces, dissipating. Maria grew desperate, trying to do everything she could to heal her loyal Ant Knight.
The pressure he suffered was too much for his soul. His big eyes looked at Maria tenderly. It seemed as if he was happy to know she worried so much about him, a mere servant not unlike any other.
"It… was an honor… to serve you, milady…" He sighed.
Lancelot started to remember his short life. Since he was born without purpose or mind to serve the Ant Queen, to after he was defeated and reborn as an undead, serving Maria.
He gained consciousness, speech, emotions, and it was this time when he finally started to comprehend life as it was.
"N-No… You're an undead! You can't…!" Maria tried everything she could, but as an Ego Body, her powers were still limited.
"Thank you… for everything, milady… For giving me a chance to exist, for giving me a chance to become me… For… giving me…" Lancelot sighed, caressing her face with his claws, before his arm fell into the floor.
"A chance… to have a family…"
Lancelot smiled faintly, as his entire body fell into ashes, and his soul dissipated into particles of light. He disappeared without leaving trace.
"No…"
Maria couldn't believe it. Despite having won, despite having done their everything… Lancelot died. He sacrificed his very soul to save the people of this small village.
She felt despair, she realized even right now, she wouldn't be able to always win, even after a victory. His sacrifice… was one that hurt her the most.
A soul she was not able to save…
Perhaps for other people Undead were monsters, emotionless creatures, or just the tools that Necromancers used.
But for Maria, Undead were her friends, that kept her from being lonely, that accompanied her, that grew and learned about the world at her side, especially those that were special, that developed personalities and thoughts, such as Lancelot.
Losing Lancelot was like losing her own child. Maria felt regret for having allowed him to fuse with her total powers. But she knew it was his resolve, it wasn't something she could ignore.
The Abyssal Ants slowly gathered around their fallen leader, groaning sorrowfully.
"I'm sorry, everyone…" She sighed.
Maria stood back up, glancing at the door of the ruined city, an army of Frost Monsters were quickly approaching.
"You'll pay for what you've done." Maria glanced into the skies.
She knew the one that orchestrated everything, the one that forced Skadi to incentivize the Frost Queen to act.
"Odin."
However, as Maria's Swarm Body Ego was about to step into to fight for the kingdom, she suddenly saw a… flabbergasting sight.
Hundreds of giant black spiders marched towards the army of thousands of Frost Monsters, clashing against them and beginning to easily overwhelm them.
Behind the Black Spider Army, there was a little girl with white hair and red eyes, wearing a white dress made of spiderweb.
"Mama! I'm here!"
"A-Arachne?!"
An unexpected helper had finally arrived, and this one held the power of a Calamity.
.
.
.
(Some Minutes Ago)
FLAAAASH!
Kuro's weakened, and slightly destroyed body was quickly regenerated in a second as the Divine Moonlight Body Ego of Maria merged with him. His entire body changing even more as it was not only fueled by Maria's temporary fusion but the Divine Protection of Fenrir he had received.
Ding!
[You have successfully undergone [Divine Spirit Soul Connection] and [Spirit Fusion] with [Abyssal Black Winged Lion Chimera (A Rank)]!]
[As a result of the fusion, all of your stats have temporarily converged together, additionally, many bonuses increasing these stats even further have been activated!]
[However, due to the instability of this fusion, the limit time has decreased to 4 Minutes]
Kuro had no weapons, but his own claws merged with Maria's variety of weapons within her Inventory, as they became golden and silver colored, gaining the properties of a Divine Weapon!
Ding!
[The power of the Divine Weapons have reacted to the combined souls, temporarily fusing into the Special Divine Relic [Divinity-Tearing Claws of Calamity: Cerberus]!]
[The power of the Special Divine Relic is reacting to the fused souls magic and divine essences!]
"GROOOOAAARRRR!"
Kuro roared ferociously; his transformation was impressive. His black fur turned silver with stripes made of gold color. A crown of golden horns grew over his head, which supported a large purple-colored jewel glowing with the power of moonlight itself.
His wings grew in size and became shinier and silver-colored, resplendent. His tail became longer, gaining a sharp spear-like end instead of the snake head it possessed. And his claws became metallic, with several divine runic inscriptions, holding the power of a divine relic.
"Hah… Hahaha…" Julio had just managed to crawl out of the crater he was left behind by Maria's Ego, his entire body overflowing with tremendous quantities of darkness and malicious, abyssal energy. His chest in specific, was emanating a red light. "To think this damn cat would try to hold me back… But I can sense her power within you. Maria, are you hiding behind your little familiar?"
"Hiding? Far from it, Hero." Maria said across Kuro's body. "Are you one of the pitiful slaves of the Empire of Light, by any chance?"
"Slave?! I am the Hero of Darkness, not a slave!" Julio said furiously. "We have come here to slay your people, but I guess it'll make things easier if you come at me. You've killed many nobles already; you have to pay for your crimes!"
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