The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 101

She rushed straight into it as the Kalameet continues his rampage from outside. The main goal was not to kill Manus but to destroy the chasm of the Abyss. A total of 300 Abyss Watchers followed her straight into the fog door while the rest continued their slaughter outside.

She left Sif outside as she did not want him to see the sight of his master being corrupted by the thing he swore to destroy.

She first looked around searching for Artorias in case he was corrupted and interfered during the battle with Manus. Manus was nowhere to be found but Artorias was there.

As in Lordran, one of his hands was broken. All he had was his great sword. How strange. It was like the events of Lordran are playing back like a broken disc here on Earth. But there was no need to worry. Artorias need not die.

"Do not mind thy injury or the injuries on Artorias, the great knight. Leave all harm for me to take care of."

She set of her hand, as she commanded the Abyss Watchers to attack. As long as she was here, there will be no causalities. Why not heal Artorias as soon as she arrived? There was one problem. He was awake and thus, would resist. She would first need to knock him out.

The Abyss Watchers did not hesitate even when charging at their source of inspiration. She stayed behind and focused on taking care of any wounds and causalities that may arose.

Artorias was a great fighter, able to take on tens of Abyss Watchers at once but there were 300 of them here with a healer behind them healing all their injuries. Even the great knight cannot contest against the might of numbers.

He grabbed one of the Abyss Watchers in its face with his broken arm and crash him straight to the ground. With his great sword on the other hand, he swung at the other Abyss Watchers jumping at him. He would have cleaved them in half if it weren't for her protecting them with flames.

The Abyss Watcher that crashed onto the ground did not die due to her and swung his great blade at his unguarded hand. Artorias noticed this and threw him away like a rag doll. Behind him, a few Abyss Watchers used the ground as a lever and jumped straight at him.

He swung his sword at them. One Abyss Watcher jumped straight in its path and caught the great sword with his body and weapons. Perhaps this was how they fought against greater foes or perhaps this was only because they knew there was healer behind them.

Nevertheless, it worked as the other Abyss Watchers rushed straight in and stabbed the great knight in the chest. Of course, it wasn't enough as the knight would have kept going at it. But she would finish this fight now.

She wished to end it and one shot and so she threw a punch. A punch of devastation enhanced with flames that ended the reign of the dragons. When it landed, it sends the brain of Artorias sliding in his skull.

A chain reaction occurs. The skull accelerated and decelerated rapidly. But the brain floating in cerebrospinal fluid keeps moving. The brain recoils towards the back of the head causing trauma from the rear. It then snaps back to the front of the skull multiplying the damage.

Trauma from both sides. Neurotransmitters fire, an electrical storm short circuits the nerves. Medical agents call it a concussion. In a fight like this one, she preferred to call it a knockout.

As expected, Artorias fell down with a single blow. She quickly got to work and started burning the corruption away from him. She healed his arms as fast as possible in case Manus showed up. Currently, they have no way of killing Manus with his full pendant so they will have to improvise.

Artorias slowly woke up as she continuously healed him. He looked disgruntled but that was to be expected of someone who had just been cured from the corruption of the dark of man. He made a sudden motion and grabbed her hands.

"Ah... my princess. There you are. My guiding flame ... forgive me for I have avail nothing yet again."

By the grace of the first flame, he really needs to stop talking in that particular way. Behind her, the Abyss watchers were putting their hands to their mouth. They did not even say yet she wanted to die by the way they saw everything.

'See what?', a little voice in the back of her mind whispered to her. A guilty little part of her mind that still refused to let go of the Ashen One. What is she even thinking? This is not the time to think about these matters.

And she did not know that the Abyss Watchers were capable of humor but that too make sense. People back in Lordran usually laughs in strange ways she has yet to hear on Earth. People use humor to cope with pain and that was something she could accept.

"Outside! Go outside!", she drove them all outside of the fog door in a panic.

Why is she even panicking for? Manus ... yes, it was Manus. She did not know if he will still show up and so, she has to regroup them as fast as possible. Yes, there was no other reason. She shook her head once again trying to get rid of inappropriate thoughts for this moment.

Outside was exactly, what she expected. All the creatures from the chasm of the Abyss have probably gathered here. The earlier advantage they had earlier was gone. She exploded with all her power drowning the Abyss in a sea of flames as she healed all wounded and empower them.

"My princess, why are you exploding with all your power when there is no need for it."

'Because of you.', she thought to herself.

"I wish to finish all of this before the father of the Abyss show up. And my dear Artorias ... please stop referring to me as princess. Although I do not know of my family line I am surely not of royal descent."

"Ah ... what else would I refer to you else? To me, the title 'princess' suits you the most. But I shall follow your instructions. Anyway, keeper, where do these people come from? They resemble me to an uncanny degree."

"These, my dear Artorias are all warriors inspired by thee. They have accepted Sif as their leader for now and I wish for thee to accept them as thy vessel."

Now, what happen to these Abyss Watchers depend on the answer of the Abysswalker. She can only hope that he is not so loyal to Gwyn and become a 'lord'. But to doubt the loyalty of a knight as great as Artorias was blasphemous. For now, she will have to wait for his answer.