☆ CELESTIAL CRUSADERS ☆ (Classic Edition)

☆ Chapter 7 - Bones of the Dead ☆

The Stargazer had returned to the village. Once it landed, Madeline and the others were waiting outside.

André and Crystal walk through the hatch.

♤Good to see you again. And I see that you successfully brought your friend.♤
^Hello!^
"◇Greetings. I am Crystal. It's a pleasure to meet you all.◇" She did a quick bow.
"These are my new buddies. Unizo, Petra and Lukas."
'Sup.'
'"Greetings to you as well."'
"◇From the Splatoon universe, I believe?◇"
"Yeah. But like I told you back there, there's more to them than meets the eye."
'Where's Kelvin?'
"◇He's trying to calm down back at his house. All these news were a lot for him. But I believe he will be joining us soon.◇"

Madeline looked at the sky.
♤I hope so. Because the cruiser should be arriving here at any moment now.♤

Everyone started looking at the sky too. So far, only the Zharyugo fleet was visible. But that changed quickly.
The Zytruvian Cruiser got out of hyperspace, along with it's own small fleet. André got his sword out of the casing, Petra readied her staff, Uni and Lukas had their own weapons ready while Crystal used magic to make her arms get covered in ice.

Madeline went on her comm.
♤Fleet. Prepare to engage.♤

"◇Where is Elder Faren? Usually, he'd be out in the open trying something stupid by now.◇"
^I think he's still in his temple. We haven't heard from him.^
'Keep your focus, guys.'

A smaller ship that was docked in the Zytruvian cruiser comes out and starts descend to the planet's surface. The Zharyugo forces started to take aim at the ship, in case it decided to attack. But instead, it landed in a area outside of the crater, near one of the farther giant magma rocks. André's group and Madeline slowly made their way to have a peek.

But it turns out that the reason the ship landed away from the village is because Elder Faren was there, waiting.

^...what the heck is he doing??^
'Don't tell me he's actually going to try and talk to them.'
"◇That's Elder Faren for you. He thinks absolutely everything can be solved through dialogue. I bet you 500 Omnum he's going to get his head chopped off.◇"

The ship opened its doors, and from it came out a few dark knights. Those knights surrounded Elder Faren and made way for their leader: a male with a strange earpiece, wearing a dark robe and holding a huge scythe.

^That's...new.^
♤Stay on your guard, everyone. That is Ivory, the Necromancer.♤
"◇Great. One of the Paragons is here. Now raise that to 600 Omnum.◇"
"What do we do?"
♤Ivory is far too powerful for your team alone to fight. Focus on taking out the knights and protecting the village.♤
'"Copy that."'

Ivory walked towards the Elder, giving a cold death stare.

"^Elder Faron, the strongest earth-bender of Norgania.^"
["What business brings you here, necromancer?"]
"^Executing the next part of our plan. And to do so, we must take control of your planet.^"
["Now, now...I am sure you have heard of Norgania's strict morals and religion. I'm afraid that-"]
"^Yes, we are aware of your silly standards. And they are unimportant in the current situation.^"
["You dare?!"]
"^We do not care about the 'morals' you use to control your people. Now, step aside and we will take control of this planet without any bloodshed. Unless you want there to be bloodshed.^"
["...I appreciate the offer, but Norgania is fine on its own. Now, if you could turn around and le--"]

Before Faren could finish his sentence, Ivory slit his throat with his large scythe and then kicked him to the floor. After that, he shot a energy blast on his head, killing him. That naturally startled most people in André's group.