The closest zombie lunged towards her, its wail turning into a wicked scream. Kaga stumbled backwards, and tried tuning her mana to fire. Her eyes widened as she felt nothing come to her call: her reserves having been spent. The zombie gripped her on both shoulders as she hesitated, and leaned forward, unhinging its jaw for a bite. Without thinking, she launched forward into a headbutt, and crashed her forehead into its chin. The attack forced its mouth to close, and while it was stunned, Kaga reached into her cloak and pulled out a dagger. Preferring to rely upon her magic, due to its power and her considerably large reserves of mana, Kaga almost never initiated in melee combat, as she had Arlo and Mio to back her up in this regard. While she never put much stock in equipping backup weapons beyond a dagger for events such as this, she decided to take combat lessons from a local Redcliff Knight, just in case.
Howling in desperation, she brought the dagger up into its jaw, and heaved upwards. With the sound of ripping velcro, the zombie's head was torn off with the force of her attack, and its body went limp, falling to the ground. She didn't get time to rest as another zombie immediately charged in to take its fallen comrade's place, eyes rolling wildly as it wailed. "Stay back!" she shrieked as she slashed at its face, lurching away from it. She cut it across its rotten visage, but the wound didnt slow it down as it fell towards her, hands clawing at the air. As she dodged it, she felt a rush of wind beside her, and Kaga whipped her head around to see that Iram had swept in beside her. Before she could react, he kicked her in the stomach, and she was sent flying into the mob of zombies. They collectively opened their arms, waiting for her to fly into their rotten embrace. She squeaked, and twisted her body to the side.
The zombie's voices echoed as one in frustration as Kaga changed her trajectory, slashing at the leg of one of them as she passed by. The zombie collapsed, its leg ripped open, but tried to crawl towards her regardless of its wound. As she tumbled to a stop, Kaga saw Iram appear behind his mob of zombies. "That's not all Necromancy can do!" he laughed, and placed his hand against one of their backs. The zombie bloated slightly, and Iram shoved it forward with alarming force, right at her. As it flew in the air, Kaga saw it bloat up more and more before it looked like a horrific balloon. Recognizing the spell, she rolled out of the way before the swollen corpse could land on her. Upon hitting the ground, the zombie exploded, its rotten gore flying out. Wherever its blood landed, the snow and even stone melted with a hiss. Kaga grimaced, gazing upon the carnal destruction around her. "Corpse Explosion is a favorite of mine. A very obscure, and rather gruesome spell. Most people don't even know whats coming before its already upon them." Iram opened his mouth slightly in a smile, eyeing her up and down. "You're familiar with Necromancy too, aren't you?"
Kaga looked away as Iram barked a laugh. "You say what matters is what one uses magic for, right? That even dark magic can be redeemed if its used to protect life?" Iram suddenly stopped, his voice turned grim. "Necromancy is inherently evil. It mocks life itself by perverting the dead for the Necromancer's own purposes." He raised a hand, and pointed at Kaga. She closed her eyes as he continued, "You have an intimate knowledge of Necromancy, and there's only one way to obtain this knowledge." Memories flashed in Kaga's mind at his words: memories of experiments and expulsion from her homeland. "You've used Necromancy before. How hypocritical of you!" Iram cackled, and the zombies lurched towards Kaga as one. Lost in her thoughts, Kaga did not react until the zombies had completely surrounded her. As she realized her mistake, Kaga cried out as one of the zombies lunged forward and bit her, taking a chunk of flesh. She tried swinging her dagger, but the mob of zombies pressing against her body blocked her arm. Kaga felt another jolt of agony as another zombie attacked, this time clawing at her wounded arm.
Kaga winced, desperately trying to fend off the horde of undead, but the memories from before began to creep into her consciousness, after being repressed for so long...
