*HAHA THIS ISN'T REALLY A "NICE" CHRISTMAS PRESENT BUT EH

ENJOY THE CHAPTER EVERYONE AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!~*

Stay Creepy, My Friends!~

Chapter 73

Zalgo reared back to swing another whip of black, boiling liquid at me. I dodged out of the way before anything could hit me, and when I turned back there was a new gaping gash in the concrete, steaming from the intense heat. I didn't want to imagine what would happen to me if I let a single droplet hit my body.

As I was transfixed by the destruction caused by the black liquid, Zalgo sent the tendrils after me. One of them caught my foot but I quickly severed it with a red glowing hand. Zalgo groaned from the momentary pain and what was left on my ankle dissipated into nothing. My mind was in a state of panic as I kept moving around to stay out of the way of tendrils and boiling liquid. Once, a droplet nearly reached my boot and it was enough to have me reeling.

"Aw, what happened to all of that moxie, Ao?," Zalgo taunted me in his menacing voice. "You were so adamant about killing me, and now you're running around like an ant trying to escape a stomping shoe. Are you inadequate to fight me, is that it? How pathetic. Slender should have taught you better, that incompetent fool."

I dodged another oncoming tendril but I caught it within my grip and tore part of it off with the scarlet magic. The demented entity didn't flinch one bit and only chuckled with amusement. I watched him closely as Sam started speaking to me.

I'll keep you shielded while you try to get close to him.

"Get close?"

You have to. I'll follow your lead and do what I must.

I gulped as I readied myself for a plan of maneuvering. Zalgo didn't give me much time to think as he sent more tendrils out for me. Nerves set in and I ran out of the way to a different point. Every time I moved, he'd turn to face me, leaving me at a loss of a vantage point. Him facing me keeps his sights on me, and I won't be able to figure out a way to move around to a vulnerable spot. He's an infinite entity but everything has their blind spots.

To my right, I saw a few rooftop AC units to use as temporary cover. Quickly, I dashed for them and ducked behind one of them. While I hid, Zalgo laughed and spoke aloud, "Really, Ao? I know where you are, little proxy. Just how amateur can you get?"

I heard the sounds of his shoes tapping against the concrete as he began making his way over, toying with me. While I listened to his footsteps, an idea came to mind and I placed my hands against the AC unit. Knowing Sam, he'd know what my intentions are. I listened as Zalgo started coming closer, and closer, and closer while his footsteps became louder, and louder, and louder. Finally, when he sounded too close for comfort, I ordered, "Now!"

Sam ripped the giant AC unit from its foundation and sent it flying smack into Zalgo's body. While he was down, I ran ahead as red scrawling began lacing my arms. Just as Zalgo shoved the bent AC unit off of him, I leaped and landed a hard punch right into his head. The magic intensified my force, causing the concrete under us to crack against the weight of my hit. When I raised my fist to bring down another punch, a tendril wrapped itself around my neck and lifted me up.

While I struggled as the tentacle began wrapping around my entire body, Zalgo cackled and stood to his feet. His face was slightly damaged from my hit and his smile was as distasteful as ever. "Nice try, but that won't do much, unfortunately for you. Now that I have you in my grasp, I wonder what will happen if I crush you. Will I be able to hear bones breaking under the sounds of your screaming? Let's see."

Just as the tendril began constricting around me, a large piece of metal shrapnel from the damaged AC unit went projectile and sliced through the base of all of his tendrils. Zalgo cried out in surprise and pain, and keeled over onto one knee. I fell down onto a squirming tendril and felt the ground beneath me once it disappeared. I took this time to catch my breath and get some distance away from the demented lord of chaos.

Zalgo was still kneeling and heaving from the intensity of the pain. Surprisingly, the tentacles weren't reforming right away and I kept this in mind. If they don't grow back right away, they're one less thing to worry about. Out of frustration, though, Zalgo growled and lifted a hand. With a fiery annoyance shining in his eyes, he sent a trail of black liquid after me. It was fast and I barely had time to avoid the substance. More kept lashing at the ground in front of me, forcing me back again and again, and then suddenly all of the blackness burrowed into the ground. I was confused as to why it was doing this, until cracks in the concrete began forming around me. The section of rooftop I was on started lifting up and tilting, sending me toppling down and falling over the edge. I clawed at the moving concrete until I gripped onto a piece of rebar from where the piece was uprooted from the building. Huffing and flailing, I grabbed onto the rebar with both hands and tried to lift myself up. Once I was up onto the broken ledge, I inhaled a deep breath.

Ao, look out!!

High above me, the dislodged piece of building, carried by the black substance, started coming down and I was forced to duck into an opening in front of me. I landed hard onto a dusty floor just as everything shook around me. Dust was flying in the air and I waved my hand in front of my face so I wouldn't breathe most of it. I groaned as I got to my feet and looked around to see where I ended up. It was one of the laboratories though it was empty and dark from lack of lighting. Somewhere above me, Zalgo was up on the rooftop and would be coming after me again soon.

Are you okay?

I nodded and cleared my throat. "Y-Yeah... H-How come...you couldn't push him off?"

I tried earlier, but his aura is too nauseous for me to affect him directly.

"Damn..."

Not wanting to stay in one spot any longer, I began making my way out of the laboratory. I wasn't sure what to do at this point. What's my plan of attack? What more can I do to bring Zalgo down? His anchor; what is it? How were proxies able to figure it out? What should I do? What can I do? What would Ellie do? What do I do? What? What??

It wasn't surprising that I began hyperventilating in the hallway outside of the laboratory. Still, I didn't want it. I needed to stop and think. But it's hard to think when everything is on the line and you're not fully prepared. I needed to stop. Stop. Stop. Please...

Ao.

Sam's voice was quiet in my head.

Ao, don't lose it here. This isn't the end. We can figure something out, but you need to stay focused. I'm not going to let this be it, and you know that.

Reluctantly, I nodded.

I believe in you. Everyone does. And no matter how weak you feel or how battered you become, I'll be there to help you carry the torch. So keep walking.

I nodded with more energy and stepped forward to continue. Just as I was turning the corner of the hallway, something crashed through the ceiling in front of me and stopped me in my tracks. Once the dust lifted, I stared wide eyed at a large, black and red hand balled into a fist on the floor. Slowly, it slipped out of the hole in the ceiling and light seeped in from the outside. The thing went through an entire top floor before making it here and I had a feeling it could've gone further. Zalgo knows where I am.

As I was gearing up to run down the rest of the hallway, Zalgo jumped down and landed on his feet with a macabre grace. "Found you," he hissed and opened up his arms. Black liquid and mist began pouring out of his sleeves, sticking to the walls, ceiling and floor of the corridor. It flooded all around me and the air became denser for it. With no way around or out, I lifted up my arms and charged straight towards Zalgo. I'm not sure if it was his intention, but I was able to tackle myself into him just as my Purification magic set in my arms. Upon contact, it burst into a frenzy of blue swirls and cleared most of the darkness away. The lord of chaos groaned from the energy I was giving off and, in the blur of magic, I transferred scarlet scrawling to one of my hands. A reaction was instantaneous and I saw Zalgo's figure being sent back into the farthest wall due to the explosion of violet magic. All of the black mist and liquid disintegrated around me and I was left standing alone on the hall.

Zalgo was already picking himself up and his body was shaky. Suddenly, he began to laugh. His voice echoed through the hallways, loud and full of a disturbed amusement. Once he stopped, he wiped at his face with his sleeve and said, "Ah, it's been so long since I've felt an energy like that. I wouldn't expect any less of the Witch of the Colonies."

I frowned upon the mention of that title. "I'm not Emily anymore," I stated.

Zalgo smirked. "Is your mask not a tribute to her--to yourself? It represents her existence and her soul's malicious intent, all of the lives she has ended."

"Not anymore it doesn't," I said. "I wear this mask to represent myself. I'm not the broken girl I was in the past. Do not compare me to Emily when my intentions are to save this world, not destroy it. And that begins by getting rid of you."

"I'm not going to make this so easy on you, dear. You might have to give up on your dream."

"Like hell I will..!"

The demented man's red eyes flared in the dim lighting of the hallway and he came rushing forward. As he was running, Sam took the initiative to unhinge a custodian's closet door and send it into Zalgo as he passed by. He was shoved against the wall and grunted with annoyance. When he began coming toward me again, another door was ripped off and hurtled at the man. He ducked under it just in time and smirked at me knowingly. "Like I would fall for that move again--."

He was interrupted when the same door he ducked under came crashing into his back. While he was busy getting up, I ran forward and punched him straight across the face with a red fist. I wasn't going to let up easily, and sent punch after punch into him, alternating my magic from red to blue. He blocked one of my hits and slipped a jab against the side of my head. There was momentary disorientation but I shook it off and reached up to his hair. Just when he was about to counter my move, I pulled his head forward and shoved his face into the wall. With the addition of the red glow on my hand, the wall cracked and dented under the weight of my force. Relentlessly, I rammed my knee into his side over, and over, and over, until he had enough and clutched his hand against my neck. He lifted me off of my feet as he pulled his head out of the wall.

"A bit eager now, aren't we?," he growled and tightened his grip, making me choke. While I was hanging in his hold, I caught a glimpse of something glinting on his other hand. On his finger was a familiar looking ring--Jeff's ring. I remembered what Eli told me about getting it back. I had a new goal in mind now and lifted my leg to kick Zalgo straight in the face. He grunted and we both fell to the floor. Taking this chance, I pounced onto his body and grabbed for his left hand. As soon as I grabbed it, droplets of black liquid spurt out from under his sleeve and landed on my mine. Although the armor kept most of it from reaching my skin, I still screamed from the searing heat. Zalgo grabbed onto the side of my face with his other hand and pushed me off of him. I tumbled across the floor but was able to scramble to my feet afterwards.

Zalgo chuckled and stood a few feet away from me. With a chilling grin, he said, "Trying to get the ring back, are we now? You're going to have to do better than that, little proxy."

"Watch me," I huffed and clapped my hands together to create the violet aura again. Opening up my palms, I was able to expand it while Zalgo was rushing towards me. I pushed my hands out and sent the magic forward into him. His momentum was halted and he staggered in his place trying to push against all of the violet. While he was stuck, he pushed his hands forward and let the black liquid shoot out. Unfortunately for him, the liquid began to slow down in the violet as if there were no gravity. Floating in mid air, eventually the liquid dissipated and Zalgo was left aggravated.

Suddenly, he pulled a drastic move and I was startled to see another black, looming shape stem from his back. It was the hand that punched through the ceiling to get him here. The demented man smiled wide as he sent the hand through the wall next to him and it came crashing through the space beside me, taking out an entire section of wall. Luckily, I slipped under it just in time to avoid getting crushed. To my right, the wall was smashed open and the hand disappeared into thin air. As I was getting to my feet, Zalgo ran up and kicked at my stomach, sending me through the hole in the wall.

I tumbled across the floor until I hit a lab table. Groaning, I struggled to get up while Zalgo stepped into the room. "Your magic is pretty impressive," he declared as he took off the dusty jacket of his suit, then tossed it aside. He rolled up the cuffs of his white button shirt, revealing a tattoo of a mouth on either forearm. He grinned down at me and added, "Soon enough, it won't do much."

"It's...not all I have," I grunted.

Just as he was about to grab me, Sam projected a computer terminal right into him. I took this time to scramble up to my feet and get some distance away. With a quick survey around the room, I saw that we were in the main hub for all of the TIRACorp scientists. The wall of glass at the end of the room was a significant feature of it, and I was horrified to see that the once bluish-pinkish morning sky was becoming gray and red. It looked like something out of a hellscape.

Ao, watch out!

I turned to look at Zalgo and leaped out of the way of another stream of black liquid. It splattered across the wall behind me and burned through the plaster. I took cover behind a lab table and began to think of another plan of attack.

"Oh, Ao! No more hiding from me!!!"

Zalgo leaped on top of the lab table and loomed over the side, but by the time he glanced down, I was already gone. Behind him, I jumped onto the table, grabbed for his left hand and shoved him down to his knees. Before I could steal the ring from his finger, he yanked his arm out of my hold and elbowed me in the stomach. While his back was still facing me, I pressed my forearm against his shoulder and wrapped my other arm around his face to put him in a lock. I twisted my body enough to keep my feet grounded, and suddenly I heard an audible crack come from Zalgo's neck.

Deep down, I wished that was the end, but there's a reason why he's still around after going through so many other proxies. He summoned his dark hand from his back which knocked me off and sent me across he room. Unfortunately, I was headed for the wall of glass.

Sam wasn't fast enough to catch me so I was crashing through glass within the blink of an eye. Shards sprinkled all around me and I flailed to reach for something. Luckily, I hit one of the metal frames on the way out and grabbed onto it at the last moment. It bent forward under my weight and I was left hanging onto it over the side of the building. Panic got the better of me and I glanced down. Being sixty meters up in the air isn't such a wonderful feeling.

"Sam," I squealed, "pull me up..!"

The metal frame suddenly groaned and jerked down lower. At first, I thought my weight was the cause, but upon looking up I saw Zalgo standing over me, dripping black liquid onto the frame's base. At this angle, I could finally see that the black liquid accumulated from the mouth tattoos, sizzling as they spilled down his skin. The metal frame kept creaking the more droplets it took and I could only hope Sam would do something in time.

He delivered well and the metal frame began lifting up despite gravity. I held tight to it as it straightened fast and used the momentum to swing myself around to land a hard kick into Zalgo. The demented being staggered away and the metal frame broke in my hands as I fell back onto the floor.

Ao, keep him distracted. I think I can figure out a way to get the ring.

"Just do what you have to," I huffed as I dropped the metal bar and readied myself for an attack. As expected, Zalgo sent forward another wave of black, boiling liquid. I ducked under it all and ran forward to charge into him. I rammed the side of my arm into his gut and sent him back with a burst of red light. He hit the wall behind him, but got to his feet quickly and lunged forward to strike at me. I blocked each of his jabs and punches, though took a few kicks during the process. While he attempted a punch straight to my face, I bobbed my head to the side to avoid it and smacked his arm out of the way. With his torso open for a hit, I pushed an open-palm punch into his chest, then sent him staggering with a haymaker punch to his chin. I was surprised to see him have a busted lip afterwards.

Spitting out blood, he grinned at me and moved in for a jab to the side of my head. I avoided the hit but ended up moving in front of him instead of away from him. Taking the opportunity, he landed a sharp punch to my side and had me staggering back. I barely had time to cry out when he smacked me at my jaw, sending my mask flying off. As much as I wanted to have it with me, I had to forget it and move on.

Zalgo grabbed onto my wrist but I yanked my hand away past his thumb and kicked him in the chest when he was open. After he delivered another sequences of jabs and kicks, I finally found another opening in his defense and drove my hands forward to push another wave of violet magic into him. He was sent back right into a lab table and crumbled to his knees on the floor.

While he was down again, I started backing away. My heel nudged against the metal bar from earlier and I picked it up as an improvisation. When Zalgo hauled himself back up again, he was chuckling to himself for the hundredth time now. Calmly, he sauntered around a table in front of him and said, "I'm actually having a lot of fun with you, Ao. Although our fight isn't as disastrous as the one I had with Elizabeth, the rush is still there. Eventually, I do get bored. What else have you to surprise me with?"

Without giving him a direct answer, I slowly twirled the metal bar in my hand. He snickered and shook his head at me. "You're using that little twig? Fine. Come at me then."

Taking his challenge, I jumped up onto a lab table and brought the metal bar down on top of him. He caught it in his left hand with ease and I let go of it on my way back down to the floor. With a taunting chuckle, he hissed, "What kind of cheap move was tha--?"

Suddenly, a large glass shard from the broken window panes went flying towards him, slicing into his shoulder and severing his left arm. Zalgo cried out with a guttural shout and staggered as he grabbed at his bloodied shoulder. The metal bar hit the floor along with his left arm and I dashed for it. Before Zalgo could do anything to stop me, I picked up his arm and slipped Jeff's ring off of his middle finger. Tossing the arm away, I ran back to a safe distance just in time for the demented being to yell at me.

"You little wretch!!!," he snapped, "How dare you...?! P-Pulling the same move as Slender, huh?! F-Fuck.... No matter, I don't need two arms to kill you! I didn't need two arms to kill your pathetic, old man! You should've learned a thing or two from him, little proxy... You want to follow in his worthless footsteps so badly then go ahead!!!"

Glaring back at him, I put the ring on my thumb right in front of him and growled, "Try me, bitch."

Just when he was about to make a move, Sam sent another computer terminal ramming into him. He never had a chance to recover from the hit as the extreme force pushed him through the broken glass and over the edge of the building. And like that, the large room was silent except for the howling of the wind blowing in.

I exhaled with a heavy breath and leaned against a lab table to rest. It wasn't until now that I felt how heavy my body was after fighting. I looked down at Jeff's ring on my thumb and sighed with relief. If I ever find Ellie, I'm sure she'll be happy knowing I succeeded in doing what she asked. Then suddenly thoughts of Jeff and his current state flooded into my mind and haunted me all over again. My body began trembling and my concern over Jack's and Seedeater's well-being only made it worse. And then I thought about Ben; and Ms. P, and Sally, and Masky and Hoodie, and Craig, Kayla, and Xavier. I fought tears as I clutched my hand into a fist and pressed the ring against my forehead.

They'll be okay...

I gulped and murmured, "Will they really...?"

Knowing them, this isn't the end for them either.

Stifling a wry chuckle, I smiled and nodded in agreement. Carefully, I pushed myself away from the lab table and walked toward my fallen mask on the floor. There was a thin crack on the left side that ran through the jaw up to the eye-hole, but other than that it was in good condition. I clutched the mask in my hand and tied it to the belt of my armor suit. "Let's see if I can find some working communications device to contact Ben before things go to shit again," I muttered and made my way to the main hub's exit. Right when I was pulling the door open, Sam panicked.

Move out of the way!!

"What?!"

Glancing across the room, I saw black liquid slithering over the edge of the building from down below. It was undulating towards me and I knew neither Sam nor I would have enough time to get the door open. At the last second, I jumped out of the way of the black liquid's path as it snapped at the door, melting half of it away. My side was hurting from the way I hit the floor but Sam didn't start freaking out because of that.

No...! Ao, oh my god, oh my god, no, no, NO...!

It wasn't until I felt immense, quaking pain at my leg did I decide to look at myself. In that instant, I felt my mind spin out of control. My body began trembling and I could barely breathe.

On my way down to the floor, the black liquid had still caught my right leg. With the amount of the substance there was, it was enough to cut through my armor and consume my leg from the thigh down completely. It was gone.

The main hub was suddenly filled with the sounds of my shrilled, panicked, pained, and haunting screaming. Tears flowed effortlessly down my face as I sobbed and trembled in my place. Steam was rising from the bloodied stump and I could feel the heat boiling and eating away at my bone and flesh. All of my screaming and hyperventilating nearly made me faint, but I never did, and I really wish I had. The pain was too much. Instead of numbness, I felt every agonizing and excruciating sensation.

Desperately, I clawed at my leg but there was no way to fix it. My throat was growing raw from my wailing and I couldn't help but sob out the names of everyone I love, hoping any of them might show up by some miracle and help me. I begged for their presence. I begged for numbness. I begged for my leg to be whole again, but no matter how hard I cried nothing would change.

The black liquid had retreated over the edge of the building a while ago. Most of the room was filled with steam from the burned floor and nearly clouded my vision. Even with this and my pain, I turned myself over onto my stomach and lifted myself up. Slowly and carefully, I attempted to crawl forward but it's not so easy to do it on one leg. All I could do was slide my knee forward and let my arms pull the rest of me. Blood started dripping from the stump that was now my right leg and left a trail behind me.

Ao, what are you doing?!

Breathing heavily, I huffed, "I...can't stay here...need to...leave..."

But...your leg...

"Need...to...leave," I grunted just before I fell on my stomach. My body heaved as I breathed and I struggled to pick myself up again. I kept crawling forward, scratching the floor with my nails and turning my fingertips red from the friction. Everything was spinning around me but I kept going.

Ao, you're bleeding out too fast, you need to stop moving!

Need...to leave.

Ao? Ao, please, listen to me! Don't do this...

Have to find others. Have to stop the pain.

Please...!

"Aw, Look At The Poor Proxy Crawling Around So Pathetically..."

I stopped in my tracks and craned my head to the side to follow the source of that demonic, all-surrounding voice. My heart nearly stopped as soon as I saw the large, bright red, wide eyes peering down at me. Up close, I could see all of the chaos and malice swirling within the irises, transfixing me and chilling my body. I heard the desperate whispers of voices calling out to me, warning me or beckoning me of the misfortunate to come. They crawled into my head, scraping the inside of my skull and eating away at my thoughts. I wanted it to stop. Stop. Stop. Please...

Zalgo was already in his true, beastly form, poking his head through the broken glass wall. "I Was Waiting To See How Helpless You Can Become. I'm Almost A Little Disappointed That You Won't Be Able To Fight, Though... Oh Well. Come Here, Little Proxy."

His left arm, which was supposed to be severed, reached in to grab me. Out of nowhere, computer terminals were tossed violently into Zalgo's head and arm to try and stop him. Lab tables were slowly being pulled from the foundation of the floor and ceiling panels were yanked from their places. I could feel Sam's anger raging in my stomach and it made me nauseous, but no matter how much damage he caused, none of it stopped the evil entity from grabbing me.

NO! NO! NO!

Weak from blood loss and shock, I could do nothing to wiggle myself from Zalgo's hold. He pulled me out of the main hub and out into the open. With a wide grin of macabre glee, he chuckled and said, "You Aren't The Powerful Proxy You Were Meant To Be, My Dear. You Are Too Weak, Too Low On Your Potential, And Far From Being Immortal. There Is Only Supposed To Be One, That Is Not You."

The evil entity climbed up on top of the building, creating cracks in the concrete underneath him. "You Have Failed My Dear," he went on, "And Now Your Realm Will Be Mine. Farewell, Dear Proxy--."

Suddenly, he dropped me by accident when an AC unit was hurtled into his wrist. I fell on the rooftop on my side and cried out from the pain in my shoulder. I couldn't move my left arm anymore and slowly rolled over onto my other side to alleviate the pain. Again, I went falling into a crack in the concrete and fell down hard on my back.

NO!!!

I found it hard to breathe again. A sharp pain was building up from my stomach and I picked my heavy head up to see why.

I fell onto a piece of rebar.

Blood dripped from the metal piece and more flowed outward from my new wound. With a trembling hand, I reached under my back to touch the base of the rebar and attempted to cut it using my scarlet magic. While I transferred my energy to my hand, blood already started to rise up my throat. I had to turn my head to the side to spit it out. Once, I made the horrible mistake of trying to swallow it back down, but only retched it all out anyway.

Finally, I broke off the rebar and ordered Sam in a feeble voice, "Get...me off..."

All I heard in my head was his sobbing.

"Sam...please...get...me...o-off..."

He kept crying. I did too, but it was silent.

I tried sitting up while holding the piece of metal in me to keep the blood inside. The pain was too much and I fell back down. Staring up at the gray and red sky, I only laid still and wheezed horribly.

"Please...Sam...I can't move anymore...I don't want to move anymore...please..."

I never felt him touch me and he never said a word.

"I need to give Jeff's ring back... I need to find Ellie... Need to see Jack... And Seedy... Everyone..."

Nothing.

Whimpering, I added, "I-I don't want to die... P-Please...."

Don't let me die.

A large shadow came over me and from above Zalgo peered into the fissure I was stuck in. His powerful, demented voice laughed and he began to reach in.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!!"

The next thing I knew, I was blinded by a bright, white light.