The Conquest of the Undead Capital (屍都攻略) is the largest battle that took place during the Great Disaster, taking place during the latter half of Arc 8. Set roughly one year and eight months after the arrival of Natsuki Subaru into the world, the battle that took place here was the battle that would decide the fate of Vollachia.
With the Witch, Sphinx, setting out to complete the crux of her plan, she tormented Vollachia and the destroyed Imperial Capital while intending to attack the mind of Priscilla Barielle, the target of her revenge. Meanwhile, a specialized task force was created in the Fortified City of Garkla to counter and defeat the Witch and crush her schemes. Fighting alongside the warriors who were paving a path into the city, major clashes occurred beyond every bastion, and even within the Crystal Palace itself.
The Conquest ultimately ended with the victory of the task force, and in turn, they managed to quell the Great Disaster. However, among the losses were one of the Nine Divine Generals, Moguro Hagane, as well as Priscilla herself, who had given her life to fight as one of the zombies against Sphinx.
Background[]
Having weathered through the attack on the coupled dragon carriages by Lamia Godwin and her Pruning Corps, the retreating team arrived in Garkla, where Vincent discovered that the Stone was likely in the hands of their enemy. With this revelation, the members of the Emilia Camp, the Anastasia Camp, and the Imperial Army created a specialized unit with only one goal: invade the undead-controlled Lupugana, and completely end the country-spanning Sacrament of the Immortal King. Leaving Garkla in the hands of Goz Ralfon and several other notable figures, the “Rescue the Vollachia Empire from Destruction Squad” left for the Imperial Capital.
Meanwhile in the capital, Al and Cecilus Segmunt, who had teamed up while wandering the vicinity of the city, came across numerous undead, including Balleroy Temeglyph and Viva, and before long, they joined together with Heinkel Astrea, Rowan Segmunt, and Groovy Gumlet, who had previously joined together in a bar some distance away from the capital. Deciding to create way for the eventually coming specialized unit, Al set plans in motion to allow for the coming invasion.
Battle[]
Confronting the King of Thorns[]
After seeing off Rowan and Heinkel Astrea, Al, accompanied by Groovy and Cecilus, made their way beyond the fourth bastion, using a werewolf cloak to cover themselves with the Divine Protection of Ambushing. However, despite this cover, the three were suddenly stricken with the Curse of Thorns, causing them intense pain until they moved away. Realizing that the curse would get in the way and that Cecilus needed to recover his prized swords, the three split up, with Groovy heading out to take care of the one casting the curse.
Groovy confronts the Emperor of the Briar.
After splitting up, Groovy used one of his poison daggers on himself to numb his sense of pain and keep fighting regardless of the curse. Eventually, he managed to find his way to the one casting the curse: Eugard Vollachia, Emperor of the Briar, wielding both the Yang Sword and the Fiend Sword. Cursing his luck, the two introduced themselves and entered battle. With his kusarigama out, he unleashed several attacks against the emperor, though they failed, and he unleashed the explosive weighted ball on him, attempting to catch him with the blast. As an undead, however, Eugard quickly recovered. Simultaneously, Eugard had been unleashing long range attacks with the Fiend Sword and the Yang Sword. Though the Yang Sword’s attacks failed to reach Groovy, several attacks from the Fiend Sword managed to strike him.
At a stalemate, Groovy drew his blood hatchets and attacked Eugard. Despite the attack being blocked, the vibrations from the hatchets still managed to cause damage to Eugard, and Groovy backed away. With his blood on Eugard, Groovy tossed his hatchets, causing them to begin tracking Eugard, even after being deflected. To put on further pressure, he brought out even more hatchets and threw them, entering a long range fight. The hatchets managed to hit Eugard, but he still managed to recover. Soon, Groovy attempted to use a sonic scream against the man, though the Fiend Sword damaged his throat and destroyed the “point” of his sonic magic crystal. Damaged heavily, Groovy was on his knees, unable to move. Similarly, he was still suffering from the poison still in his system. With Eugard praising his strength, he moved in to unleash one final attack. One that was stopped by the arrival of the Admirer Halibel.
With Halibel having moved Groovy out of the way, he greeted the emperor of old, though the man did not like the sight of a wolfman before him. It didn’t take long for Halibel to realize that the curse was not affecting him, leaving him somewhat conflicted. With Eugard unleashing an attack with his Yang Sword in an attempt to burn Halibel, the Admirer used his clone to take his place while he dragged the man into the ground by his feet. Despite this, Eugard managed to escape and unleash more attacks. With several clones and swipes of the emperor’s swords, Halibel eventually managed to cause significant damage to the emperor. Despite this, he was unable to defeat him, and he soon retreated with Groovy.
At a safe distance, the two determined how the Curse of Thorns worked how to take care of it. With Halibel returning to fight Eugard, he used his cloning techniques to create several clones. Using various techniques and methods to avoid the various swings of Eugard’s sword, he managed to hit the man several times. Deciding to use his proper strength, Eugard tossed aside the Fiend Sword and decided to solely use the Yang Sword, even abusing its unique sheathing method to catch him off guard. As the battle continued, Halibel eventually found the “dead spot” on the emperor’s body and struck it, causing it to shatter and stop regenerating. In retaliation, Eugard struck the Admirer with the hilt of his sword, and with the explosive force of his sword behind it, he sent the wolfman flying.
Despite this, Groovy soon made his appearance aiming for the Fiend Sword. Not allowing him to reach it, Eugard tossed his Yang Sword, successfully managing to pierce through the hyenaman’s abdomen. Despite this, Groovy successfully completed his task. Due to the sword’s hatred for Groovy, it flung itself away from him, and it reached Halibel’s hands. Creating an opening against Eugard, Halibel struck the emperor, releasing the influence of the Witch that was on him. Soon after, Groovy successfully managed to transfer the Curse of Thorns to himself with an unnamed method, allowing Eugard and Halibel to move onto another battle. Meanwhile, Groovy remained where he was, unable to continue fighting.
Clash Against the Undead Swordmaster[]
Shortly after Al’s group entered the Imperial Capital, Rowan came across Yorna Mishigure, using her original name Iris, beyond the fifth bastion. Though she attempted to persuade him to leave and live another day, since he had a chance to fight against someone transcendent, something he’d never been given a chance to before, Rowan attacked her anyway. However, she was able to quickly subdue him multiple times, hoping that he would back down. However, this had the opposite effect, and he soon found hope that by fighting against Yorna would allow him to reach the Heavenly Sword. And with this hope in hand, Rowan slashed his own throat.
Iris versus the undead force of Rowans.
With Rowan having given his life, numerous receptacles of Rowan appeared like an army, using their countless numbers to try and reach the Seventh Divine General. With her incredible might, Yorna succeeded in crushing many of them, displaying a clear difference in their strengths yet again. However, with her morale having been drastically reduced due to the conflict around her and her failure to turn Rowan back while he was still alive, the swordsman’s blade managed to reach Yorna several times. Eventually, he was prepared to swing his sword at her neck.
Reinforcements came soon after in the form of Tanza, who took the blow meant for her while covered in armor made of ice, and Emilia. With the latter holding off the numerous undead, she bought time enough for Tanza and Yorna to speak. Though Yorna attempted to push Tanza back by claiming she didn’t need her anymore, the deer girl saw through her lie as the Soul Marriage Technique flowed strong within her, and she proceeded to use the strength given to her to crush one of the Rowans who slipped past Emilia. Shortly after, Tanza continued forward to back up Emilia.
Despite their strengths, the sheer number of Rowan duplicates was too much, and one of them managed to get close to Yorna. However, when Eugard, free of Sphinx’s influence, arrived and deflected the blade meant for her. No longer with the Curse of Thorns, he met with his Star again. Not understanding his role there, Tanza attempted to attack him. With her attack avoided, Yorna dissuaded her from attacking Eugard, as he was no longer an enemy, with Emilia asking him as much. With his confirmation, he confronted the many Rowans again and introduced himself. With his next attack, he used his Yang Sword to strike a single receptacle of the swordsman, causing his soul to ignite. Shortly after, with his bodies collapsing, Rowan retreated to find his son.
Bout Against the Cloud Dragon[]
Having been directed towards the seemingly less defended first bastion, Heinkel entered the place on Al’s suggestion. Unfortunately, Heinkel was aware that this was likely to be a trap, which was confirmed by the appearance of the Cloud Dragon Mezoreia, being controlled by the Divine General Madelyn Eschart. Considering Heinkel nothing more than a fly, she swatted him away with her tail. However, Heinkel survived, and he was pulled from the rubble by Garfiel Tinzel, who was given the task of handling the Dragon. Of course, Madelyn did not care for his appearance and decided to attack him.
Garfiel managed to strike the Dragon in the sky, but she took minimal damage from the attack, and she tried to crush him with her two large hands. When this failed she struck at him with her tail. Getting back up, he struck her in the face, giving her a nosebleed with a tremendous crack. Unfortunately, having been caught midair, he was sent flying into the ground, having nearly been killed. Getting back up almost immediately thanks to the effects of his Divine Protection healing him.
Continuing to challenge the Dragon, she was extremely enraged and attempted to strike him with her tail again. However, having grabbed it mid-swing, he threw her backwards against her wall of the bastion, leaving her upside down and confused. With Madelyn baffled and annoyed, she unleashed her Dragon Breath on Garfiel in an attempt to erase him completely. Despite this, not only did he manage to withstand the Dragon’s Breath with the combination of his strength, shields, and Divine Protection, he even managed to deflect it into the sky, shocking Madelyn, and causing Heinkel to fall on his behind, muttering that that attack would have wiped away everything behind him. Hearing this left Madelyn confused and panicked, and she flew into the sky.
In her confusion, Madelyn gathered up all of the mana that was spread across the sky, creating intensely powerful thunderclouds and preparing the most powerful attack she could muster, intending to release it on an unspecified target. Needing his help, Garfiel called to Heinkel for assistance. Using his sword, he swung it after Garfiel jumped on it, and with their combined strengths, Garfiel managed to reach Madelyn in the sky, and he brought her down, resolving to speak to her after this fight was over.
On the ground, he and Heinkel protected her from the numerous undead, who were all intending kill the Dragon and turn her into a zombie. Eventually, they left the first bastion.
The Magician and the Flying Sniper[]
Shortly after Madelyn took over Mezoreia, Balleroy and Carillon took off into the skies above the third bastion. Wanting to end the conflict as soon as possible, they decided to continue searching for Vincent, as they believe sniping the leader would end the fight fastest. However, before they could try, a large number of fireballs came flying towards the Imperial Capital from the sky, causing Balleroy to have to shoot down every fireball. Using his scope to see the cause of the flames, he saw Roswaal L. Mathers and Medium O'Connell high in the air.
Intending to keep Medium alive he began firing shots at her arms and legs, which she managed to deflect with her swords. Convinced of his motives, the two flew into action. Roswaal cast numerous other wide range spells, forcing Balleroy to deal with them. Simultaneously, Balleroy was firing accurate shots of his magic bullets at Roswaal, who was forced to dodge as he flew, leaving the magician impressed.
Deciding to unleash his own trump card, Roswaal let fall a massive iceberg that was prepared beforehand by Emilia, and he let it crumble into massive chunks of falling ice debris. Knowing that it would be suicide fighting against someone like Balleroy in the terrain where he fights best, he use this to gain cover while he flew around and threw in his own attacks. He was also able to shoot down the attack aiming for his back. Attempting to escape from the falling debris, he was nearly stopped by yet another spell Roswaal had prepared: a barrier made of all six elements. However, though this was meant to stop the sniper, he managed to punch through the barrier and escape, and he even managed to ricochet a shot of his off of the falling ice and hit Roswaal.
Left with no other option available, Roswaal created a large ice trap beneath them on the ground, and he threw Medium towards it, forcing Balleroy to make a decision: save Medium or kill Roswaal. Choosing the former, Balleroy flew as fast as he could towards Medium’s direction and destroyed the ice trap, leaving Balleroy open to be struck by a magic bullet made by Roswaal. Fortunately, Medium was able to be saved, and with Balleroy defeated, Roswaal left for another battlefield.
On the ground, Balleroy had a conversation with Medium about her having fallen in love with someone, and soon after, he decided to help her save the one she fell for.
Blue Lightning, The Follower, and The Spirit Eater[]
With Al and Cecilus retreating towards the area of the second bastion, they decided on their goal to retrieve Cecilus’s sword, the Fiend Sword and the Dream Sword. However, instead, they came across the Spirit Eater Arakiya. Having tried to take in the Stone in an attempt to prevent its further abuse by Sphinx’s hands, numerous crystals burst forth from her body, giving her crystalline wings and protrusions, and she cried blood as her body was barely able to withstand the power of one of the Four Great Spirits. Unable to control herself due to the immense power flowing through her body and the awakening survival instincts of the Stone, her body began acting on its own, attacking Al and Cecilus with flames and crystals.
Defending themself, Al set up his thought experiment, and Cecilus flew around the battlefield, avoiding the intense flames and rocket-like crystals being fired towards him. While Al was barely able to keep himself alive against the intense and dramatic firepower, Cecilus was able to cut through the crystals, though not without taking some damage himself. Arakiya, unable to bear the intense suffering and wishing to use her death to scare the Stone into action, asked for Cecilus to kill her. However, because her death by his hands like this would not play well with Cecilus’s ideals, he refused to kill her and decided to defeat her while keeping her alive.
The battle continued and intensified. With the area around them having been reduced to not but ash and spots of lava, Cecilus, who had expected an opening to appear, raised his hand to the sky. Al, who had been through numerous over twelve thousand “loops”, desperately attempted to figure out what this posture meant, until finally, he threw his liuyedao towards Cecilus. Catching the sword, Cecilus swung it downward, recreating an intensely powerful slash reminiscent of the Sword Saint’s, erasing most of the attacks heading his direction.
Cecilus subdues Arakiya.
Unfortunately, this did not end the fight, and Arakiya unleashed yet another attack. In the moments before the attack could land, Cecilus managed to retrieve the Dream Sword from his memories, and he cut through the attack. Simultaneously, as Cecilus spoke to her, she realized that she was under the effect of her princess’s Soul Marriage Technique, the flame burning brightly in her eye and preventing her from self-destructing from the Stone’s power. Cecilus then rushed forward, and with a powerful downward swing, he both bypassed her last attack and struck her down. With the combination of the Dream Sword’s ability to accomplish one’s dreams and the Soul Marriage Technique, Arakiya’s body managed to perfectly assimilate with the Stone, and she survived, her life now connected to Vollachia’s.
The Arrival of Sphinx[]
After vanquishing numerous undead soldiers, including the malformed Izmail, beyond the fifth bastion, Sphinx, whose instincts were telling her that Subaru was involved with her plans going awry, made her appearance before his group. Despite not having encountered her in previous loops, Subaru decided to take advantage of the surprise to take her down for good. However, when he tried to do so, Sphinx interrupted him and pointed out Spica’s use of the Authority of Gluttony, leaving Subaru shocked enough that he and Spica were wide open for Sphinx to attack. After Jamal Aurélie pushed the two out of the way and took the attack himself, Sphinx attempted to inquire into whether Vincent was related to Priscilla. Subaru answered in his stead, having gone through several bouts of Return by Death, and he got everyone into action.
Leaving Beatrice to heal Jamal, Spica entered hand to hand combat with Sphinx. Despite excelling in magic, Sphinx showed tremendous skill at close combat, and she prevented Spica from damaging her or using her Authority. Meanwhile, Subaru also went into action, using his whip as a means to distract her. Despite this, Sphinx managed to grab ahold of it after she pushed back Spica, and she dragged him to herself. Though he took injuries from this, this was a part of his plan, and while lying on his back and facing Sphinx, he fired Minya into her eye, causing it to crystallize. This left her open to attack by Jamal, who threw his sword, and Beatrice, who hit her with more Minya arrows.
With Sphinx left unable to move, Subaru and Spica attempted to use her Authority again. However, this failed when three more zombies of Sphinx appeared and destroyed the immobile one. Despite putting up a fight against them, Jamal was left unconscious, Spica and Subaru were held down by two of her zombies, and Beatrice was left on the ground. With things going her way, Sphinx attempted to negotiate to bring Vincent to the Crystal Palace with her alive. When he didn’t give her the answer she wanted, she attempted to use the lives of those around as hostages, even going so far as to break Subaru’s arm. This also failed, however, and she decided to kill them all.
As Sphinx zombies each charged a Jiwald to kill them all, Subaru gave the signal for Spica to teleport with her respective Sphinx, putting her directly into the line of fire of one of her own attacks and destroying said zombie. Meanwhile, Beatrice used Minya to crystallize the one holding down Subaru, complaining to Subaru about cutting things too close. With two of the zombies of Sphinx destroyed, Vincent finally drew his Yang Sword, and when he charged at her, though she barely dodged a direct hit, when he cut off a small lock of her hair, her soul began to burn, as well as her body along with it.
Sphinx becomes the Witch of Greed.
Despite this victory, many of the remaining zombies of Sphinx, desperate to find a way to survive, destroyed themselves to coalesce the knowledge they acquired into one. In this process, Sphinx was finally able to cast off her “shell” as Sphinx, and taking on the appearance of her creator, Echidna, she started to refer to herself as the Witch of Greed before the bound Priscilla.
Duel of the Swordsmen[]
With his soul burning, Rowan dashed his way through the capital, using various receptacles to keep going, until he finally reached Cecilus, who had just finished his confrontation with Arakiya. With Rowan wishing to overcome his son and reach the Heavenly Sword, he and Cecilus prepared their swords. After a few moments of silence, they each unleashed a single slash, and Rowan was defeated. With his body collapsing and his soul burning to naught, Cecilus commended his father.
The Witch's Last Stand[]
Shortly after Cecilus defeated his father, the Witch, donning her new form, floated to the ground, coming to kill Arakiya, who successfully assimilated with the Stone and whose life became synonymous with the life of Vollachia. Though confused by her appearance, Cecilus quickly pieced together her identity as Sphinx. Meanwhile, an enraged Al attacked her, believing her to be his old teacher. However, Sphinx easily dealt with his magic physically, dispelling his impressions of her identity, leading to Cecilus to inform him of her identity. Sphinx then took an interest in Al for the first time, but because of the danger posed by Cecilus, she cast a spell around her that would detonate should she be killed. With Al having realized this, he stopped Cecilus’s charge against her, and a larger battle took place.
Cecilus slashes through a star.
With Al incapable of reaching the Witch, she began assaulting Cecilus with numerous spells. Blasting him with various spells of water, fire, and light, even combining the elements in various manners, the Blue Lightning cut through every spell she sent his way. Eventually, she decided to cast Al Shario. However, Cecilus decided to take on this immeasurable spell, and with his body returning to normal in the process, he slashed through and destroyed the falling star, leaving Sphinx left shocked. Al took advantage of this to thrust himself at her. Though she still expected this and attempted to attack him, he caught her off guard with a false prosthetic arm to the face, and he cast Ol Shamak, sealing her in contradictory black light.
Meanwhile, Vincent’s group, now accompanied by Halibel, who split up from Eugard, made their way to the Crystal Palace, fighting through numerous zombies, both normal and malformed. Eventually coming across Viva, who had been performing soul experiments and creating the stronger and malformed zombies, Vincent burned away his soul and ended the experiments. However, the Magic Crystal Cannon soon activated, its aim directed towards Al’s group with the intention to kill Arakiya. Not allowing this to slide, Subaru had Vincent defend them with his Yang Sword, while he had Spica and Halibel help him and Beatrice reach the skies above the cannon. There, they cast Al Shamak, successfully absorbing the shot.
Shortly after, the undead Valgren appeared in the sky, attempting to kill the two floating in the air. Fortunately, they were saved by the arrival of Roswaal, who had caught them midair, and Halibel and Cecilus, who wasted no time in dispatching the Dragon.
Meanwhile, Olbart Dunkelkenn, who had been responsible for investigating the Crystal Palace, successfully managed to destroy all of the magic circles that was warping the inside of the palace. Having seen the Magic Crystal Cannon shot been erased by Subaru, Olbart laughed as he faced off against Sphinx, who had managed to successfully bypass all of Moguro’s defenses and utilize the great meteor. The battle was short, and Olbart managed to pierce straight through Sphinx, but taking advantage of her status as an undead, she blew herself up, successfully taking Olbart’s other arm and leaving him on death’s door.
Meanwhile below, Vincent reunited with Yorna, Tanza, and his new ally, Eugard, and they fought side by side. Emilia, who had split off from the group because of her instincts, came across one of the other Sphinxes as she was heading to complete a magic circle. Though the two confused each other for the Witch of Envy and Witch of Greed respectively, they quickly realized that they were not the same. With Emilia looking for Priscilla, the two ended up in battle.
Beneath the palace, Vincent noticed the explosion from Olbart’s battle, and when the old man appeared and warned him about Moguro, Vincent used the strength boost granted to him by his Yang Sword to jump inside the opening given to him. It didn’t take long for him to realize that Moguro’s core had been overloaded and set to blow up. Needing to quell the explosion, he was prepared to expend his life force to do so. However, he was stopped by the arrival of Medium, who was carrying Madelyn’s unconscious body, and Balleroy. Deciding to save everyone with the life he had left, Balleroy and Carillon flew him into the sky with Moguro’s core, and it blew up, visible to everyone.
Meanwhile, Sphinx continued to keep her plan in motion. Sending out several of herself towards the magic circle’s corners in the city, she intending to blow up the city, though Emilia’s actions keeping one of them in place halted her plan. Meanwhile, the Sphinx captured by Al intended to anger him by speaking of his incomplete purpose, and in turn, he would kill her, allowing the information she had gathered to spread to the other Sphinxes. However, Subaru, who had experienced numerous failures, managed to prevent these outcomes, and he had everyone protect the nearby unconscious Arakiya, who was also one of the targets to destroy Vollachia., from the army of zombies that were going to attempt to kill her. Simultaneously, he had Cecilus, Garfiel, Halibel, and Eugard confront the Sphinxes at the corners of the magic circles, who were attempting to utilize the mana stored within the Crystal Palace to strengthen both the circle and herself.
Deciding to put everyone in despair, Sphinx created a water screen high in the air that displayed the predicament that Garkla was in. Despite this, Subaru and Beatrice destroyed even this plan by firing the stored cannon shot at the Al Shario falling towards Garkla, simultaneously causing the water screen to shatter in the air. However, even this was part of Sphinx’s plan, as she intended to turn the falling water into blades that would tear apart her enemies. This plan was also destroyed when, having decided to give her life to burn down the alternate space, Priscilla emerged in the sky and burned away all of the water.
With Priscilla falling from the sky, her Soul Marriage Technique spread to everyone, both in Garkla and Lupugana. Her presence was felt by Sphinx, and many of her receptacles jumped to attack her in the air, though nearly all of them were stopped by the group from below. Caught in the air by Al, she made her way to the ground, where she met with Subaru and entrusted him to do with the nearby Sphinx what he needed to. Taking Arakiya, who had awakened, with her, she left Al to help Subaru. With Spica by his side and surrounded by his allies, Subaru attempted use the Authority of Gluttony to defeat her.
The imperial family confronts the giant magic crystal soldier.
Meanwhile, another one of the Sphinxes landed within the Crystal Palace, and sitting upon the throne, she activated the meteor that was still inside, turning the Crystal Palace into the Giant Magic Crystal Soldier. Needing to face it down was Vincent. However, reinforcements arrived in the form of Priscilla, Eugard, and the Nine Divine Generals, including Mezoreia through Madelyn. Working side by side with three Yang Swords, they fought against the colossus, and eventually, they managed to destroy it completely, with Priscilla even defeating the Sphinx inside.
With Subaru confronting Sphinx with Spica, his body reverted to normal. Unfortunately, the two realized that they would always have been enemies. Subaru told her “happy birthday” before successfully managing to use the Authority of Gluttony on her with Spica. With that, Sphinx acquired awareness of her identity as “Sphinx”, realizing and being content with it, while a remaining undead duplicate of hers had one final confrontation and conversation with Priscilla. All of Sphinx's duplicates faded to ash, ending the Great Disaster.
Aftermath[]
The defeat of Sphinx marked the collapse of the undead army's central forces in Lupugana, resulting in the surviving undead retreating and concealing themselves from the living. The number of casualties has not yet been fully ascertained. The destruction wrought to Lupugana caused the destruction of the Crystal Palace. The reservoir, although not completely broken, was left at risk of being destroyed at any time. According to Priscilla, the state Lupugana was left in could very well take a century to restore. The aptly-named “Rescue the Vollachia Empire from Destruction Squad” returned to Garkla, where the citizens and soldiers began to rebuild the city's outer walls following the disaster's conclusion. Eugard and Priscilla, as a result of returning to their human appearances and burning out all of their remaining “embers”, dissipated into thin air, content with their ends.