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They were everywhere now, the crystals, spreading across the bodies and structures, swarming like locusts. Their progression was slow, and horrifying to watch. Beads of sweat formed on Wash's brow. Was this his punishment? Was this how he would die? Frozen with fear, he couldn't move, even if he'd wanted to- the crystals had him by his feet, he could feel them slowly clamping down on his extremities, a discomfort that promised pain. His eyes rolled back into his head, as he no longer could force himself to watch the formations eat their way up his legs. What cruel magic was this?

Did they get out, he wondered, somewhere on the edge of the panic. Had they escaped? Or were they, too, going to be consumed by this whiteness? He had damned the world and it's moral grays only seconds before, but now he longed for the ambiguity. Anything but this cold purity that consumed them now.

Junko had been doing her best to fend off hunters who had come to take back their portal, to rid their island of the pests as she had heard themselves be called. She was wisely staying in the jungle where she could defend instead of go on the offensive. She wasn't a fighter so it wasn't wise for her to go out there and just do something stupid like get herself killed. If she was going to be any use at all it was going to be here defending their way home.

Everyone would be home soon. They would be safe.

She felt nothing when the large male Hunter fell, simply watching as several of the other Hunters around him lost their composure with a look of disinterest. Good, she wanted them to suffer loss. She wanted them to know what it was like when their loved ones were taken, when their friends' lives were coldly ripped from their hands as if they didn't mean anything. Junko almost felt bad that she was thinking something like this about humans, but a voice literally in the back of her head reminded her these things were hardly human anymore; they were soulless, heartless animals. They weren't even monsters. Junko was a monster. She refused to lump them with her kind.

She continued to fight until the ground began to shake. Junko had to stop and back away from what she was doing, wide eyes looking all around. What was going on? Had the Hunters done something? What were they up to? The first crystal shard that popped up out of the ground beside her had her scurrying away with a cry, backed up against a tree. What?! Wh-what was all this?! Another one popped up and another, and one of them surprised her and scraped her arm. She winced and stumbled away from it, her hand pressed against the cut.

Junko looked down a moment to check the damage, and what she saw had her trembling immediately. "Wh..what...?!" What was this? What was going on?! Was this something Medea hadn't forseen? It had to be that. Medea wouldn't...wouldn't betray her own kind. The students? Perhaps. But not her horsemen! And she could see a few off in the distance suffering from this...problem.

Her blood. Her blood was crystallizing. What was going on!? She whined and tried to wipe and rub it away, terrified it would get into her body.

61 - 80: Ouch! You wince as a fragment cuts you, and then stare at your wound in surprise as your blood begins to crystalize as well into fragments, growing out of your wound. This doesn't look good at all. - 10 HP

Right, home. That's all Alexander had really wanted from all of this, to rescue the missing students and take them all home. If Yin still felt a need to tell him off for throwing himself into the fray, and for endangering himself to get the weremantis and the others back then he could do that when they were back in the relative safety of Amity.

"As soon as the barrier is open, we can leave." Alex was turning back that way now, watching, waiting for the opportunity for their escape to arise.

It was not to be.

The earth began to shake beneath his feet, causing the clumsy zomboil to nearly fall to the ground. Perhaps the only thing that kept him steady was the fact that he hadn't removed his hand from where he had rested it to help and keep Yin upright. Crystals were growing up from the ground, bursts of white light where they touched nearly blinding him. The ones that came close to him, he kicked out at with his skeletal foot, attempting to shatter them and keep them away. For any he managed to break though, several more rose up out of the ground, stabbing into his feet now, causing brilliant flashes of white hot pain to shoot through his body.

His head was swimming, everything was fading to black. Something was pulling at his fear, tearing it from his body, weakening him as the crystals continued to grow.

Magical, unstoppable force indeed.

He fought past the pain enough to look at Yin, his own pain, fear, and confusion mirroring that of his bonded. "I--I can't" He whispered. "I'm sorry Yin, but I can't move. We can't go back." No I, just we, because as much as he might regret that this could very well be the end, then at least he had gone down fighting to be reunited with the person he loved.

"You need to go. Try and make it out...if you can." Alexander didn't exactly sound hopeful, but maybe..just maybe this entire ordeal hadn't been completely in vain.

It was too late. His legs were fully encased, and he could feel the weight of the formations crushing the delicate bones of his feet. He swooned, dizzy from the pain, but the crystals held him in place. They were everywhere now, coating the hunter like a fresh snow drift, hard and cold and unrelenting.

Kyrie eléíson. Christe eléison. Kyrie eléison. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

It was his last coherent thought, as he felt the intolerable pressure on his ankle finally give with a sickening 'pop'. Something snapped, and he screamed, one wordless ragged sound pulled from his throat after another, as fast as he could draw air. The agonized cries seemed to almost encourage the rampant growth, and soon he could no longer see the others, large stalagmites forming up around his body, cocooning him, entombing him alive, until they'd finally covered every inch of him and forced their way down his throat-

Silence. His eyes bulged, sightless, tears streaming down his face and caught up as the crystals gently pebbled up against his skin. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't breathe.

Salbei had tried to batten down the hatches when it came to battling, but with the rush of everyone else he took a step back. It was more his style to wait until he was needed, after all. No matter how bad the fighting got, there was no immediate reason for him to step in...that was, of course, until the shards. Something was wrong with them; they were growing too fast, making a web too strong.

The fragments trembled, distorting the world around him. The battle had stopped and yet it still sounded like it raged on, reflecting all around him in the shards and crystals that came to take over everything. It was dizzying, trying to catch a glimpse of something that wasn't really there...and yet he kept trying, hoping to grasp what was happening.

There it was again. The anger. The hatred. Once again, Riyo had been impulsive when it came to making decisions. The ghoul had simply jumped through the flames without a thought as to what might happen. To the repercussions she might face for leaping to someone's rescue.

Never again...

Aklin had screamed at his hunter to not give up so easily and that did bring Tori back to her senses somewhat as she started to bash the crystals off of herself to get free but she did have lingering thoughts of just stopping in defeat.

It had been no use as more crystals grew around her feet causing Tori to feel more of that burning pain rushing up from her legs as the pain felt like the time being crushed by conquests gravity. Even when Tori had blacked out for a second all those feeling of being crushed to death came rushing back to her.

Escape was too late now with the crystals growing were she could no longer hit them off with Aklin. Sorrow filled her as the crystal also grew on her weapon, her partner, her closest friend as well. Tori didn't want it to end not now not like this.

Attempting to scrape the crystallized blood from her hand, she gave up within seconds when realizing it was pointless. In fact, she felt too tired to try anything anymore. She felt as she did when she was stuck in the cell. All her energy--gone. Using the tree for support, the doll fought to keep her eye open, while listening to a distant voice going on about revenge.

Revenge, huh? Sounded nice.