"Mooootheeeer fuuuckeeeer," Maeve muttered to herself, dragging her body from the collapsed wall of the medical wing. The makeshift area, already teetering on hopes and prayers, couldn't withstand any internal skirmish, let alone an all-out battle. The wall Maeve managed to pull herself up from was the final remnant of the little building they had constructed a few weeks prior. It wasn't the transformed Lycans that caused the destruction; Azral and Kohsin had been dealt with in a manner that didn't involve their deaths, following Aladdin's explicit instructions.
No, this was a new opponent, one who rivaled the very same strength of Virgil, while Maeve was quite excited to have an opponent of this stature in front of her, especially while alone, but Maeve knew Zero would never believe her if she was able to defeat someone of this caliber, he wouldn’t even believe Aladdin and deep down, it wasn’t because he didn’t actually believe her, he would do it out of spite because who knows how many years ago now, Maeve didn’t believe him when he said he killed a Dragon Ranked Dungeon Master on his own, it was when they first met, so she didn’t think anything of it more than a boast to try and swoon her, but when he showed her its corpse he had drug out of the Dungeon a few weeks later, she couldn’t not believe him—what he showed her next double the fact that he defeated it, but that’s a thought for another time.
The warrior standing before Maeve was significantly shorter than Virgil, almost resembling a younger human, save for the curled horns on the sides of her head instead of ears. Her dark complexioned skin held a pink glow in her eyes, and her blonde hair was fashioned in a bob cut with black ribbons tied to the tips of her horns, forming little bows. Wearing a yellow vest paired with white baggy pants and barefoot, she sported a rope around her waist with more black ribbons tied across it. Two leather bags hung from both sides of her hips, but what truly stood out was not the fangs protruding from her bottom lip but the large sunflower-shaped medallion floating behind her back. Moving effortlessly, it almost seemed like a backpack, yet it floated freely with four arms hovering around it, each adorned with black scales and sporting only three fingers—a peculiar contrast to Virgil's almost emperor-like appearance.
"So..." Maeve huffed, lifting her fists again. "...what were you saying about Virgil kicking our asses?"
The woman stepped over the debris, walking toward Maeve. Once again, just like when she arrived, she kept her aura so tight that Maeve almost couldn't detect it.
"My brother thought I should come talk to you, 'bout husband," the woman said, her thick accent putting weight on every word. "He is...odd."
Maeve bopped her head back and forth in agreement with a roll of her eyes. "He annoying you all that much already?"
The woman stopped a few meters in front of Maeve. "He keeps siblings and Virgil's children quite entertained...and Death has taken liken to him."
Maeve let out a sigh that carried the weight of close to a millennium, a sigh that spoke volumes—it was the kind of sigh that resonated with the weariness accumulated over centuries.
"Is that Death, with the D capitalized, or are you trying to tell me he isn’t coming back?" Maeve inquired.
The woman shook her head. "I can’t tell you if coming back or no; that’s up to him and if he get through all of dad’s circles." Suddenly, the woman disappeared, reappearing behind Maeve, where she whispered in her ear. "And to answer your question." She licked Maeve’s ear, and in the next instant, all four of the arms on her back punched Maeve, sending her flying. "…that’s Death with a capital D." The woman's body shivered, and she began skipping along her way toward Maeve, her arms flailing up and down leisurely at her sides as she hummed.
Maeve lifted herself up and quickly tapped her chest twice. Her apparel lit up in a bright red aura and disappeared in shards of dust, replaced by something far different from a king’s cloak and gowns.
Instead, she now adorned a dark gray armor with shades of dull gold throughout. Designs adorned each layer—the chest piece, a solid unit over her chest, seamlessly connected into a double layer around her waist that sat over the panels on her legs, giving her a tight, skirt-like appearance. Chainmail rested on the underside of the waist, cascading down just above her knees, where pointed knee pads attached to high-legged boots fed up under the knees. Her arms were covered in a four-layer overlapping panel of metal, connected to gauntlets that shared the same pointed panel-like assembly but poised in the opposite direction. Her hands were encased in metal gloves that moved seamlessly with her fingers. A pristine white cloak flowed down her back from her right shoulder, while her left shoulder held a large plate with a wolf’s head made of the same dull gold. Her helmet featured little grooves for her horns to tuck into, making them seem smaller than they were. The oval helmet lacked a visor, only a small slit in front of her mouth, arched upward on the forehead and melded into a metal mohawk on top.
Maeve adjusted herself, moving her legs and shoulders, shimmying as she adjusted to the armor. She cracked her neck back and forth, thinking to herself, "It’s been a while since I’ve had to wear this, but without my cloak, it’s either this or we throw hands." She examined the woman’s extra limbs floating behind her. "And she’s got a small advantage in that section."
"Before we start," Maeve boasted, "What do I call you? I need to know whose ass I’m about to beat for fucking up my new Kingdom."
The woman stopped, placing her hands on her hips, the floating hands behind her gesturing in the same manner. "Lux."
"ALRIGHT, LUX!" Oiwa’s voice cut through the air as her crystalized arms appeared beside Lux, connecting on both sides. But upon making contact, both arms shattered, and without even moving, Oiwa was suddenly ripped from the air and pulled in front of Lux, who held her there using some external force.
"Arms, how were you able to move them so far away from body?" Lux rotated Oiwa around, examining her up and down. "You Oni, you barely wear clothes." She continued looking her up and down, moving around her body. She peered all around her as she rotated Oiwa through the air. "Hmm, no sign of Disc, interesting, I must know." With a playful chuckle, Lux moved so gracefully around Oiwa and over to Maeve, where she rotated her hand inward, a purple-bladed shortsword materialized in Lux’s hand. She swung it just as Maeve ducked, then immediately took a step backward, then another before she leapt back a few meters, putting distance between them. There, she saw a second sword in Lux’s hand, the same purple blade with a black hilt.
"Fuck," Maeve said exhaustively as she lifted her severed arms upward where she placed her nubs against the top of her helmet, feeling where Lux had cut off her horns. Maeve took a deep breath. "Okay, bitch." She shook her nubs, and instantly her pale red scaled arms materialized in a black goop before taking on their normal shape. She gripped them tightly, and just like her arms, the armor melded back down to her fingers. "I can regrow limbs for a bit, but not my horns, those take a while." Maeve closed the gap between them instantly and thrust her palm forward as a blade launched itself outward from her wrist. Lux sidestepped and swung upward with her left blade, but Maeve moved around and kicked her from behind with incredible speed.
"Wow," Lux stated as she caught herself in her stumble, turning around to face Maeve. "Zero said without cloak, you kinda boring." Maeve rolled her eyes. "But he also said you were, how he put it? 'Fast as fuck boi'?" She bobbled her head at Maeve with an annoyed look. "...he was oddly specific about making sure all knew boy was spelled with 'i', not a 'y'."
Maeve gestured at her. "Like you said, he’s odd."
Lux flexed her eyebrows upward, and Oiwa dropped to the ground a couple of meters behind Maeve. "You are fast though." She looked beyond Maeve at Oiwa. "But who faster?" As soon as Lux looked back at Maeve, she disappeared, and Maeve followed suit, shifting backward immediately to Oiwa where she pulled her away. She slid through the grass and pulled Oiwa around, keeping an eye on Lux, who was standing where Oiwa had just been. Maeve positioned her against a tree and turned to face her, only to find that Oiwa was now headless.
"What?" Maeve shook her head, then turned back to Lux, who pulled her right hand from behind her back and held up Oiwa’s head.
Lux pulled it close to her own then held it out for Maeve. "Huh, guess me."
"AHHH!" Maeve cried out, taking one step forward, and Lux was in front of her, all four of the floating arms grabbed onto Maeve, holding her in place in front of Lux.
"No, you stay here for a moment." Lux’s head turned sharply to the right, looking deep into the trees. "I want to play with your Vampire friend again."
"Then let’s play." Benny’s voice echoed from Oiwa’s lifeless shadow, and with a smooth grace, he leapt from it, pulling a sword from his side, one that no one could see but him. He thrust it forward, piercing through Maeve seamlessly and into the stomach of Lux. "Got you."
Lux tilted her head to the side, looking at Benny directly. "Welcome back. Were able to sort out parts for your um..." She tilted her head at Benny for an answer.
Benny grumbled under his breath. "Orpheus and Sukki."
Lux nodded at him with a cheerful smile. "Yes, yes, them. How they?"
Benny let out a quiet sigh. "Orpheus will recover..." There was a drawn-out silence, one that Maeve knew what it meant. She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes.
"Well?" Lux boasted. "How Sukki?"
"She’s dead," Benny replied. "You know that."
"Ah." Lux nodded at him. "Shame." She looked back at Maeve. "Clever sword that, what happens if switch how it works?"
Something from under Lux’s vest clamped down on the sword, causing the blade inside her to become invisible, but the one inside Maeve to become visible. Benny instantly pulled back the sword, and as he did, Lux dropped Maeve and replaced her with Benny, who in quick fashion turned into a cloud of bats and pulled himself and Maeve away a few meters.
"Hmm." Lux muttered. "That was neat." She looked over to Oiwa’s head on the grass. "Now to see how she did that." With a flick of her head, the head came to her hand where she caught it and pulled it toward her stomach. There, in place of where you expected muscle, was a mouth with rounded teeth and a long tongue that slithered out and snatched the head, pulling it in before the mouth chomped down and swallowed. Lux let out an audible. "OOOOOOHH." She nodded to herself. "I can’t believe I never thought of that." Her way of speaking shifted and her accent completely disappeared. She smiled as her head locked onto Maeve and Benny. "Let’s try it," and as she spoke, all four hands hovering behind her launched forward at the two of them.
Both Maeve and Benny stood up, preparing for the assault. As they readied themselves, footsteps could be heard sprinting from the left side, where a white-gowned figure emerged. With incredible precision, they knocked all four hands back at Lux, which took their place hovering behind her again.
The warrior who appeared wore an all-white set of clothing—baggy pants and a long-sleeve shirt that had a full head mask covering her pale purple skin, leaving only her intense yellow eyes visible. She turned her head to Maeve for a moment. "Hey Queenie. Oh, sorry, Hey Kingness, heard you were looking for me?"
"Althea?" Maeve asked.
The warrior shrugged her shoulders. "The one and only." She looked to Lux. "Who’s the freak?"
"Her name’s Lux. She’s been kicking my ass." Maeve looked to Benny. "All of our asses, actually."
Althea turned back from Maeve to Lux, and with another shoulder shrug, she said, "Well, she hasn’t kicked my ass yet." She lowered herself and raised her fists into a stance. "We can try that real quick..." She glanced back at Maeve with a wink. "...while you figure out what step two is gonna be."
Lux shook her head. "I have no need for a Shogo." With another flick of her head, she tossed Althea in the air, sending her so far into the distance that her cries disappeared entirely. Benny and Maeve turned their heads from the sky where Althea had been thrown back to Lux.
With a nod, Maeve said, "How you think the boys are doing on Ayce?"
Benny shook his head. "I don’t know...but it’s gotta be better than this."
"Mooootheeeer fuuuckeeeer," Maeve muttered to herself, dragging her body from the collapsed wall of the medical wing. The makeshift area, already teetering on hopes and prayers, couldn't withstand any internal skirmish, let alone an all-out battle. The wall Maeve managed to pull herself up from was the final remnant of the little building they had constructed a few weeks prior. It wasn't the transformed Lycans that caused the destruction; Azral and Kohsin had been dealt with in a manner that didn't involve their deaths, following Aladdin's explicit instructions.
No, this was a new opponent, one who rivaled the very same strength of Virgil, while Maeve was quite excited to have an opponent of this stature in front of her, especially while alone, but Maeve knew Zero would never believe her if she was able to defeat someone of this caliber, he wouldn’t even believe Aladdin and deep down, it wasn’t because he didn’t actually believe her, he would do it out of spite because who knows how many years ago now, Maeve didn’t believe him when he said he killed a Dragon Ranked Dungeon Master on his own, it was when they first met, so she didn’t think anything of it more than a boast to try and swoon her, but when he showed her its corpse he had drug out of the Dungeon a few weeks later, she couldn’t not believe him—what he showed her next double the fact that he defeated it, but that’s a thought for another time.
The warrior standing before Maeve was significantly shorter than Virgil, almost resembling a younger human, save for the curled horns on the sides of her head instead of ears. Her dark complexioned skin held a pink glow in her eyes, and her blonde hair was fashioned in a bob cut with black ribbons tied to the tips of her horns, forming little bows. Wearing a yellow vest paired with white baggy pants and barefoot, she sported a rope around her waist with more black ribbons tied across it. Two leather bags hung from both sides of her hips, but what truly stood out was not the fangs protruding from her bottom lip but the large sunflower-shaped medallion floating behind her back. Moving effortlessly, it almost seemed like a backpack, yet it floated freely with four arms hovering around it, each adorned with black scales and sporting only three fingers—a peculiar contrast to Virgil's almost emperor-like appearance.
"So..." Maeve huffed, lifting her fists again. "...what were you saying about Virgil kicking our asses?"
The woman stepped over the debris, walking toward Maeve. Once again, just like when she arrived, she kept her aura so tight that Maeve almost couldn't detect it.
"My brother thought I should come talk to you, 'bout husband," the woman said, her thick accent putting weight on every word. "He is...odd."
Maeve bopped her head back and forth in agreement with a roll of her eyes. "He annoying you all that much already?"
The woman stopped a few meters in front of Maeve. "He keeps siblings and Virgil's children quite entertained...and Death has taken liken to him."
Maeve let out a sigh that carried the weight of close to a millennium, a sigh that spoke volumes—it was the kind of sigh that resonated with the weariness accumulated over centuries.
"Is that Death, with the D capitalized, or are you trying to tell me he isn’t coming back?" Maeve inquired.
The woman shook her head. "I can’t tell you if coming back or no; that’s up to him and if he get through all of dad’s circles." Suddenly, the woman disappeared, reappearing behind Maeve, where she whispered in her ear. "And to answer your question." She licked Maeve’s ear, and in the next instant, all four of the arms on her back punched Maeve, sending her flying. "…that’s Death with a capital D." The woman's body shivered, and she began skipping along her way toward Maeve, her arms flailing up and down leisurely at her sides as she hummed.
Maeve lifted herself up and quickly tapped her chest twice. Her apparel lit up in a bright red aura and disappeared in shards of dust, replaced by something far different from a king’s cloak and gowns.
Instead, she now adorned a dark gray armor with shades of dull gold throughout. Designs adorned each layer—the chest piece, a solid unit over her chest, seamlessly connected into a double layer around her waist that sat over the panels on her legs, giving her a tight, skirt-like appearance. Chainmail rested on the underside of the waist, cascading down just above her knees, where pointed knee pads attached to high-legged boots fed up under the knees. Her arms were covered in a four-layer overlapping panel of metal, connected to gauntlets that shared the same pointed panel-like assembly but poised in the opposite direction. Her hands were encased in metal gloves that moved seamlessly with her fingers. A pristine white cloak flowed down her back from her right shoulder, while her left shoulder held a large plate with a wolf’s head made of the same dull gold. Her helmet featured little grooves for her horns to tuck into, making them seem smaller than they were. The oval helmet lacked a visor, only a small slit in front of her mouth, arched upward on the forehead and melded into a metal mohawk on top.
Maeve adjusted herself, moving her legs and shoulders, shimmying as she adjusted to the armor. She cracked her neck back and forth, thinking to herself, "It’s been a while since I’ve had to wear this, but without my cloak, it’s either this or we throw hands." She examined the woman’s extra limbs floating behind her. "And she’s got a small advantage in that section."
"Before we start," Maeve boasted, "What do I call you? I need to know whose ass I’m about to beat for fucking up my new Kingdom."
The woman stopped, placing her hands on her hips, the floating hands behind her gesturing in the same manner. "Lux."
"ALRIGHT, LUX!" Oiwa’s voice cut through the air as her crystalized arms appeared beside Lux, connecting on both sides. But upon making contact, both arms shattered, and without even moving, Oiwa was suddenly ripped from the air and pulled in front of Lux, who held her there using some external force.
"Arms, how were you able to move them so far away from body?" Lux rotated Oiwa around, examining her up and down. "You Oni, you barely wear clothes." She continued looking her up and down, moving around her body. She peered all around her as she rotated Oiwa through the air. "Hmm, no sign of Disc, interesting, I must know." With a playful chuckle, Lux moved so gracefully around Oiwa and over to Maeve, where she rotated her hand inward, a purple-bladed shortsword materialized in Lux’s hand. She swung it just as Maeve ducked, then immediately took a step backward, then another before she leapt back a few meters, putting distance between them. There, she saw a second sword in Lux’s hand, the same purple blade with a black hilt.
"Fuck," Maeve said exhaustively as she lifted her severed arms upward where she placed her nubs against the top of her helmet, feeling where Lux had cut off her horns. Maeve took a deep breath. "Okay, bitch." She shook her nubs, and instantly her pale red scaled arms materialized in a black goop before taking on their normal shape. She gripped them tightly, and just like her arms, the armor melded back down to her fingers. "I can regrow limbs for a bit, but not my horns, those take a while." Maeve closed the gap between them instantly and thrust her palm forward as a blade launched itself outward from her wrist. Lux sidestepped and swung upward with her left blade, but Maeve moved around and kicked her from behind with incredible speed.
"Wow," Lux stated as she caught herself in her stumble, turning around to face Maeve. "Zero said without cloak, you kinda boring." Maeve rolled her eyes. "But he also said you were, how he put it? 'Fast as fuck boi'?" She bobbled her head at Maeve with an annoyed look. "...he was oddly specific about making sure all knew boy was spelled with 'i', not a 'y'."
Maeve gestured at her. "Like you said, he’s odd."
Lux flexed her eyebrows upward, and Oiwa dropped to the ground a couple of meters behind Maeve. "You are fast though." She looked beyond Maeve at Oiwa. "But who faster?" As soon as Lux looked back at Maeve, she disappeared, and Maeve followed suit, shifting backward immediately to Oiwa where she pulled her away. She slid through the grass and pulled Oiwa around, keeping an eye on Lux, who was standing where Oiwa had just been. Maeve positioned her against a tree and turned to face her, only to find that Oiwa was now headless.
"What?" Maeve shook her head, then turned back to Lux, who pulled her right hand from behind her back and held up Oiwa’s head.
Lux pulled it close to her own then held it out for Maeve. "Huh, guess me."
"AHHH!" Maeve cried out, taking one step forward, and Lux was in front of her, all four of the floating arms grabbed onto Maeve, holding her in place in front of Lux.
"No, you stay here for a moment." Lux’s head turned sharply to the right, looking deep into the trees. "I want to play with your Vampire friend again."
"Then let’s play." Benny’s voice echoed from Oiwa’s lifeless shadow, and with a smooth grace, he leapt from it, pulling a sword from his side, one that no one could see but him. He thrust it forward, piercing through Maeve seamlessly and into the stomach of Lux. "Got you."
Lux tilted her head to the side, looking at Benny directly. "Welcome back. Were able to sort out parts for your um..." She tilted her head at Benny for an answer.
Benny grumbled under his breath. "Orpheus and Sukki."
Lux nodded at him with a cheerful smile. "Yes, yes, them. How they?"
Benny let out a quiet sigh. "Orpheus will recover..." There was a drawn-out silence, one that Maeve knew what it meant. She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes.
"Well?" Lux boasted. "How Sukki?"
"She’s dead," Benny replied. "You know that."
"Ah." Lux nodded at him. "Shame." She looked back at Maeve. "Clever sword that, what happens if switch how it works?"
Something from under Lux’s vest clamped down on the sword, causing the blade inside her to become invisible, but the one inside Maeve to become visible. Benny instantly pulled back the sword, and as he did, Lux dropped Maeve and replaced her with Benny, who in quick fashion turned into a cloud of bats and pulled himself and Maeve away a few meters.
"Hmm." Lux muttered. "That was neat." She looked over to Oiwa’s head on the grass. "Now to see how she did that." With a flick of her head, the head came to her hand where she caught it and pulled it toward her stomach. There, in place of where you expected muscle, was a mouth with rounded teeth and a long tongue that slithered out and snatched the head, pulling it in before the mouth chomped down and swallowed. Lux let out an audible. "OOOOOOHH." She nodded to herself. "I can’t believe I never thought of that." Her way of speaking shifted and her accent completely disappeared. She smiled as her head locked onto Maeve and Benny. "Let’s try it," and as she spoke, all four hands hovering behind her launched forward at the two of them.
Both Maeve and Benny stood up, preparing for the assault. As they readied themselves, footsteps could be heard sprinting from the left side, where a white-gowned figure emerged. With incredible precision, they knocked all four hands back at Lux, which took their place hovering behind her again.
The warrior who appeared wore an all-white set of clothing—baggy pants and a long-sleeve shirt that had a full head mask covering her pale purple skin, leaving only her intense yellow eyes visible. She turned her head to Maeve for a moment. "Hey Queenie. Oh, sorry, Hey Kingness, heard you were looking for me?"
"Althea?" Maeve asked.
The warrior shrugged her shoulders. "The one and only." She looked to Lux. "Who’s the freak?"
"Her name’s Lux. She’s been kicking my ass." Maeve looked to Benny. "All of our asses, actually."
Althea turned back from Maeve to Lux, and with another shoulder shrug, she said, "Well, she hasn’t kicked my ass yet." She lowered herself and raised her fists into a stance. "We can try that real quick..." She glanced back at Maeve with a wink. "...while you figure out what step two is gonna be."
Lux shook her head. "I have no need for a Shogo." With another flick of her head, she tossed Althea in the air, sending her so far into the distance that her cries disappeared entirely. Benny and Maeve turned their heads from the sky where Althea had been thrown back to Lux.
With a nod, Maeve said, "How you think the boys are doing on Ayce?"
Benny shook his head. "I don’t know...but it’s gotta be better than this."
