Not everyone liked the War Maidens.

Lucy didn't miss the whispers lurking behind her comrades' back, or the vile comments floating around the online nexuses. She knew what they called the War Maidens.

Mad. Insane. Bloodthirsty beasts in human skin, the attack dogs of the Apostles and their social constructions. Some even bordered on the heretical, claiming the War Maidens were responsible for the oppression, mutilation and destruction of pre-integration ethnicity groups.

Lucy had never paid attention to those types of comments. She was trained not to. She understood how to distinguish between truth and lies, and as such, the seeds of doubt refrained from growing inside her psyche. They did sting though, like a thorn prickling at her flesh.

The same thorn throbbed once more than Lucy stared down the Flame Witch. She barely resembled a human with her physique. Chunks of scrap were embedded in the flesh at odd angles, each one melting in the heat, creating this hideous amalgamation of flame, metal and power. The Witch lunged again, radiating a pressure that threatened to crush her spirit along with the heat.

Yet, even as she endured the blow, utilizing [Physio-Endure] and [Physio-Deflect] to send the damage back at her opponent, she couldn't miss that same mystic signature. That same vivid red hair, the curvature of the face, the pin attached to the tattered uniform, having lasted the dozen or so years in the wild…

This was an Astraean's worst nightmare. Their brave, valiant hero, defiled into a creature hellbent on destroying humanity. The Flame Witch was not the Scourge, but the sight of her closest friend twisted into this tore a chunk out of Lucy's heart and made it bleed.

The Chosen was so strong, she thought, for him to see her own form defiled and to not only keep going, but defeat her. She smiled at that. The Chosen defeated and purified her. Saria wasn't like those lost souls infected by the Scourge's blight. There was hope!

"Don't hesitate. Don't falter. Don't stop." She declared, as she and the Fire Witch approached each other. "They fear our blessings. They despise our pride. We are their deepest revulsion, for in the name of Her Providence, we carry the shining spirit of humanity on our backs! Isn't that right, Saria?"

The Flame Witch swung her claws at Lucy's head. She ducked and stabbed the Witch straight in the chest. A substance too dark to be blood burst out of the wound. Sigils on Lucy's blade lit up and seared inside the wound.

The following shriek bent Lucy's senses over and smashed them across the spine. She stumbled back. Through the haze, she commanded her light spears to crash down. Six missed. The other six pierced the Flame Witch's body, failed to stop her charge, and Lucy flew back with the wind knocked partway out of her chest. The gem in the center of the Witch's head sparked, and Lucy dodged under the incoming wave of flame. The blast hit the walls and made them rise up harder. She rolled across the dirt and flung her jacket off.

"Scatter into the dust, the First Maiden cried!" Lucy screamed, as [Physio-Endure] reduced the damage and her [Regeneration 3] augmentation kicked in. She dashed forward, swung her blade part-way through the finishing movement and sliced a chunk of the Flame Witch's shoulder. A [Photon-Blast] sent it catapulting upwards. "Nil thoughts lead to a rotten heart, so immerse them with that is precious to you, O lords of Alkarai!"

The two turned around, lunged at each other, and the fire roared around them.

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Adam watched through the [War Maidens' Bond]. This time, he had plasma to spare and could observe for over thirteen seconds.

The Flame Witch was fast. She lacked [Physiokinesis], yet she kept up with Lucy's dashes. The Witch leaped and vaulted over the enclosed space like an acrobat, swinging her claws. She ran circles and broke across in straight lines. Her head shot out fireballs that threatened to fry her opponent.

She had no chance of fighting at range with her rifle. She engaged in close quarters, slashing into the Witch's flesh, and peppered her with barrages of [Photon-Blast]s and [Photon-Pin]s.

Their bodies blurred. One moment, Witch grabbed Lucy in a stranglehold. The next, the positions were reversed, with Lucy having stabbed the Flame Witch in the leg. She kicked the wound and blasted the Witch again point-blank with her rifle.

He heard Lucy roaring. It was an ungirly, unrefined sound, one that could have cowered a tiger with its sheer force. She chanted, too. Passages from her faith's tomes, and she recited them all despite the extra energy required.

The blade came down as Lucy shouted about the trials of the First Maiden and a stray thought came to him. Perhaps there was power in those words, one that he could not comprehend.

"Adam, look out!" Miriam said.

He cancelled the mystic and shot a candlehead that strayed too close. Lucy was dealing with the Flame Witch. It was his job to take care of the outside.

First, he needed to get to that upturned pickup truck. He took out the candleheads roaming around it, then dumped more mud on their flames. The truck's frame felt as hot as a burger joint's grill. He used [Psycho-Pull] to wrap mud around his hands, then pulled the frame down with all his might. The vehicle regained its balance with a weighty thump. Adam slammed open the door and climbed into the driver's seat. He flipped Penny's switches.

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Please work, goddamn it!

As the engine revved to life, he sighed with relief. He pressed down on the accelerator. He turned the wheel towards the flame walls, where Lucy fought.

He stopped.

Why? he thought to himself. Why was he rushing into danger like this?

Lucy herself had told him to stay out of the fight. She was strong. She had the situation under control. All he had to do was stay back and wait for the finale. Wasn't a Chosen One meant to have faith in their subordinates, or something?

He looked to the left, where the river flowed downstream to Glenn's Rest. Beyond that were plains still untouched by the fire. A whole new world, built from the ruins of old, laid out there.

The thought occurred to him, as traitorous as the snake coiling around an apple. Just go, it said. Take this jeep and drive as far as its tank lasted. Past Glenn's Rest, past the mountains, past the reach of Miriam and her signal beacon.

He had a rifle, the supplies in the back of the jeep and his mystics. He could sell any of the Astraean technology if he needed cash. If he needed experience, he'd get into fights and boost himself up with ADOSCH's augmentations. There was a block function in the communications system if he needed to deal with Miriam.

The exit route he longed for was now served to him on a silver platter. This was his chance!

Adam lowered his head and stared into the steering wheel, as if the black plastic could give him the answers. He didn't know what triggered him, but he was activating the [War Maidens' Bond] and seeing Lucy again.

A wave of red smacked him in the face. Lucy screamed, and not with fervour. She staggered back, her skin bubbling and her hair on fire. Newborn burns pulsed angrily, seeping fluid. Lucy then threw her body to the side as a beam of energy blasted past her and blew chunks out of the ground

The Flame Witch had just fired a laser from the gem in her face. And Lucy took it point-blank. To her credit, she didn't stop. Lucy retaliated with the same viciousness, but Adam had spent enough time around her mystics to know.

Lucy was running out of plasma. The Fire Witch, meanwhile, kept blasting more of those lasers. Each one sounded like serrated blades screeching against each other.

Adam saw Lucy try everything. She slammed regenerative syringes into her arm while fending off the Flame Witch's claws with the other. She tossed her grenades. She stabbed the Flame Witch over and over until enough of her insides flowed to water the Prayer Hall's garden for a month. It was exactly the same as his fight with the Blast Witch. These monsters weren't regular hostiles that could be headshot once and be done with. They were endurance tests.

The following realisation made him sick. Lucy wasn't winning. She was keeping the Fire Witch at bay, but she wasn't winning. The War Maiden and the Witch were evenly matched. The [War Maidens' Bond] also boosted Lucy's power, so when it switched off, what then?

He laughed, shakily. Lucy losing? The same girl who could cover an entire training ground in seconds, who pulled herself out of a horde of wraiths before smiting a bandit, a symbol of Astraea's military might…she was going to lose?

No way. That's fucking ridiculous. She can't lose. She's a War Maiden! For all his complaints about her, Adam never once doubted her strength. Besides, she promised she could.

But what if?

If the Flame Witch killed Lucy, then she would continue to rampage across the valley. Glenn's Rest was the closest target. Those shacks were going to erupt in flames, its residents burned to crisp. Forget about the farmland too. Or maybe she'd start with him, the closest target, and there were no scavengers to soften her up this time.

He pounded on the steering wheel with his fist, causing it to beep. He had to help her. Otherwise, they'd both die. Once again, Astraea had forced his hand. The silver platter cracked into a million pieces and disintegrated into ash.

He tipped his head back, breathed through his mask and clamped his jaw down tight before he screamed.

Then, he called Miriam.

"Miriam!" He shouted, "The War Maiden called Saria! Give me all the intel you have on her!"

It was only much, much later, in an alcohol-induced haze, that he would remember. Somewhere under all the indignation, anger and fear, he felt a twinge of relief.

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"Go, go, go!" Jona barked, waving men and women carrying bags and crates towards the town pier. "Load whatever you can and don't stop! No heavy equipment!"

Glenn's Rest was in a frenzy. The reddish orange glow, divorced from the color of the sky, had set them all on alert. The smoke had been the next warning. Cole hopped back up on the watchtower, peered into the distance and had come crashing down with the cry of,

"FLAME WITCH!"

It had taken the combined efforts of the Mayor, Jona and a few of the older folks to quell the panic. She couldn't blame the youngsters. They heard the stories of Witches as they grew up. Natural disasters given flesh, no-one understood why they existed or where they came from. Only that anyone who met them was dead to rights. Jona had encountered the aftermath of a Witch attack far south in the dry plains, and the sight of those mangled, seared bodies still peered up from the bottom of a bottle even to this day.

The location of Glenn's Rest was chosen in part of its relative distance from the collection of Witches near the sea. The Blast Witch later moved into the Witch's Pit, but she was content to stay there. Somewhere in the last dozen of so years, the town had taken their safety for granted, and now the Witches' curse returned to bite them all in the arse.

"Leave the horse behind!" Jona barked to a cowering girl. "We can't take him with us!"

"But Miss Jona!" The girl, a farmhand named Daisy, whined, "Old Russ will get burned."

"Then let him past the gates! Pray that he makes it out alive!" Jona said, "We have to take care of ourselves first!"

"Okay." Daisy whimpered. "Miss Jona, is this because of the ransom?"

"Ransom?"

"The bandits that took Rick, miss." Daisy said. "Did they…"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Jona said, "Go and take care of Old Russ first. We can't waste time here!"

Cole, that damn kid, Jona thought, with a hint of appreciation. He, along with his uncle, pushed for an evacuation strategy. The two drafted up an entire plan in case a horde of bandits or a monster came knocking. The town had called them stupid. Now, it was their only hope of salvation. The entire populace, including what light gear they could carry, were boarding transport boats at the docks. Each one was hooked up to a battery-powered motor cobbled with fragments of star-tech. With it, the boats could reach the next town down the river in under an hour.

She looked back at the fires past the walls. Even if their farmland remained interact, the air was done. Crops suffered when they inhaled too much soot. That was assuming the Witch stopped halfway through her rampage.

But what were the chances of that? No-one wanted to admit it, but Glenn's Rest was done.

This world was cruel. When the old world fell, savagery rose to take its place. She had seen many a crew and town rise, thrive and fall over the course of her sixty years. Glenn's Rest was the only place she settled down in. She wasn't ready to say goodbye.

"Miss Jona! Miss Jona!"

Someone was approaching from the front, alongside the river. Her eyes widened.

"Tyke?"

"Help us, Miss Jona!" Penny screamed, and behind were a set of floating, burning monsters.