Lily

The two giants faced off in a small circle comprised of Anthropos knights, Undercity representatives, and syndicate personnel. Lily didn’t know where to classify herself anymore, so she decided to just stand away from everyone and watch the battle unfold with her guards. Looking over the opponents, she tried to see who had the advantage. An arduous task, considering she didn’t know what the knight’s tank-like armor was capable of. Still, she could make a few guesses.

The two fighters were of a height with one another, standing at around ten feet tall. They were also about the same girth. Staz, who was as thickly muscled as anyone Lily had ever seen, could almost be described as a barrel of corded muscles that had sprouted equally thick arms and legs. He was so stocky that Lily couldn’t believe how fast the oni was sometimes. Looking like he should plod along like a pig just before slaughter. Grybellus was equal in girth, but since he was a normal human inside a suit, his size came entirely from his armor. Was that a detriment to the fight, or a benefit? Lily didn’t know.

“Are you ready to die troll?” The knight asked, pointing the massive claymore at Staz’s chest. The blade was as long as the armor was tall and gave the knight the clear reach advantage. Staz, who’s spiked kanabo was as thick around as Lily’s waist, snorted giving his slightly shorter weapon a few test swings.

“I’m an oni, you ignorant fool. Most humans call my kind ogre mages, because of our abilities, but I’ve never been mistaken for a troll before. I’ll be interested to see just how well you back up that belligerent attitude, boy.” After he finished speaking, Staz activated Pale Flame and Lily watched in amusement as Tybellus’s face contorted with rage as the kanabo’s length was covered with the Pale green Flames.

“A sorcerer, does this pathetic syndicate have no honor at all? Using magic in a nobles’ duel…” the larger brother said, spitting to the side.

“It is not against any rules, but if you feel your brother is inadequate to the challenge, I will ask our champ…”

“Stop interfering,” Grybellus snapped to his brother, easily being baited again by the crafty android. “I will win this duel myself, now shut up, all of you and watch this troll die.” That was all the warning Staz got because the knight was on him in the next second.

The giant two-handed sword whistled as it whipped through the air in a horizontal arc. Staz raised his kanabo between himself and the blow. He was able to prevent the blade from contacting him, but the built-up momentum from all that steel had to go somewhere and the oni was staggered. Lily almost couldn’t believe it; she’d never seen anyone push the oni hard enough to make him move. The knight wasn’t done, however. His sword had bounced off the kanabo, hard. Using the momentum from the first blow, Grybellus swung in a full circle, turning his back on the oni for a second as he built up even more momentum.

It was a move that would normally never be considered against an opponent like Staz. The oni could move so quickly that turning one’s back on him was the equivalent of forfeiting the match. The giant had been as surprised as Lily at the strength behind that blow, however, and hadn’t recovered well enough yet to take advantage of the opportunity. Instead, it was him caught off guard again when the second blow impacted him with twice the momentum of the first. The syndicate members gasped in unison as the blade slammed into Staz’s chest, ripping a hole through the armor they’d all thought indestructible.

The only saving grace was Staz was able to hit the knight lightly with his kanabo. It wasn’t a heavy blow, the knight didn’t even seem to feel it, but it was enough for the Pale green Flames to slither off the weapon and burrow their way into the armor. Lily had experienced those Flames before and knew they wouldn’t hurt the knight. What they would do was slow him down, ever so slightly.

“Ha-ha, what was that troll?” Grybellus asked the oni as he staggered to one knee, gripping his chest, just below the ribs as blood flowed in between his fingers. “I thought you were the champion of these nonhuman wretches, what’s the matter, not as strong as you thought you were?” He followed up his question with a kick to Staz’s wounded chest, which sent the man tumbling. The crowd heard the crunch, as the armor dented under the blow, and Lily heard Andessa curse behind her.

“That isn’t good,” She heard her bodyguard mutter. She didn’t have to ask why though, because she saw for herself when Staz turned the tumble into a roll and regained his feet. The thick armor had not only been cut by the sword, but the kick had dented the sides of the armor inward. Forcing the sharp edges into the oni’s side. Blood was flowing freely from the wound, a wound that normally, with the supernatural healing speed the oni possessed would have already closed. With the twisted metal pressed into the cut, however, there was no way it could heal.

Grybellus was still laughing, and Staz was slowly shifting backwards. Moving his way around the knight. Unfortunately, the knight saw the movement and instantly reacted. Stabbing his sword forward with blinding speed. The thrust, not having as much force behind it as the roundhouse swing from before, was pushed aside by the kanabo, before Staz jabbed his own weapon into the armored knight’s chest. The sound of metal on metal was deafening, but the only result of the blow was some surface scratching to the man’s armor.

“I have to say, I’m disappointed.” Grybellus said, slowly advancing on the oni, who’d staggered away. Blood was still flowing freely down his side, and he was clearly having trouble moving. He’d hunched over, favoring that side and doing what he could to keep the dented plate from digging in any further. “Where are you going, you ugly brute? You seemed so confident before, why don’t you stay and play for a little while?” Lily was worried, never having seen Staz retreat like that. At least the knight wasn’t actively trying to end the battle. If he’d come in with another swing like the first two, she was afraid the battle would have ended already.

A minute passed in this fashion, Staz retreating, and the wildly laughing Grybellus slowly chasing. That’s when the oni’s actions made since to Lily, because, exactly sixty seconds after the battle had begun, his kanabo was once again flooded with green fire. This time, he wasted no efforts to dart forward and jab the spiked club directly into the pursuing man’s chest. Like before, the Flames bled away from the kanabo, and into the tanklike armor.

“What was that?” Grybellus asked, feeling his body frantically. Apparently, Lily had been right, he hadn’t noticed the Flames entering his body before. Yet, after a moment, he stopped feeling himself over and laughed even harder. “That was your plan, hit me with some weak faire fire? I didn’t even feel it, better luck next time pal, but I think this is starting to get boring…” Stopping midsentence, the knight rushed forward, sword whistling through the air straight for Staz’s head.

Throwing himself frantically to the side, Staz managed to avoid the blow, but it didn’t come without a cost. He was still dragging himself back up when the blade came down again, crashing into his thigh. Lily winced as the sword, which was as thick on the end as Lily’s own blade was wide, dented in the plates on his leg, causing the oni to scream in pain. What was happening? The Pale Flames should be slowing the knight’s movements, but it didn’t look like that was happening, as the knight came in again.

The next minute passed slowly, as the knight swung at his injured opponent, and Staz did his best to dodge the blows, throwing himself out of the way in increasingly undignified ways to avoid death. The two knights who’d been flanking Grybellus before laughed and jeered, shaking their fists in the air. Lily frowned over at them; the pair looked much like the two behind Tybellus. Unadorned and unpainted armor, without any characteristics to set them apart from each other. They must be rank and file soldiers, while the spike adorned, and blood patterned armor of the brothers must be their equivalent to rank insignia.

“Stop playing around with him brother,” Tybellus snapped when Staz’s kanabo glowed with green fire for a third time. He’d taken a glancing blow to the shoulder to deliver the Flames to Grybellus’s armor. The hit so weak Lily didn’t even hear the club connecting over the sound of the oni’s screams of pain when the knight backhanded him away. “Taking your time is one thing, but this is getting ridiculous. Pick up the pace and finish the troll already.”

“I’m moving at full speed, brother.” Grybellus said, as he once again swung at a rapidly backpedaling Staz. Only this time, the blow missed by enough the oni didn’t have to roll away. A good thing too, because the usually black armor with its grey Flame patterning had been completely smeared in the giant’s blood, as his side continued to bleed. The blow to his leg wasn’t bleeding, but it was bad enough to have nearly locked his ability to move his knee.

Lily felt relieved after another minute passed in this fashion. After Staz delivered the fourth Pale Flame attack to the Anthropos knight, it became clear to everyone watching he’d been slowed. Lily marveled at either the resilience of the man, or the strength of the suit. She didn’t know which was to blame for his tenacity, but it was impressive. She’d been hit by multiple Flame attacks during sparring as well, and by the third blow she felt like she was moving through a pool of syrup. So slowed she could barely make her blade move. Yet, here he was, hit four times and still moving at better than half speed.

“You need to hurry up and finish this damn it, don’t let him hit you with anymore of those green Flames.” Tybellus roared from the sidelines, his hands now clenched around his axe handle so hard that Lily could hear the metal creak and distort under the pressure.

“I... I’m trying…” Grybellus said, panic finally making itself heard in his voice as Staz hit him for the fifth time. “I can’t make the suit obey; it feels like it weighs a ton. I think he must be affecting the powered assist functions or something, I...” He trailed off as his attention, along with everyone else’s, was captured by the oni. He’d pulled a wedged chunk of steel from his ring, making it seem to appear in his hand like magic. Lily frowned at the wedge, it looked like something used to split wood, and she frowned wondering what he was going to do with that.

“What is this?” Tybellus screamed, as Staz slammed the wedge of metal into his own side, through the rend in his armor. The oni let out a bellow of pain, as he started to shrink. Staz, along with his armor, rapidly decreased in size, until he was standing just over six and a half feet tall. The wedge, however, hadn’t shrunk. Instead, it had stayed the same size as before, and as the armor shrunk, it was forcibly deformed by the solid chunk of steel. Staz, who’d let go of the wood splitters wedge as he shrank, grabbed it in both hands and worked it around, forcibly bending the armor away from his wound. Of course, in the process the sharp end of the wedge ripped his chest apart, but when he finally removed the wedge, his armor was no longer digging into the wound, and they all watched as it began healing before their eyes.

“That’s impossible,” Grybellus screamed. Moving towards the oni as fast as he could. Staz, who hadn’t said a word since the beginning of the fight, didn’t move. Instead, he reached down, panting in pain, and wrapped both hands around the dented section of thigh armor. Giving it a squeeze, he screamed as he forced the dents out. Lily blinked in shock; she’d seen a smith beat dents out of a thin copper cookpot with a hammer before. This was similar, except the brute was doing the molding with his bare hands. Not only that, but the armor he was shaping was nearly two inches thick.

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“…Impossible,” Grybellus mumbled again as Staz grew back to his full size and gave his leg an experimental kick. “You… you’re a monster. A monster, we have to wipe you out. Your worse than the locusts… at least they die when you kill them, we have to kill you aallll.” He’d stumbled forward as he spoke, clearly distraught by what he’d seen. The knight swung his two-handed sword around in wide arcs, spinning around in circles to try and win back some of his stolen momentum. Staz easily dodged the blows now his side had stopped bleeding and his leg was no longer restricted.

“Of course, I’m a monster.” Staz said, slamming his Pale Flame covered kanabo into the knight’s body for the sixth time. “We’re all monsters.” He continued, darting around behind the knight, and wrapping his left arm around the knight’s chest, encapsulating his sword arm. “Monsters sworn to our lord Ronin the White Flame, who’s land you dare to trespass upon.” Gripping the man’s helmet by one of the spikes, he ripped it off the now screaming knight’s head.

“No, please, don’t. I lost; I admit defeat. We’ll leave ok, we’ll leave. Just give us the locust queen, that’s all we need, and we’ll go.” He babbled in terror, looking into the huge, blue face of the clearly enraged oni.

“Noble duels are to the death.” Owl Two called, cutting through the desperate cries of the now trapped Grybellus, and Staz grinned wickedly as he dropped the helmet and reached towards the man’s face.

“Don’t you dare,” Tybellus screamed. The bald man looked too stunned to react as Staz’s hand closed around his brother’s head. “I said stop, I’m prepared to pay reparations. Just give my brother back…” His words were cut off when the giant’s hand, now firmly wrapped around Grybellus’s head, gave it a soft tug. The movement looked so gentle, like what Lily herself might do when plucking an apple from a tree. Yet, the results were anything but gentle. A geyser of blood fountained from the headless body, before the decapitated Grybellus, now gone limp, slumped to the ground.

“Here,” Staz said, turning to Tybellus and tossing the bodyless head at the bald man’s feet. “I return your brother to you.” Moving calmly, the oni walked towards Owl Two, who stopped him with an upraised hand.

“The suit, the weapon, and the bike.” He said, indicating Grybellus’s possessions. “Lord Ronin would very much love to have them.” Nodding, Staz turned around and quickly made all traces of Grybellus disappear from the battlefield. Apart from his severed head, and a puddle of blood, which was rapidly soaking into the ground.

Once he’d finished gathering the equipment, Staz moved back over to stand beside Owl Two. The field went silent after that, as everyone waited to see what Tybellus, who was currently just staring at his brother’s head in silent horror, was going to do. After a long minute, he finally looked up, and his eyes were bloodshot, with pain and rage.

“I want my brother’s body back.” He said, his calm voice belying the rage clearly written upon his face.

“We’ve defeated your champion in noble’s combat,” Owl Two said dispassionately. “It is the right of the winner to take the possessions of the loser. Possessions that, unless I am mistaken, include those two knights.” The android said, pointing at the knights who’d been cheering the loudest while Grybellus had been winning, but who had now gone deathly silent.

Tybellus looked at the pair. Lily thought they were staring back at him, but it was hard to tell since she couldn’t see their faces through their helmets. Eventually, the groups leader nodded, and turned back to Owl Two.

“You can have his armor, his weapon, mount, and even his men. But you will return his body to me. If you do that, you have my word of honor I will give you an entire day to prepare for our attack… while I give my brother a warrior’s funeral. If you refuse, then I will have no reason to wait, and will commence the attack on the syndicate, followed by the Undercity, immediately.”

“Hey, wait,” Rachel shouted, taking a step forward. “You gave our queen your word. You swore you’d destroy the syndicate but leave the valley to us as long as we didn’t leave it. You swore, you’d leave us alone.”

“A promise made to a nonhuman isn’t binding, you goblin loving wench.” Tybellus said, not bothering to look at the girl. “Now, give me his corpse, or the war starts now.” Everyone looked at Owl Two, who, after a long pause, finally nodded.

“Give us the two knights, then you can have your brother back.” He said at last, holding the bald man’s gaze the entire time. Of course, like the knights, it was impossible to really know what the android was looking at, since he didn’t actually have eyes.

“Done,” Tybellus said motioning for the two knights to move. The pair exchanged a look, bowed to the head on the ground, and removed their helmets. Lily wondered what they were doing, until they, as one, gripped their own heads in their huge, armored hands.

“What the…” Tupelo muttered from behind Lily, as the pair ripped their own heads off. “That’s just not right.”

“There, they have turned themselves over to you.” Tybellus said, a sadistic smile cracking the mask of grief he’d been wearing. Lily blinked, wondering just how messed up the knights had to be to react like that.

“Very well,” Owl Two said, turning to Staz. “Collect the gear and the robots, we don’t need the bikes if you don’t have the room. Then, give the man his brother back.” The exchange happened quickly, two more bodies and bikes entering the special ring the oni kept for his lord, and the armorless Grybellus dropping to the ground at Tybellus’s feet. Without another word, the giant stooped down to pick up the naked body of his decapitated brother. Climbing back onto his four wheeled mount, he rested the body across the seat before him, as the remaining three knights drove back up the ramp and into the ship.

“We need to move, now.” Owl Two said, as the ramp lifted. “Everyone in the trucks don’t bother with the mounts, there’s not enough time. Move it, Staz. Rachel, Robert, you can come with us if you want to. But going back into the cave isn’t an option anymore.” As he spoke, a huge slab of steel lifted from the ground and slammed itself shut across the tunnel’s mouth.

“What have you done?” Rachel yelled, as Staz pulled two identical trucks from the ring in a hurry. Lily wanted to know the same thing, but she hadn’t seen the oni move this frantically, even during the battle, so she just did as she was told and darted into the nearest truck. Tupelo followed her in, then Staz forced the Undercity pair into the truck behind her, slamming the door shut. Before jumping into the back of the truck to man the giant tank gun that rested on top. Looking out the window, Lily saw Unyielding oak climbing into the second truck’s driver seat, while Owl Two climbed into the tank gunner’s seat.

“What is going on,” she yelled out the window, but her question was answered for her when the dropship lifted into the air and opened fire on them. Cursing, she pulled her head back inside the armored truck and slammed her hand down on the button that closed the window. Leaning back and hoping desperately that none of the shots would enter the cab, Lily waited for the window to close as Andessa slammed the truck into drive and rushed after the wood elf, who’d already taken off back towards the cave.

“Attention all syndicate members,” Owl Two’s voice said, crackling through the truck’s radio as the vehicle tore off down the road at speeds she’d never experienced before, and thunder exploded right over their heads as Staz fired off the tank gun. “We are under attack from a foe we’re unlikely to defeat. Undercity has turned on us and is also a target for the enemy. I’ve sealed them inside the cave. But it won’t keep the enemy out long. All remaining yokai teams gather what civilians you can and evacuate to the escape tunnels. Scatter, and survive. The world will change soon, your only mission is to survive that change, and be ready for when the White Flame returns for you. For the White Flame. Owl Two clear.”

“Seriously, what is going on?” Rachel asked frantically as bullets rained down on the truck. Several hitting the armored glass windows and ricocheting away, but not before scaring the occupants half to death with each hit. Then, the radio crackled to life, and Owl Two’s voice exited the truck speakers again.

“Andessa, Unyielding oak, list… carefully.” The android said, the sound of his voice momentarily cut off thanks to the thunderous sound of his gun firing. “There is a hidden entrance between the two tunnels to the cave. Look for a crack in the stone shaped like a lightning bolt. It’s a false wall, don’t slow down or they’ll be able to target us with larger guns, just hit that patch at full speed. Once you’re through, you’ll need to break quickly, however, so you don’t kill all of us. Again, don’t slow down, hit the wall at f… speed.” His voice cut out twice, as both he and Staz fired off more rounds, Lily craned her head around to see behind them, but couldn’t make out the armed dropship that was bearing down on them, thanks to the constant sparks that were thrown up with each impact of bullets against the armored glass of the windows.

“He can’t be freaking serious,” Rachel said, taking the words right out of Lily’s mouth, as the trucks barreled at full speed towards the solid rock wall of the cave. Lily wasn’t shocked at how quickly they’d reached the cave, not at the speeds they were currently driving at. She could even see the lightning bolt shaped mark Owl Two had pointed out earlier. It was subtle, not something she thought she’d have noticed if she hadn’t been looking for it, and it was coming up fast.

“We’re gunna die, we’re all gunna die. Oh, my goodness, we’re all going to die.” Rachel shrieked as the trucks smashed into the wall. Fear gripped Lily’s heart, and she closed her eyes as they hit, fully expecting to die at that moment. When they hit, everyone was thrown from their seats, crashing together into a tangled pile of limbs at the front of the truck’s troop compartment. The pressure only grew, as Andessa slammed on the breaks. Struggling wildly to free herself from the others, Lily forced the door open and tumbled from the truck. Looking around to see what had happened, as the others climbed out after her.

They’d entered the cave, huge chunks of stone were strewn around the trucks, whose hoods had been caved in from the impact. Lily cursed and rushed to the driver’s door, where Andessa was struggling to free herself from the tangled wreckage of the cab.

“Here, let me.” Staz said from behind her, and Lily backed up, only to let out a scream as the oni came into her line of sight. He was a mess, riddled with bullet holes, with blood pouring from his mangled body in buckets. The giant only grinned at her with blood splattered teeth, as he ripped the twisted driver’s door from its hinges and pulled Andessa from the cab. The shaggy bugbear woman was a mess, but she was alive, and began coming around as Staz poured the contents of a flask down her throat. Lily gulped as she recognized that flask, it was one of the healing potions that had ruined her life, and she struggled to keep herself from knocking it away from her guard, and friend’s mouth.

“Relax,” Staz said, as he finished feeding Andessa the potion and pulled out a second, far larger, flask for himself. Tipping it back, he downed the contents in one long pull. “Owl Two worked the bugs out after what happened. They are perfectly safe now… oh shit, Oak.” The oni, whose wounds had already been closing before he’d even drunk the potion, vaulted clear over the truck and ripped the door from the truck Unyielding Oak had been driving. The elf wasn’t nearly as sturdy as the massively muscled Bugbear, and she looked bad. Blood was flowing from her head, and Lily thought she could see bone poking out from her arm. Staz blocked her view after that, cradling the woman like a baby as he fed her another potion.

“We need to move,” Owl Two said as he jumped down from the other gunner’s seat. Lily gasped as she took in the android. For the first time, she really understood what it meant to be an android. Owl Two’s body was as riddled with holes as Staz’s, only he wasn’t pouring blood. Fluids dripped from several of the holes, gears ground as he moved, and sparks flew from exposed wires as he spoke. The android had never looked more fake to Lily than he did at that moment.

“What are you staring at?” He asked, his speaker must have been damaged, because his voice was fluctuating in volume and pitch as he spoke. “We need to move; they’ll be following us soon and we need to get the yokai teams off to lord Ronin before it’s too late.” He started walking towards the hidden hatch under the workbench, even before he finished speaking. Lily and Tupelo exchanged glances, before picking Andessa up between them and following. Rachel and Robert were slower to move, but it wasn’t like they had anywhere else to go.

“Staz, if you would get the queen?” Owl Two asked, as he shifted the bench aside to expose the stairs. The oni, who was still cradling an unconscious Unyielding oak in his arms, ran across the cave to comply. His hand had barely retracted after causing the queen’s cocoon to disappear into the ring, when the wall behind them exploded inwards, sending a shower of rocks raining down on their heads.