The warlord came from the crater in the ground, stopping right before the skinwalker. Aranea held her breath as she examined Zero. Even from above, the warlord looked smaller than Alpha, despite the power armor. The skinwalker simply towered over her, looking above Zero’s head. All interest had already gone from Kalaisa’s eyes, right now the beast was humming the national anthem of Iterna, tapping her claws against each other in tune with the music. Her missing fingers have already grown back.
Zero kicked with her leg, sending stones and dust into the foe’s eyes. Kalaisa waved off the projectiles, stepping back when Zero punched the monster with her right paw. The steel gauntlet flew past Kalaisa’s head, failing to connect, however, the skinwalker retreated again, as if in fear. A thin crimson line ran across her chin to the split ear.
The warlord charged after her, punching anew. Kalaisa was faster this time, her paws rose up, catching something between the palms. With a flick of her wrists, Kalaisa broke the blade of Zero’s knife that the warlord had hidden in her fist.
The warlord jumped backward, evading a low kick. The propelled wind from the kick sent her cloak flapping like a wyrm's wings. Aranea noticed a wire running from Zero's left wrist to the lying rifle when the warlord moved her arms. In a moment, the weapon ended up in Zero’s arms, and a beam of darkness fired from the barrel, hitting the skinwalker’s afterimage and piercing the buildings behind her.
Kalaisa looked… hurt. Not from any of the punches, the horrible wounds dealt to her by Alpha have already begun to close, leaving only a cut on her face. Not by any of Zero’s attacks, the skinwalker weaved around beams, dodging them before they could be fired. The look of utter disappointment on her face reminded Aranea of that one time she failed to deliver a chocolate bar in time to one of the cubs who studied under her in the field.
The skinwalker, still leaning back to the point that her hair touched the ground, kicked forward with her right leg, beating the rifle away. With a grace that would make any dancer envious, Kalaisa stepped forward, using the movement of her kick to close the distance between herself and Zero, grabbing the warlord by the cloak’s collar.
"Hey! Wha-wha-what’s the big idea?! Yo-yo-you said no weapons and then pull out a knife and a gun, cheate... Aiii!" Kalaisa roared from the pain, landing a crushing kick into Zero’s stomach. The skinwalker’s fingers fell off, sliced by a hidden wire in Zero’s collar, a wire that was capable of slicing through the skinwalker’s bones with casual ease.
"Molecular cutter," Olesya whistled, "I heard they stopped producing them after one such wire fell all the way to the planet's core. Even with special coating, wearing something like that around the neck is…"
"Insanity." Aranea finished for her.
Kalaisa landed an elbow hit into the back of Zero's head, throwing the warlord to the ground and turning to her in a single fluid motion, still roaring from pain and frustration. Raising her leg, the monster prepared to crush the warlord’s back.
A beam of darkness stopped her.
"What?!" Olesya gasped, echoing Aranea’s thoughts.
They both see it, a streak of darkness hitting the skinwalker below her left shoulder blade, burning its way through her body, evaporating the stomach, and finally hitting the ground next to Zero’s head. It took Aranea a good second to understand that the beam hit the exact same spot where the stone thrown by Zero was lying. It took her some more time to understand that another indicator appeared on her HUD, showing a drone’s position twenty kilometers away from the city, holding steady in the skies despite the roaring sandstorm.
Kalaisa pressed a ruined paw to a hole in her stomach, tilting her head in genuine surprise upon seeing that this wound was not regenerating, nor were her fingers. Her opponent and she were on an even field now.
Kalaisa hesitated, unsure how to proceed, and Zero took the lead in this deadly dance anew. The warlord jumped off the ground, turning in the air and pressing her fists against the monster’s sides. Something shot from within the vambraces, shredding the leathery skin and bones. Zero pushed her paws inside, aiming to reach Kalaisa's heart.
Roaring from pain, Kalaisa’s arms slid beneath Zero’s armpits. A single knee hit broke Zero’s coordination, allowing her opponent to throw the warlord to the side. Without working paws, Kalaisa resorted to using the grappling moves, throwing Zero away from herself, before crushing her head against the solid black helmet, leaving a crack on it. A stream of amber light came from the crack, illuminating the street despite the darkness brought by the sandstorm. The intense light made even Kalaisa roar in a mix of pain and annoyance, crushing Zero and carrying her forward, leveling all houses in their path.
"Put me in my armor!" Aranea heard Alpha’s voice over communications. Tiny and her pack helped the redhorn soultaker climb out of the rubble, and now all of them were holding the warlord upright. Alpha was breathing heavily, waving away all attempts to bandage her wounds. Her massive power armor stood near the safehouse.
"Mom, you are going to die if…" Tiny tried to plead with the warlord.
"I am not your mother. And neither will I die from these paper cuts. Encase me in my armor. This is an order, wolf hag Tiny." Alpha grumbled, struggling to stand up. Her intestines fell on the ground, glistening wetly like gigantic worms. With an angry snarl, the warlord started pushing them back into her body.
"Yes, ma’am." Tiny replied in a doomed voice, gesturing for her pack to help.
Kalaisa carried Zero all the way to the wall, leaving a trail of destruction behind. The two collided with the reinforced wall with a force strong enough to force cracks to run all the way to the upper part of the wall. Kicking Zero one more time, Kalaisa started smashing her with her own ruined paws, ignoring both pain and her injuries, utterly lost in the madness.
Zero raised her arms, defying the insane assault by never taking the full brunt of it, instead allowing it to slide off her armor. Even despite the glancing hits, Zero trembled from pain, trying to press her own body into a ball while her opponent was beating her deeper and deeper into the wall. Something had to give.
At the end, the wall gave up; one of Kalaisa’s mighty hits simply collapsed a section of the wall, creating a hole wide enough for a tank to enter freely. At this very moment, feeling that her back was free, Zero made a step backward, baiting her opponent to try and bite her.
The warlord patiently awaited this moment. She waited for the massive jaws to open. From within her vambraces came two long rods, their tips pressing against Kalaisa’s upper palate while Zero stuck the lower ends of these rods into the monster’s tongue, forcing the jaw to stay open.
And then she pressed buttons on these rods, causing Kalaisa to resemble Yuki because of the insane energy currents that were running down her body. The creature’s left eye exploded, covering the warlord with liquid. She jerked and twitched like a marionette, trying to snap the rods in her mouth. Seeing how Zero backed off from her, Kalaisa leaped back, again and again, enduring unspeakable pain and dodging the drone’s attack. She never saw the flying machine. The beam was traveling at the speed of light, even for a skinwalker, dodging it was impossible. Kalaisa somehow guessed the attacks’ trajectory purely based on Zero’s movements.
It took her a good minute, but finally the skinwalker closed her jaws, spitting out two ruined stun rods. The skinwalker was horribly wounded; the blood coming from the wounds on her back and belly covered her legs in crimson, her paws lacked fingers. She breathed at irregular intervals, unaccustomed to fighting at a disadvantage.
"Mom. Please stop already." Aranea whispered. Part of her wanted to break free from Olesya’s grasp, jumping down and trying to protect her mother. The other part wanted to see how Kalaisa was finally free from this indignity that the power had put her through.
"This thing is Kalaisa?" Olesya turned her head toward the halfbreed.
Kalaisa’s gaze fell to the remains of a broken mirror, lying in a piece of rubble. She extended a trembling paw, looking at her ruined features, forgetting about everyone around, ignoring Alpha’s approach, ignoring Jekaterina and Zero.
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"Is it me?" Kalaisa whispered in disbelief, "My daughter, Gregor, my sister and brothers, my beauty… Where is all of this?" The mirror twitched before flying away, disappearing in the sandstorm’s fury. "Washed away… Everything, even my mind and dignity, were taken away, leaving just madness. Is this my punishment? But… If so, why must I harm others again? The fault is mine alone."
"Kalaisa," Zero spoke softly, walking toward the skinwalker. A light was shining at the ruined body through the crack in Zero’s helmet, so intense that it was impossible to see the flesh inside. Aranea only caught a fleeting glimpse of an amber eye, which appeared both familiar and alien, "Little sis, please sit down and rest. It will be over in an instant. Dragena and others are waiting for you on the other side."
"Hello, Zero, been a while. Glad to see you are still kicking," Kalaisa chuckled lightly. "I thought that I had seen my daughter. Can you imagine that?"
"You did," Zero nodded, reaching for something on her belt. "Little Aranea is quite beautiful. Each time I look at her, I remember you and Gregor."
"Yes, you never forgave Gregor for his prank," Kalaisa laughed happily, catching Zero's voice grumbling.
"Everything is in the past. Little sis, his name was cleared."
"That’s… that’s good… I think," Kalaisa leaned back, giggling a few times and looking around in confusion. The lost eye grew anew, filling with all-too familiar madness. "I am bored. You bored me. See you around."
The skinwalker made a step. And disappeared, dashing away far faster than Zero could use her weapon.
****
The tense ceasefire was maintained even after the battle was over. With the arrival of Olesya’s pack, the soultakers were too woefully outnumbered to have any hope of retaking the town. Ivar contacted the soldiers, approving Alpha’s decision to let Jekaterina leave in peace. After receiving information about the losses, the blue wyrm cut off communication, too busy orchestrating the advance of the reclaimers.
Alpha, Zero, Olesya, Jekaterina, Aranea, Tiny, Sonya, Redhorn, Leila, and Yuki all gathered in the hospital hall. The wounded from both sides were being treated equally here, although it was a bit difficult to safely carry them here through the raging sandstorm outside. Aranea authorized using one of the heavier vehicles for this.
Alpha was still clad in her full power armor, removing only her helmet. Ignoring the reverence of the other wolfkins, she told everyone to be at ease and wanted to leave. Tiny had to beg her to come along, pointing out that if Jekaterina is planning something, Alpha’s help will be invaluable. Zero wrapped her own cloak around the crack in her helmet, following Alpha like a shadow. Jekaterina still wore her ruined power armor, taking a few clothes from the locals as gifts to replace her own tattered clothes.
"No," Geldi told Jekaterina. The medic was standing over a stretcher with a tied-up soultaker known as Jeki on it. "The patient is far too weak to travel back to your base."
"Lady," The teen whispered with pale lips, "Lady, please, don’t listen to her. "I can still serve, I really can..."
"You will stay and recover. This is final." Geldi looked defiantly into Jekaterina’s blue eyes.
"Jeki is a valuable officer in my forces," The Soultaker said, tilting her head. "Do you think I'm just going to leave her as your prisoner? What ulterior motive do you have? Do you plan to squeeze information out of her?"
"Lady, please, I am fine…"
"Nothing of the sort. Jeki will be our honored guest," Aranea offered to Jekaterina, sensing tension in the air. She knew full well how stubborn Geldi could be and wished to see no further bloodshed today. "We will let her go once she recovers."
"And I will be left without an officer for awhile." The calm eyes looked at Aranea. "Give me someone of equal value. This way, I will know that Jeki will come back to me. We can exchange our guests at a later date."
"I am ready," Yuki stepped forward. "Lazing around for a few days? Sure, let’s go!"
The Soultaker turned to her, looking at Yuki. Jekaterina’s tongue clicked, paying no attention to Alpha’s hungry stare.
"You expect me to trade an officer for a field grunt?"
"Take me, then," Sonya said, drawing a glance from Jekaterina. The Soultaker appeared almost... dissatisfied. "I am a wolf hag. Surely you know the value of this rank."
"Indeed," Jekaterina turned to look at her soldier, "Jeki, you are to rest and recover. You are not to create any sort of trouble for your hosts. My honor is at stake. Is that understood?"
"Lady!" The teen pushed against the restraints. "Please don’t leave me behind! I swear to be better, I swear to…"
Leila lowered her head to look at the injured, allowing the light from her eyes to flash in full. Jekaterina grasped the scythe’s shaft, looking suspiciously at the scene.
"Calm sleep. Three hours." Leila told Jeki, stepping aside as Jeki’s eyelids closed.
The Soultaker nodded, gesturing for Sonya to follow after her. The wolf hag quickly removed the power armor, giving it up to one of the wolfkins in her pack and naming the woman as the successor should something happen to her.
"We will get you back," Aranea came toward Sonya, who was putting on a simple jacket and pants. "I swear to you, if anything happens, I…"
Sonya raised her brow: "Warlord," The wolf hag ignored Alpha’s growling, "There is nothing to fear. Not this time. "I've been a prisoner a couple of times in my life; trust my expertise on this one," Sonya smiled openly and grabbed Aranea's paws. "But I do appreciate the concern, even if I am underserving of it. Watch over my pack, don’t let be too lazy."
While Soultaker waited, another figure closed on her. The city’s commandant stepped on one knee before Jekaterina, showing her exposed neck.
"My lady, I beg your forgiveness."
"I already gave you a full pardon once. I will not give another," The scythe moved in a blinding arc. Jekaterina pointed the head of her scythe down, allowing the curving blade to move beneath the woman’s head. The commandant didn’t even flinch when the cold blade touched her throat. Aranea moved to stop the Soultaker, and Alpha’s giant claw rose in her path. Jekaterina’s cold eyes looked down on her servant. "Have you betrayed or conspired against me?"
"No, my lady."
"Have you given up the city out of cowardice or corruption?"
"No, my lady."
"Then there is nothing to forgive. Stand up and keep working for Bonafell and its people. Keep them safe until my return,” Seeing the woman still on her knees, Jekaterina added angrily. "Stand up! Or I will move the Reaper of Lies upward."
The Soultaker turned to look at Alpha.
"We are done here, Alpha. Next time we meet, one of us is going down."
"The skinwalker gave me a hint as to how to dispose of you." Alpha opened her mouth, showing two rows of fangs.
The moment Jekaterina, Sonya, and the soldiers left the room, Alpha swallowed, wiping out a small trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. Smoke was coming from beneath the collar of her armor, accompanied by the smell of burning meat. The warlord made an unsteady step away and was stopped by another figure.
"You are going straight to the medical room," Svetlana, dressed in a medic's uniform, stood before the towering warlord. She held one paw up, showing a book to Alpha. "Don’t you growl at me, Alpha! By my authority as the highest-ranking medic in this building, I command you to obey! We will clean your wounds of dirt and patch you up."
Alpha stopped, a look of genuine shock came upon her face. Her eyes moved aside, finding Tiny.
"Whore's daughter, you set me up."
"You are not a whore, Mom!" Tiny smirked defiantly, fully taking advantage of being allowed to be ‘at ease’. Aranea had to give it to the young wolf hag, she had far more guts than Aranea ever had at her age.
"And neither am I your mother."
"Wait, does this mean that my real mother…" Tiny pressed a finger to her mouth, looking confused and lost.
"She conceived you during an orgy. Tell me, what does this make her?" The warlord responded smugly, enjoying twisting the knife.
"Ah-ha!" Tiny laughed happily and pointed victorious at Alpha, unbothered by the reveal. "A new information about my second mom! Although it will be hard to find Dad now… Oh well, nothing of worth is easy to get, as Gin’s says!"
"A healthy individual. We all gotta have fun from time to time." Zero answered the question, folding her arms.
Alpha looked at her, ignoring Svetlana, who tried to push her toward one of the rooms, ignoring Yuki, who moved the wounded Soultaker away, ignoring the chuckles of Aranea and Olesya. The amber eyes locked on Zero. If the look could have killed, then Zero would have been dead by now.
"Warlord Zero, explain this remark at once!"
"Tactical retreat?" Aranea asked Olesya, and her friend nodded to her. Slowly backing off, they—the commandant and Leila—left the hospital, leaving Alpha roaring and raging at her fellow sister.
Leila quickly excused herself, leading the soultaker back to the safehouse. Aranea sat on the stairwell, letting the helmet fall off her head and inhaling fresh air. Even now the pack was busy searching through the ruins, securing the valuables, and handing them back to the locals. After the war, or maybe even soon, all locals will receive full compensation for the lost houses.
"Check it out!" Olesya landed on the stairs next to Aranea, taking off her helmet and a sleeve of her armor. She displayed a new arm made of a dark blue metal. The warlord clenched and unclenched her fist, producing no sound. "Pretty cool, huh? Till went completely apeshit over the destruction of his masterpiece. This beauty is equipped with kinetic disperses, so any rapid attack on it will spread all around my body instead of allowing the arm to take the brunt of it. Sure, I still need to watch over for grabs and such..."
"And what if the attack is too strong to negate?"
"I will probably die," Olesya flashed a cheeky smile, hugging Aranea. "But let’s put the morbid stuff behind! I want to live and see our dreams come true!"
"Let us live for our dreams, friends and comrades," Aranea said, fist bumping Olesya with her right arm. "You sure are in a good mood today, Steelskin."
"I am going to share a secret with you, Conqueror," Olesya’s smile grew wider, and she projected a holographic image from her artificial wrist, showing two wolfkins hugging a trio of cubs, "Ta-ta-da! Mom and Dad tried to contact me to tell me that I have two cute bros and one adorable little sis! Oh, Ari, I am gonna be the best older sister ever! I will totally hug them every day of the week! I can’t wait to begin spoiling them with treats and movies and…"
Grinning to her ears, ignoring the sand in her fangs, Aranea was sitting amidst the roaring sandstorm and listening to the new goal of her friend.