She barely had time to finish the sentence before an attack came from above. A golden disk fell from the ceiling, ripples running through its smooth surface as gears slid out, and the circle transformed into a humanoid figure matching her size. Back-jointed legs kicked, and she let the impact send her rolling to avoid the bladed arms aimed at her neck.

The kick bought her the distance she needed, and she parried the blades, taking them on the Taleteller’s shaft. Immediately, the robotic foe struck, using its leg as an arm. Three talons closed around her knee, crumpling the metal and trying to jerk the warlord aside. Janine responded by closing the distance, pushing the blades up, and headbutting the machine.

It used her knee for a springboard, leaping back and landing on one leg. Their dance resumed, a feint with the right blade meant to hide the true strike of her golden foe. Janine sidestepped the actual stab and elbowed the blade down. She stepped on its flat, bringing the Taleteller onto the machine’s left pauldron, cleaving through it, and snapping the blade in two... It broke the blade. Janine’s instincts saved her life as two limbs shot out of the barreled chest. Their blades left deep cuts in her gorget. The machine deliberately twisted its own limb, breaking its weapon in exchange for freedom, and spun to the right, avoiding the full brunt of her cut while enduring the warlord’s hit. It tried to trade its weapon and shoulder for her neck.

“Not bad,” Janine told the golden robot.

The two began a third exchange, birthing sparks as their weapons met. Janine went on the defensive, studying the opponent’s movements and style. The machine was fast, easily matching her speed. Its robustness was not up to par. Pistons, hissing wires, and shifting gears working were visible through the gash on its shoulder. The constant barrage of attacks reminded Janine of the amateur swordsman of the Ice Fang Order. They sparred for fun. Janine used a club, and the boy wielded two blades. Throughout the fight, he used nothing else but thrusts, trying to make her bleed and surrendering after she broke his weapons. It was a fun experience, so Janine didn’t even bite him and reforged the broken weapons herself, gifting the knight captain a two-handed sword to replace his lost heirlooms.

This golden bot used the same pattern. It had a rudimentary knowledge of feints and deceptions, and its use of legs was quite unorthodox. Each time the blades trapped Janine’s axe, it always tried kicking, aiming the talons at the cracked parts of her armor. But this pattern left it predictable. Janine purposely let her axe get trapped and kicked ahead of the machine’s move. Her claws tore the metal from the golden wrist and sent the robot flying into the wall, leaving four marks on its barrel-shaped chest. A sting of pain shot through the warlord’s leg. The kick splintered the claws of her index and middle toes, and a step sent white and red specks, like petals of a flower, falling from her feet.

“Shall we increase the fun?” Techno-Queen snapped her fingers.

The remaining disks fell from the ceiling, transforming mid-flight into the same humanoid shapes, though smaller in size and different in color. Except for the size, the machines looked identical. Same slender limbs, lacking rough curves except for the pauldrons, same four-armed blades, and legs ending in talons. Four lenses on their small and round heads tracked every warlord’s movement.

They encircled her. Janine noticed that the brown machines moved slower. The one behind her stabbed, chasing her away, and the second one tried to trap her axe, trying to create an opening for the golden one. So, he is your warlord. Janine inhaled, weathering the blurry walls of incoming stabs, blocking, parrying, and dodging. These machines pushed her to the limit, drove her into a trance where she moved with the flow, searching for an opening.

She couldn’t find one. Every counter was blocked, every attempt to separate the machines thwarted. Janine even tried the old method of pressing herself against the wall, and a brown bot jumped at it, relying on its comrades to keep the Taleteller’s busy. It bounced off the wall and made a long gash in Janine’s side as she tackled another machine, breaking free from a potential trap. Their teamwork was most acceptable.

“Agreed. Wolf hag, shaman!” Janine said. Her axe slammed into the blades of the golden one, and the sheer weight of her body dragged them away. The time for balance has come and gone.

Her daughters met the lesser machines, shielding her. The golden one registered the shift in their duel too late. Janine headbutted it, denting two of its four lenses. She rammed the golden one into the wall, using her full weight to splatter it. The warlord retreated, dodging the clever strikes poised at the cracks in her side.

The machine grew sluggish, suffering internal damage. Janine capitalized on that, landing a crisscrossing attack that sliced deep. The golden bot convulsed, still trying to strike despite its open chest and falling gears. A second slash finished it, cutting the machine in half at its waist. Both parts fell to the ground in streams of smoke, spewing artificial muscle fibers. The light died in the oculars.

Her daughters fought back-to-back before dodging sideways and switching opponents mid-fight, confusing the machines. Impatient One slipped her claws underneath bronze pauldrons, pinning the upper limbs, and bit the robot’s head, kicking violently into its abdomen. The shaman’s weight brought her opponent down, and in three kicks she flattened the bronze belly.

Anissa evaded the blades that tried to take her neck and reached for her back. A shardgun blast lifted the robot off the ground, and the wolf hag landed a roundhouse on its head, sending the thing crashing to the ground. She stepped on its back and fired five more times, disabling the robot for good.

“Bravo!” Techno-Queen clapped, running down the stairs like a girl. “Bravo! A magnificent performance! It seems even the tungsten alloy did not make a difference. Tch, and I had such hopes for it…” She took a small portable terminal from her belt and typed furiously.

“You don’t seem to be upset about your loss,” Janine remarked, stepping closer to the madwoman. Her communication was a mixture of irregular drumming and growling. It was the private language of the Wolf Tribe, an almost forgotten relic of the past, and now it was informing the warlord of her sister’s plan.

“Why should I be? Empirical methods are essential for any real advancement, regardless of the soundness of a theory. Science, even unnatural science like my own, feeds on practical results. These machines had matched your speed; in time, I’ll upgrade their software…”

Janine struck. Her axe moved, tearing through the air with a deafening sound. The sheer momentum of her upward strike sent several guards off their feet under the wind pressure. It was fine; they will survive. But this one... Too dangerous. Pure talent, and not a hint of humanity behind it.

The blade stopped before the lean neck, hitting an invisible wall that made the Taleteller tremble in the warlord’s arms.

“Told you. Not delusional,” Techno-Queen said nonchalantly, still typing on her terminal. “I’ve accounted for every contingency, fool.” She sighed, finishing her calculations, and faced Janine. The change in her posture moved the axe even further. “It is a real shame. We could’ve been so good together, Warlord. By my hand, I could’ve raised you to the heavens and beyond. Tell me. Why did you spurn my surrender?”

“Rotten,” Janine said, trying to break through the barrier.

“What do you mean by that, beast?” The green eyes narrowed.

“Your callousness toward others. It is your duty to care for them, but instead you have brought them to ruin, sequestering yourself in safety, playing with toys, and crafting mechanical horrors to replace life. A ruler should know better. A human would be better. You are neither; just a soul gone mad, weeping for a sleep without dreams,” Janine said plainly.

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“Weeping? My tears dried a long time ago, warlord. Not human…” Techno-Queen's expression soured. “Such ignorant nonsense. Let me show you what a true human is capable of.” Her finger pointed left.

A wave of force hit Janine’s side, sending her crashing into the wall. The blow bypassed the armor and went straight for the organs, choking Janine in her own blood and vomit. A stabbing pain gripped her heart as the blood in her veins ran backward. Gravity. Janine’s eyes widened. Techno-Queen’s devices commanded it, magnifying and masterfully controlling this force of nature.

The grenades thrown by her warriors created a dome over the tyrant’s small figure. Techno-Queen made no attempt to defend herself. As gravity bent and the acid poured onto the floor, its fumes moved to the ceiling. Without a gesture, the tyrant flung Anissa and her scouts toward the floor, trapping them in the same manner as Janine. An unseen force pushed Impatient One into the wreckage, slowly increasing the weight on her and adding to the damage to her armor.

Fear followed the realization. Despite their ferocity, the Wolf Tribe were pack-based people. In times when even a warlord could not hunt their enemy, they sought help. The connecting visions of the tribe’s members helped her sister manifest her power. Fear changed to horror. Horror turned into pure terror, coloring some of Janine’s fur white as Warlord Alpha’s wave of fear passed through her.

Alpha, the strongest warlord, had a secondary power. Many people experienced uneasiness or discomfort coming closer to her and dismissed this as simply a byproduct of her horrid visage. In truth, Alpha passively radiated fear, potent enough to cause a cardiac arrest even in the bravest of humans. Unlike most powers, hers was a passive one—the one that was always active. Through constant iron self-control, Alpha had learned to contain the fear in her body, to wield it like a whip of punishment. And now she unleashed it as a beam, and the mere touch of it caused Janine to release her bowels.

Techno-Queen laughed, pressing her hand to her mouth, undaunted by the fear. A round opening appeared in the wall, scorched by warlord’s Zero beam. The stream of black matter dissipated harmlessly against the gravity shield, failing to harm the tyrant.

“A most productive distraction.” The woman pointed at her head. “What? You expected me to be unprepared for the obvious dangers of mental power? Nah, doggie, I won’t die so easily, nor will I ever be a slave to anyone’s will. The cybernetics in my body can restart or relieve my organs. And the operation on my brain has made me immune to psychic onslaughts. With this.” Tecno-Queen pointed at the data banks next to her throne. “I have enough information to perfect my creations and solid proof of my capabilities. I say this test polygon has served its purpose. Time to level the place and make my exit.”

“Level, my queen?” Bors asked, hobbling closer to the queen.

“Oh, please, Bors. Did any of you really think that I would allow anyone in the region to live after what you bastards did to my parents?” Techno-Queen asked.

“But… queen, it happened over thirty years ago!” Bors pressed a hand to his chest. “There is not a soul alive who even saw that horrible sacrifice! You ended that tradition yourself, saving tens of thousands!”

“And this should matter, why?” Techno-Queen tilted her head in confusion. “I made a promise to end the people of this wretched land, and what better way to do it than to squeeze these lands dry in my service, while making you worship me for it? Speaking of service, I think I remember you sending your son to me… A year and a half ago, in fact…” She pressed two fingers to her lips.

“What. Have. You. Done?” The guard tore off his cowl and helmet, looking at the woman with his own eyes.

“Watch and see, loyal Bors. It’s time to test another of my inventions while we’re at it.” The woman smiled pleasantly, and the steel walls around the chamber shifted to reveal horror.

Janine had seen many things in her life. She had watched the young of her tribe die of hunger. She had witnessed entire villages being devoured by the Malformed. Janine had seen firsthand the torture in the slave camps, where cruel masters prolonged the suffering of the unfortunate to set an example for the rest. She remembered Warlord Terrific working her magic, brutally maiming guards by tearing bones from their bodies.

However, she had never seen anything close to this place of madness. Living people littered the wall, held by razor-sharp harnesses that never allowed their wounds to close. They lacked limbs; some had their skin peeled off, exposing needles piercing their lungs. Others gurgled weakly, twitching as strange liquids poured down their throats. The prisoners’ eyes and ears were removed, along with their vocal chords. They bled, the blood pooling in a small, round channel that curved the wall. A force field kept the horrible stench of excrement out of the chamber itself.

“Like what you see, doggies?” Techno-Queen asked cheerfully. “I named it Pain-Engine. Borish, I know, but you must excuse me; I was rather tired. Biology is not my forte, so it took many bodies before I perfected a method of keeping them alive in unending agony.”

“You…” the captain choked, falling to his knees and looking at a figure on the wall. A Normie cub, mutilated like the others. He was still bleeding from his eye sockets. “What… What is the meaning of this? You promised us that our children would live in paradise…”

“And you believed me? Bors, you’re such an idiot. None of your ancestors lifted a finger to save my family, and you expect me to forgive and forget? Your parents were in the crowd that took everything from me and enslaved me! Paradise? Ha! I’ll drag you all to hell, where you belong!” The Techno-Queen roared, abandoning her serene visage.

Bors stood, screaming his own wordless rage, and found a pistol on his belt. He shouted his pain and sorrow to the world, aiming at the smiling woman. Gravity buckled his legs, making him crouch and try to crawl to the woman. Bors screamed again, this time in physical pain. Techno-Queen grinningly observed how her gravity reduced the officer into a pool of blood and dusted bones.

Janine groaned and pulled away from the wall. Gravity loosened its grip on her, but something else took its place. Hooks and scalpels ripped her skin; needles made every breath an agony; searing venom coursed through her veins, offering no respite or relief. Her brain was on fire, a vibration stimulating pain centers in her body, her arms twitching as the sharp edges of the harness held her captive….

I am experiencing their feelings. Janine forced herself to believe that her organs still functioned. The pain of every person on the walls in this chamber came down on them, threatening to choke the life out of the Wolfkins and leaving the terrified guards alone. As the scouts rolled on the floor, fighting for every breath, Anissa and Impatient One grabbed their sides, ripping through their armor in vain attempts to stop the itching in their lungs.

“How dare you?” Janine took a step on her shaky legs. “Your own people…”

“Oh, please, my parents, my brothers and sisters, and I myself were their people.” Techno-Queen frowned. “Didn’t stop them from burning them at the stake and making me watch, did it? I saved myself, and now that I am the one in control, I am suddenly supposed to be the first to stop? Screw that. This country will pay for what it did to my life; its people will answer for every death given to the flame. I’ll give them a flame they’ll never forget.” The Techno-Queen motioned around. “Do you like my wondrous invention? The idea came to me as I pleaded, begged all the gods of the universe to let me take the pain of my family as they burned alive. But the universe never answered, so it fell to me to correct that mistake. This device transmits every single emotion from those sacks of meat directly into your little brain. Not only that, but it records the feelings and can unleash them at any time.”

Janine took the hardest step in her life. Her missing… no! Real, her real arm struggled to hold the Taleteller. She wet herself, scowling at the intense fire in her guts. She bit her tongue, trying to shove away alien sensations, chanting prayers to the Spirits, not understanding where her feelings even began. Every nerve ending throbbed. Against her will, the warlord cried, still walking to end this bitch.

One step. And another. Just thirty or so, and she can wipe that smile off her face. A step. Another one. Janine steeled herself, forcing her body to advance. She took another step forward, sensing something strange, and stumbled, falling on one knee. Before Janine’s very eyes, her armor vibrated. The cracks in the steel widened, and she bled from every orifice.

“Or this kind of weapon,” Techno-Queen said. “Vibrations, contained around your body by a simple shield. Do you feel your vessels popping? Good. Try to stay alive for a bit.” The woman sat on her throne, spreading her cape around the seat. “Now then, to the main course! Ravager! You cowardly, useless whore! I challenge you! Come forth, or you’ll find your cl…”

The tower shook, as if it had come under heavy bombardment. A new corridor appeared where the elevator had previously stood. The entire section of the tower disappeared, and tons of rock and steel fell in an avalanche. The floor beneath Janine bulged, pushed out by the simple, casual step of a being that had entered this room. Janine inhaled, realizing that the vibration emitting device was destroyed. A yellow light filled the room, coming from the dust-covered corridor leading outside, where a dark shape loomed against the white disk of the moon.

The Dominator of Dominators advanced, lips twitching to reveal fangs, red drool trickling down her jaw. Her amber pupils dilated and contracted, struggling to focus on her target. She released her claws, passing beside Anissa, and Impatient One groaned, leaping forward and dragging her sister away from the fury that was Ravager.

“You called,” the Blessed Mother said calmly.