“This is pointless.” Complained Second Lieutenant Aron, a B ranked warrior in the Gault Kingdom’s Third Infantry Division. “You and I both know those bastards deserted.”
“That doesn’t factor either way.” Replied Commander Kane, an A rank warrior and C Rank Evoker. His A ranking and second class made him one of the strongest people in the entire kingdom. There was even talk of him being chosen as the next Blue Knight. “Fifty soldiers vanished, and the order to find out what happened was handed down by Lord Typhon himself.”
The two elites rode at the head of a column of three hundred professional soldiers, their stocky and muscular horses were selected especially for their ability to navigate the treacherous trails and slopes of the Sea of Stone. They had encountered no trace of the missing battalion or any enemies in three days of searching the area.
“Commander Kane, sir!” A soldier was racing up on foot from the rear of the column. “Two women are approaching from our rear.”
“Women?” Kane replied incredulously. “Human?”
“They’re cloaked sir, the Diviner wasn’t able to make out details.”
“Go check on it.” Kane said to Aron. “Might be our ticket back to CC.”
“Understood.” Aron was suddenly enthusiastic as he kicked his horse into a fast trot north.
By the time Aron made it to the end of the line, the women had already been halted by the soldiers there. They were indeed covered head to toe in dark garments with hoods obscuring their faces. Visually there was nothing threatening about either of them. They stood just over five feet tall, and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds a piece. Even so, Aron felt strangely wary of the pair.
“Ladies.” He began, clearing his throat. “Please identify yourselves.”
“Why should we have to do that?” The woman on the left asked. Her voice was sweet and elegant with a touch of an exotic accent. Aron got the feeling she was speaking less to him and more to her companion.
“This road was built by dwarves according to lady Raj, why would human soldiers accost us for simply traversing it?” The other asked in agreement. “I think we’d prefer to simply be on our way, Mr. Soldier. Please stand aside.” She was actually talking down to him.
Aron’s earlier wariness was suddenly replaced by indignant fury. “Enough. Identify yourselves or be taken prisoner. Now.”
“Oh dear, we angered him. Shall we identify ourselves, dear Tuara?” The left woman asked, her voice was edged with sarcasm now.
“I suppose we shall, Aunt Kitha.” Agreed the woman to the right.
Together they reached up and pulled back their hoods. Shining white locks of hair spilled out, and stunningly beautiful jet black features were revealed. Ruby eyes glittered with inner light, and every soldier able to view the pair audibly gulped.
“Black elves? I might have guessed demihumans, and you mentioned a ‘lady Raj’? She’s been branded an enemy of the kingdom. Seems you’ll need to come with us after all.” Aron’s face turned wicked as he spoke. “What a convenient excuse to get out of this desolate pile of rocks, and with some extra company to warm the chilly nights.”
“That sounds almost like they intend to take us prisoner and force themselves on us, doesn’t it Aunt Kitha?” The elf called Tuara asked, grinning at her apparent aunt.
“It does sound that way, Tuara.” Kitha agreed. “That was definitely on the list of ‘green lights’ as our master called them.”
“Enough. Tie ‘em up and gag ‘em.” Aron growled.
He turned away fuming, when the sickly sweet voice of Kitha rang out with a very peculiar statement.
“I’d actually prefer if you men stabbed your commanding officer over there to death.”
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“Now listen here, I can make this trip hell for-” Aron turned, raising his finger to point at the insufferable woman when a sudden ripping pain in his right side made him gasp.
He turned his head to see one of his own men, someone he had fought alongside and shared drinks with for years holding the hilt of his sword, its tip just digging through Aron’s chainmail shirt. The man wore a sickly smile with vacant eyes. No way. Mind control without an incantation on a soldier who was trained against such effects was not possible.
“Lorn!” Aron screamed the soldier’s name as he grabbed the blade with one mailed fist and punched out with the other. He was much stronger than his subordinate and knocked him away but then two more blades suddenly found his back under the lip of his breastplate just above his hips, digging in but not very deep.
Aron dove forward into a roll and spun on the new threats. More than a score of soldiers, the entire rear platoon was advancing on him with weapons drawn.
“All of you too?” The second lieutenant whispered in disbelief. He ripped his own sword from his hip and sucked in a deep breath to scream out an alarm.
No noise made it from his mouth, and Aron’s eyes bulged in confusion and agony. A barely visible black thread floated gently before those reddening eyes. It was as thin as a spider’s web, and coated with something red. Suddenly Aron’s cheek was resting against the cold stone, and to his horror he could see his own headless body tumble down before his gaze. So strange he could have sworn that he could feel his chest hit the ground...
“Oh my.” Kitha marveled at how easily her niece’s Negative Energy Thread passed through the platemail collar and muscular neck of the rude soldier. “That’s amazing Tuara!”
“It’s nothing compared to your Witching Words Aunt Kitha.” Tuara countered. “All those men are still enslaved.”
“Hmm. I didn’t expect it to affect so many.” Kitha agreed. “May as well use them.”
“We may not get the chance.” Tuara lamented as she pointed toward the main human force. “Leza is making her move.”
Kitha followed the pointing finger and saw the three white streaks of light flash into the center of the soldiers’ formation. Leza and two of her Hellcat companions suddenly stood amid the stunned men. They were in their White Fury forms which made their bodies grow to over seven feet in height, and bulge with sinewy muscle. It also caused their manes of hair to grow to the backs of their knees and glow with a blinding white light. Master Gray had dubbed it their ‘Super Sane’ form, a term he had apparently learned from something called an ‘anime’.
Kitha didn’t have a clue what either of those terms meant but never questioned the man. The terrible trio of cat women turned the kingdom soldiers into eviscerated piles by the dozen. Simply swiping the air with their claws sent four waves of slashing wind through the air which cut like the blade of a scythe through wheat. It was a massacre at first. After a few moments of chaos, the soldiers managed to form two lines on either side of the trio. Heavy shields were raised against them that seemed able to repel the deadly slashing wind. Leza held her arms back and out to her sides, glowing white energy forming in her great clawed hands.
“Is she facing this way?” Tuara asked, squinting at the somewhat distant Leza’s head and shoulders over the mass of soldiers between them.
“Uh huh.” Kitha replied with growing alarm. “Move move move!”
The two dark alfar suddenly sprinted to the side of the rutted road, and leaped for the ditch just as a shearing wave of white plasma ripped past them, followed by a deafening boom.
“She’s way too reckless with that.” Tuara groaned.
“What?” Kitha shouted, unable to hear over the sudden ringing in her sensitive ears.
They pulled themselves out of the ditch and couldn’t help but be nauseated by the aftermath of the attack. Roughly a hundred pairs of smoking metal greaves stood at rigid attention, their wearers erased from the world like shadows at noon. Leza’s unique skill Null Roar granted during her evolution produced a wave of destruction that could quite literally reduce flesh, bone, and even metal armor to nothingness. It wouldn’t be usable again for a long while, but the damage was done. When she turned to the mortified soldiers in the opposite direction and raised her arms as if to do it again, their line broke and they scrambled over each other screaming like terrified children.
At the front of the line, commander Kane was reeling from the blinding flash of light and concussive sound. He recovered fast, and quickly enacted a spell which simultaneously boosted his leaping ability and drastically slowed his falling speed. He crouched, and then jumped straight up explosively. He left the ground like a bolt loosed from a crossbow. He viewed the battlefield from a hundred feet in the air, and couldn’t contain a horrified gasp. Half of his elite force was simply gone, wiped away in that flash of light. The remaining soldiers were being cut down like helpless children. He only counted five enemies, and two of them were casually chatting while the three strange white beasts savaged his army. Kane drew his weapons. In his left hand was a rod which summoned swarms of homing magic bolts, in his right was a heavily enchanted saber. He aimed the rod at the the two dark skinned women, and prepared to angle himself into a dive at the three beasts. He might be outmatched but he could at least take some down before he used his last resort.
He expended all of his Soul Energy, sending the maximum of twenty bolts roaring at his two oblivious enemies. He then prepared himself for the fall, his slow fall effect would wear off now that his Soul Energy was depleted, he would use the velocity of his dive to slash at the largest beast. He... wasn’t falling. He watched in confusion as the bolts fizzled weakly and disappeared just as they would have reached their targets. He had always assumed the rumors of Dark Alfar being totally immune to most magic to be an overblown exaggeration. He frantically looked around, something other than his own magic was holding him in the air.
The warmth of the sun on his shoulders suddenly vanished as a shadow fell across him. He turned awkwardly and looked up. Five winged silhouettes came into focus just ten feet in the air above. They were tall, curvy female humanoids with long sharp horns sprouting from above their brows. Their blood colored skin, bat wings, glowing embers for eyes, and long tails made Aron lose all hope instantly.
“Demons.” Kane said, sliding his weapons back into their sheaths. “So the dwarves have sold themselves to the hells in their desperation.”
“Not exactly.” The demon in the middle answered, her voice sounded like three people speaking at once but just barely out of sync. It was an unearthly sound that sent a cold chill crawling up his spine. She held up a clawed hand and made a beckoning gesture.
Kane suddenly began drifting higher, and closer to her.
“We surrender.” Kane said. “Allow the rest of my men to live. Aren’t we more valuable to you alive?”
“Perhaps.” The voice grated on his nerves. “But the last of your men, has already fallen.” Only then did Kane notice the silence that had overtaken the world below.
Kane looked down, and sighed. It was time. He rolled his tongue along the inside of his mouth, finding the space where one of his molars had been replaced by a small magic sealing crystal. Everyone above a certain rank now had one ever since the death of Gespar.
The demons were encircling him, and just as clawed hands were about to seize him, he bit down on the crystal and shattered it.