As the battle raged on from all sides, a swirling blue portal of energy appeared, only to vanish moments later, leaving a pair of mice standing where it once was. Both were immaculately garbed, one in shining white armor, slinging a bizarre, oversized weapons that was a sort of fusion between axe, spear and hammer over his shoulder. The other was a smaller, blue robed mouse, carrying an equally oversized and ornate staff, even if it nowhere near as heavy.

"Wow, what a mess..." Frederich said as he surveyed the chaos happening all around him. While it had gotten much easier with time, he still struggled somewhat with the sheer mass of his weapon, not yet to handle it nearly as effectively as its previous owner. "Well, time to go make some money."

Mia frowned a little and tilted her head towards him. "I don't believe we're being paid for this."

"Really?" The armored man blinked, "I uh, just kind of assumed. Do you think it would be considered unheroic to rifle through the pockets of any foes I defeat, to see if they're carrying any spare crumbs?" Frederich asked her.

"Um, you know, if you're having financial difficulties-" She began to reply, looking to him with a concerned expression before being cut off.

"Hey, I'm just kidding! Well, we'd better get to work. You coming?" he said. The idea that he was joking wasn't a total lie, but not a total truth, either.

The small girl shook her head. "Oh, no thank you. I'm good right here." she smiled.

Frederich nodded and rushed off to join a nearby melee, only to instead found himself distracted by another mouse. One without clothing, armor or weaponry, idly wandering the hectic battlefield. Dave had been fortunate enough to go, somehow, unnoticed up to this point, but his luck was about to run out, as two of the robed, elite soldiers charged him from both sides, their weapons raised. The mouse knight rushed in to try to protect the helpless citizen, but he knew that it was already too late. He wasn't wrong, either. Frederich could only cry out "No!", still a few steps short of the enemies as a long spear effortlessly pierced through Dave's torso, and a heavy hammer came down onto his skull.

Both of the soldiers and the knight stared, very much confused. There was no blood or gore or any of the other rather gruesome things that our skin holds inside of us. Instead, the chest cavity was virtually hollow, encased with a sort of fur-covered ceramic rather than skin. As for the head, it had similarly dented and cracked inwards, revealing an assortment of mysterious damaged machinery, but the bulk of it was similarly empty. In hindsight, I should have realized that there was something unusual about 'Dave', beyond the obvious. I had never seen him eat nor sleep, but then I hadn't paid much attention to him, either. He wasn't the sort worth watching closely over extended periods, as one could more-or-less figure everything out about him within a few minutes of observation. I had just assumed he both ate and slept when I wasn't watching, but upon asking other mice later, they would collaborate the claim, having never seen him do so, either. Oh, and then there was also the little fact that the strange mouse had large plastic buttons instead of eyes, and his mouth was sewn on. That probably should have been the first clue.

All three mice, one allied and two enemies looked to one another for a few moments, having no idea of what to make of the situation before quickly remembering why they were all here. A fight immediately broke out, with 'Dave' left on the ground, its body largely unmoving aside from the head which repeatedly and endlessly nodded, and would continue to do so for some hours until whatever mechanism that powered the strange automaton inevitably gave out.

As for the small sorceress, she, instead chose to wait for her opponents to come to her. This didn't take long, either. which was hardly a surprise. Magic users tended to be high priority targets, both because they were unknown variables on a battlefield, and also because they tended to be physically frail and went down quickly when attacked. And here she was, standing in the middle of the battleground, unescorted. An easy target.

"Take her down!" A robed soldier called, rushing forward, a mechanical toothed axe in hand, four other white-clad mice following in turn. They barely had time to react to the large comet of blue arcane energies which slammed down in front of them, bursting as it did, leaving only a smoking crater in its wake.

"Heh. Neat trick." The mechanized soldier said to her, rising back up to his feet after having dove out of the way of the spell, "But it will take a whole lot more than that to defeat the soldiers of the great King Mollenoch!"

The small mouse kept her purple eyes locked on the soldier and twitched her head slightly, raising and lowering her chin just a little,

"What? What are you doing? What's this?" The confused soldier asked, mimicking the gesture. It only continued, however, as the head of the university repeated the motions, perhaps slightly more pronounced this time, still looking towards him, but repeatedly nudging her nose and chin upwards. Rather than repeat the gesture as seen, the soldier instead did so far more dramatically, raising his head to the air, looking up. His shoulders slumped at the sight of the sky above him filled with the bright blue comets. "Oh." he said, despondently, as the spells repeatedly rained down, mercilessly pummeling the armed group.

<3~

"Isn't this a surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you here." Mollenoch said, looking down from his elevated throne at the farmer standing before him. From atop the mobile platform, a clear view of the many smaller skirmishes, as well as the battleground as a whole could be clearly seen. What wasn't quite so clear was whether the shadow king was surprised that the farmer had survived the earlier attack, or that he had dared to show his face once again.

"Well, I do live here." Jebediah said, scratching at an ear.

"So, what happens now? Do you intend to cut me down with that pathetic little tool of yours?"

"Nope, that's not really my style, I'm afraid." The farmer replied, sliding his scythe out from across his back, holding it out, not in a menacing manner, rather lying it across his opened paws to study it,. "I've taken a few creative liberties with its use so far, but I still don't think that it's something that's meant for cutting flesh or taking lives."

"What exactly do you plan to do, then?" Mollenoch scoffed.

The farmer shrugged and chuckled, shaking his head. "Everyone keeps asking me that. To be honest, I don't know what to tell you." He finally looked up at the heavily armed mobile throne, to the huge, robed leader standing upon it, taking on a more serious expression. "I just know that this..." He turned to wave a paw across the battlefield, "...not to mention this..." sweeping the hand across the sky and the many strange artificial islands which littered it. "It has to stop."

Even through the heavy mask, Mollenoch looked incredulous, as he pointed an armor plated paw to the sky as well. "Do you seriously believe that I'm responsible for... that?" He asked, "Do you really think I would have spent two days hot gluing machine parts to local cats if I were capable of seizing control of the entire sky?"

The farmer blinked, equally surprised. "Well, I just assumed as they clearly looked unnatural..." He narrowed his eyes, looking back to the tyrant, "Do you seriously mean to tell me that our kingdom just happens to be experiencing two completely unrelated technological based cataclysms at once?"

Mollenoch paused, clearly deep in thought and still a little bit flustered. "Well, they aren't entirely unrelated..." He said before shaking his head, "Alright, I'll admit it, it does sound a little bit far fetched, but it's true! We're not responsible for that!" He looked back up to the skies, clearly dismayed, "Quite the opposite. That's what we've been trying to stop all this time! That's why we've been building up our weaponry and technology!"

"Is it that big a problem?" Jebediah asked, looking up over his shoulder at it, "It certainly looks creepy, but I was kind of hoping it wasn't that big a deal in the end. Either way, whatever all of that is, I can't imagine many of my people would be in support of it. If we have a common foe, why not work together against it?"

"We've already been over this. Your people are stubborn and weak. What will soon be coming can only be overcome through sheer might. We lack the time or energies to drag you primitives along, kicking and screaming into the new world that is to come." the shadow king sighed.

"Well, I really don't know much about that is going on." the farmer shrugged, "Or anything else, really. I certainly don't know anything about technology, and am in no position to really argue. Still, it feels like violence and 'might' are the only things that you understand. The only lens that you can see things through."

"It is the way of the world." the masked mouse said, plainly. "I suppose now you're going to give some grand speech about compassion and togetherness and believing in yourself, or some other drivel?"

Jebediah instead shook his head. "Nope. As much as I disagree with you, it's clear that you've put a lot of thought into all of this. Even if I did have a really good speech in mind, and to be honest, I've really just been improvising my way through this from day one, I know that it wouldn't work." He sighed, "It would be nice if it could. If every problem in the world could just be talked through, leading to a solution which made everyone happy, but I guess life just doesn't always work out that way."

"Well, that makes things much easier." Mollenoch nodded, reaching a mechanical gauntlet to the side of his throne, pressing a series of buttons and switches. As he did, two metal panels slid open at each side of the elevated, four-legged throne, and from each opening, a series of weapons extended. They resembled the common rifles, quite a few of them linked together in a circle, locked in place by an heavy, iron ring. "I appreciate you not wasting my precious time. Goodbye."

There was a whirring sound as the four sets of weapons all rapidly spun, followed by a chorus of deafening blasts as they repeatedly fired upon the defenseless farmer. To the untrained eye, it would seem that he was in a great deal of danger, as the weapons certainly looked menacing, firing off hundreds and hundreds of bullets within mere seconds, each one of which were more than capable of killing any mouse that they struck. Sometimes looks could be deceiving, however.

<3~

Samuel continued to stare down his mysterious opponent, hesitant to get closer.

Vania, the Obliteratrix.

This was an individual that I had written very little about, but this wasn't really by choice. She was the one who had initially chosen to spare me, when so many of the other enemy mice would have seen me die. She wasn't sick or desperate, instead choosing this life of her own will. She was someone that Gwendolynne respected enough to call a sister, despite there clearly being of no blood relation between them, and her respect was not something that was easily won. Even when the half-mechanical mouse had been treating me kindly and diplomatically, I could tell that it was very much a forced effort. Not necessarily a deliberate deception or manipulation, rather that it just wasn't the sort of behavior which came naturally to her, no matter how hard she tried at it.

I knew next to nothing about the strange, box-headed mouse. A few stray remarks from the other general had told me that she was a lover of art and nature, and had a great sense of humor, along with an unusual way of looking at things, but one would never know from looking at her. She could never decide on a proper name for herself, constantly jumping from one to another, much to the annoyance of her compatriots. So far as I could tell, she was very much a square peg in a world of round holes (and not just due to the shape of her head, of course), and that's, ultimately, what drew her to this life. Beyond that, I'd never spoken a word to her, and it was clear that even if I had, I wouldn't have understood what she had to say, were she to speak back. I similarly had no knowledge of her specific augmentations, although I did know that they were extensive. Even without any technological expertise, It's obvious that a head transplant isn't a simple matter, and involves a whole lot more than just decapitating a mouse and welding a metal box to where the head once was.

There was one other thing that I knew without a shadow of doubt: Samuel was right to be cautious.

The one-eyed mouse leapt back as the strange woman slowly raised her paws. There were still no weapons in sight, nor even signs of the unnatural sockets or panels overtop her flesh which could denote hidden, internal devices. This was the first time since the 'fight' began that she had even moved her arms, however. Perhaps the first time any of us had seen her move her arms. She partially raised them, fingers of each paw outstretched, as though offering surrender, before abruptly striking the flat surface of her mechanical head with her palm. Then again, with the other hand, and another and another.

"H-hey, what are you doing?" Samuel asked, nervously, but she ignored the words, continuing to repeatedly strike herself, until after several seconds of this, a loud click could be heard, some strange mechanism within operating, at which point all six flat, metallic panels fell away, clanking heavily onto the ground. Her arms returned to their previous limp position at her sides.

Samuel could only stare. There wasn't a proper face beneath the strange shell, but that much was obvious in advance. The box was rather large in certain dimensions, but not enough so to fit the elongated snout of a mouse. Plus, the general would never have risen to such a prestigious position were she just a simple mouse wearing an unflattering mask. Underneath it, now completely exposed, was something entirely unnatural. Were it not connected to a fairly ordinary looking mouse body, one would have never guessed that it was a part of a living being. Although a stump of exposed spine was visible, thick cords and wires emerged from it, covered in small devices and miniscule flashing lights, branching upwards like the limbs of a tree, cradling a large, round object, the proper 'head' at their center.

I wasn't sure if it was glass, likely not, in fact, but it was certainly something like it. A large, many faceted stone, pale in color, not entirely transparent, with more multi-colored flashing lights faintly visible within. It couldn't be considered a proper face. There were no signs of eyes or ears, and without looking at the remainder of her body, no clear front or back. Just a strange radiant stone, which, were it not for the mechanical wires and lights, would look far more at home as a treasure hidden deep within a forgotten ruin than sitting atop the shoulders of an an otherwise normal looking mouse woman.

Samson barely had time to dive out of the way, a reaction clearly made purely on instinct, and not an unwise one, as the stone flashed to life, glowing brightly, followed by a loud, low, reverberating noise, and then a deafening blast coming from behind him. The one-eyed mouse ended up diving further than expected, propelled by the explosion next to him. He had surely planned a far more graceful landing, but instead was sent tumbling, finally coming to a rest, looking back at where he had previously stood, his eye wide.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

From the position of Vania herself, to where he had stood just moments, and much, much further beyond was now a trench, a full mouse-length wide and half as deep, the earth thrown to each side, still smouldering, lined with darkened glass created from the immense heat. The shocked mouse looked back over his shoulder, following the new line carved into the earth, stopping at the sight of a Maker's vehicle in the distance, now a blazing ruin upon the distant road.

"Oh, come on..." He sighed, shaking his head, looking back towards the woman who hadn't moved a single step, arms still casually resting to either side. He gritted his teeth and rushed in, darting in a zig-zag pattern, in a desperate hope that he could evade the next blast which he was had no doubt was coming. He didn't get the clearest look at the first, but it was obvious that it came far too quickly to plausibly react to, much less actively dodge, and thus keeping his distance would offer no advantage.

That dull, warbling sound resumed as the strange stone head again glowed brightly, and Samuel could only pray that the opponent might have trouble hitting a moving target. She didn't even try, though, not directly, at least. The shot didn't come straight forward, rather towards the space in front of her feet, a few lengths away. Samuel was still forced to backstep out of the way, however, as her crystalline head rapidly spun, tearing a series of quick rings around her body, the beam of blinding light bursting as it traveled, leaving towers of unnaturally colored flames in their wake.

Vania simply stood and stared out through the inferno, which had rapidly burned itself away. There was no sign of her opponent.

He hadn't been incinerated, of course, nor had he run away. Well, not quite. He hadn't run far, at least. He was currently hiding behind a large stone, previously mostly buried, but having been thrown up on its side by the devastating attack. Struggling to regain his breath, he finally dared to sneak the faintest peek around it, seeing Vania standing idly as always, silent aside from a faint mechanical whirring as the stone slowly rotated atop its pedestal of spine and wiring, apparently scanning the nearby surroundings for any sign of her prey.

Of course, it's important to remember that this wasn't the only battle going on. There were quite a few others, arguably as many as there were mice on the field, even if some were on a grander scale than others. There were shots fired, blades and hammers clanging against armor, cries of pain in all directions, and no shortage of launched shrapnel and debris from the many, many heavy weapons being haphazardly fired about. What came next wasn't a targeted attack, as the few mice who weren't so occupied by their own desperate efforts to stay alive had dared not approach, but flying bits of debris are not known for their strong self preservation instincts.

A large stone was launched towards the general. Not directly, of course, certainly not aimed, but in her general direction. Not massive, but as big as a mouse's head, and flying with a speed that would be very much unpleasant to be struck by. In mid air, however, it was caught by another intense beam from the woman, and essentially vaporized. Samuel watched this, still panting heavily, although as quietly as he could. While his enemy had no clearly visible eyes or ears, it was was obvious that she had methods of detecting what was happening around her, potentially far more reliable methods than one could hope to gain from conventional physical senses.

Samuel looked about his feet, finding many smaller stones. Nothing as large as what had been launched before, not even close, and he was no pitcher, so it was questionable how much damage he could cause with them. Fortunately, inflicting damage wasn't his goal.. He moved quickly, trying to avoid revealing his position, and hurled a fist-sized rock at the standing woman. Another narrow beam disintegrated the stone in mid air. He tried again, throwing a little to her right. While it would have passed harmlessly around her, it still ended up destroyed. The one-eyed mouse smiled, taking up one last stone. He threw it hard, a bit to Vania's left.

Just as she turned her head to destroy it, he moved, rushing in towards her, from the right, his sword drawn. He rapidly closed the distance, confident as he could see the beam still emitting in the complete opposite direction of his approach. His hopes were quickly dashed, however, as the opposite side of the stone, the one facing him rapidly lit up. The previous beam still hadn't stopped, but he should have guessed that while the strange attacker did turn her head regularly, it was more out of habit. Unlike an actual, organic face, the strange stone lacked any proper front or back, capable of 'seeing', or the augmented woman's equivalent, in all directions at once. Capable of attacking in all directions as well, and by no means limited to one target at a time.

Samuel had less than a second to realize his mistake before he found himself completely engulfed by the blinding light, his wooden blade mere inches from his target.

<3~

Meryll's battle wasn't going much better. From the start, she found herself on the defensive. This usually wasn't the sort of position that she chose to be in, but she knew full well that she couldn't afford to trade blows with the more powerful opponent. As for Gwendolynne, while during her past encounters she had been rather passive, clearly toying with her foes, this time she was taking a far more aggressive approach from the very beginning. It wasn't ineffective, either.

Her mechanical, toothed blade was incredibly effective, whether it struck a shield, a piece of armor or another weapon. It presumably would have been equally effective against flesh as well, probably all the more so, but the larger woman had the good sense to avoid letting that happen. Even if it wasn't easy. Meryll had kept her shield out all this time, in spite of the heavy weight, is an effort to slow her opponent's assault, but a single quick sweep of the engine blade carved a sizable chunk out of the top of it, with a follow-up ripping through a metal chest plate as though it were paper.

The large woman stepped back to try to collect herself, and maybe take the offensive, but the enemy general didn't follow. What did follow, however, was a rocket powered projectile which had launched from the back of the mechanical mouse, spinning in the air before apparently locking onto its target. What was left of the shield had completely shattered from the explosion, which couldn't have been gentle on the arm holding it, either, but it was certainly better than being hit directly by the weapon. Another projectile followed, tethered and non-explosive, the general having expended the last of her rocket weapons. Instead, a simple metal fist which was launched with no less speed, which Meryll was able to hit away with a needle sword. It took a lot of strength to accomplish this, however, more than enough to knock her off balance, as the platinum angel effortlessly closed the distance, both reconnecting the hand and swinging the activated saw-toothed blade with a single, swift motion.

Meryll had barely managed to parry the blow, catching it with one of the imperfect needles. Even that wasn't quite enough, as the strike tore through the thin metal weapon, but at least slowed the strike just enough to let Meryll evade the continuing arc. She looked down at the severed handle in disappointment, the cut a perfectly clean one leaving the edge smooth, and tossed it aside, pulling out another one. This was the third she had gone through, in so many minutes. Her armor wasn't faring much better, either. She had dodged plenty of attacks by a hair, but as any blacksmith will tell you, suits of armor, effective ones, at least, tended to be significantly thicker than hairs. The thickness still served its purpose, as not a single blow had managed to cut through to her flesh, which was an impressive feat when one considered how effortlessly the machine blade cut through solid metal, but much of her armor was already discarded, and that which remained was in tatters.

"I didn't expect you to be the sort to spend so much time running away." Gwendolynne smiled cruelly. "I guess even a thick headed lout like you is afraid to die."

"I'm just buying time." Meryll said, breathing a bit quicker, but clearly not too heavily fatigued by this point.

"Really? And what exactly are you stalling for?" The half mechanical mouse asked. "Why, exactly, do you expect things to go any better for you later than they are now? You're just going to get more tired, and make more mistakes. As for me?" She chuckled, "I could do this all day. Or perhaps you're waiting for reinforcements? Some of your allies to come and help you? That's fine with me. I'll cut them to pieces as well."

"Heh. Yeah, I'm sure you would." The large mouse smiled. "Don't worry, I fully intend to settle this myself. I just needed a little time to figure out how you fought." She smiled a bit wider. "So far, I'm not impressed."

Gwendolynne laughed, "Oh really? You've yet to put so much as a scratch on me, and if I were really trying, I could have killed you ten times over by now."

"I'm pretty sure that's a bluff." Meryll replied. "You seem to be in a bad mood today. It's clear that you're trying to kill me. Too bad your technique is so shabby. You've spent so much time relying on those replacement body parts of yours, depending on the strength and speed they offered you, that you never really learned how to fight properly, did you?"

The general glowered at the larger woman. "I've killed more mice than you'll ever meet. My strength, speed and reflexes are augmented far beyond what a pitiful creature like you could even begin to comprehend." She paused, "But, I suppose, you're not entirely wrong. While oafs like you spent your days working on building your muscles, to make yourselves strong, I, instead, worked to make everyone strong. You have no idea how much time was spent, building, scavenging, experimenting, enhancing my body piece by piece, not for the sake of being some great hero, but for the sake of a new world, where weakness no longer existed. Where even the smallest and sickliest mouse could become strong, and have nothing to fear. Someone like you could never understand that."

"Oh, I understand perfectly." Meryll shrugged, "I wouldn't have recently, though. For the longest time, I did just fight and try to improve for my own sake. I was kind of embarrassed by this oversized body of mine, but I now accept that it's a blessing, and an awful lot of people aren't as lucky as me. I want to make their lives better, too, and help them however I can." She raised a needle in both hands, "I also know, however, that mice are a lot more than just the sum of their parts. There's a lot more to being a good fighter, a good person, than just enhancing your body."

"Oh, please. Do you honestly think that you're in a position to lecture me on the importance of mental fortitude? You have no idea." Gwendolynne said with a digitized growl. She rushed forward, attacking with a series of lightning quick strikes. The armored (well, significantly less armored now) mouse certainly did a good job at defending, deflecting the blows away from her vulnerable body, but her weapons and armor paid the price for it. Blades were effortlessly severed, plates and leathers are broken and cut away, and Meryll found herself forced to repeatedly backpedal, lest the smaller opponent overtake her.

Gwendolynne smiled widely as she snapped through another sword, swirling around to follow up with a strong, downward arc, powerful enough to cleave her opponent in two, but was, instead, caught by surprise. Mid-strike the sword was stopped, the mechanical teeth scraping against but struggling to find purchase against the thick metal blade. The mechanical mouse gritted her teeth, pressing down harder, pushing the sword back, at first, before being thrown back. herself. with a single swift motion.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Meryll smiled, looking down at Jerin's specially designed sword, the edge of which was somewhat scuffed where it had taken the repeatedly running fangs of the saw blade, but otherwise undamaged. "I think I've learned enough. Now it's my turn to start fighting seriously."

She reached up to her helmet, undoing the strap under her chin and tossing it aside, revealing the small round ears underneath. A pair of buckles were undone at each shoulder, allowing the remainder of the plate and leathers (what was left of them, at least) to fall away, as she finally stepped out of the greaves, tossing them aside, exposing her long, thick, and completely bald tail. Her fur, while very clean, was long and shaggy, but even through it her bulbous, excessively muscular form was very much visible. Contrary to expectations, she was also still armored. Tiny triangles of gold metal, linked by chains covered each of her nipples, with another small cap set between her scraggly furred thighs. Not a bad approach, all things considered. While minimal space may have been protected, it was well chosen. Ask any woman and they will tell you that being stabbed in the nipple is an excellent way to spoil an otherwise fine day.

The remainder of the large rat's body was laid bare as she smiled, gripping the long, thick sword tightly in her large, powerful paws. "Much better. I really should thank you. That armor was a little too heavy for me. It was slowing me down. This is so much more manageable. Finally, I can fight you with all of my power!" She said in a calm, confident voice, smiling wide.

Gwendolynne just looked to her with a confused expression, naturally not getting the reference.

"I guess this must be quite a shock for you... that I was actually a rat all along." Meryll said, "I never wanted to be, of course. If it were up to me, I would have been born a mouse like everyone else, but I can't be one. I can't be small and cute like Jerin. I can't be delicate and beautiful like other women. I can only be me, but now that I think about it, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Maybe, I have this strength for a reason."

As for Gwendolynne, she blinked and tilted her head. "Why would I be shocked? It was incredibly obvious that you were a rat from the start! I was more put off by that ridiculous outfit of yours." She said, ""What, did you think that covering your ears and tail would be enough to hide the fact that you're a completely different species?"

"Really? Oh..." Meryll frowned, clearly flustered, expecting the dramatic reveal of her 'true form' to have significantly more of an impact. As it turned out, her true origins were actually pretty common knowledge. People were too polite to say anything, but it would be wrong to say that a large portion of the shabby treatment and judgement that she had received from others in her youth wasn't as a result of her being a rat. As for me, I'm not too proud to admit that I had no idea, having never encountered another rat before. I had just assumed that she was just a really, really ugly mouse. It also explained her unusual cleanliness, and why she was always so heavily perfumed. Rats are considered to be unsanitary and foul smelling creatures, and she was compensating, or, more accurately, overcompensating for that fact. I'm skeptical of how accurate that belief was, anyways. We mice aren't exactly known for being the most hygienic of creatures, either.

"Well, good! I... guess. Anyways, before I left to catch up with the others, I had Jerin make me some new armor. It might not offer much protection, but I'm not going to need it." Meryll continued. She was also bit put-off by the fact that the enemy general was unimpressed by the armor, which she, herself, thought was amazing looking.

The enemy general glared and raised her one arm, the saw-blade extended from the wrist and charged, striking with a hard upward sweep across the torso of the rat. To her surprise, the blade was caught once again on the thick sword. Once more she found herself pushed aside, and looked up just in time to see Meryll's weapon coming down hard towards her, as she barely managed to sidestep it. Or so she had assumed.

"Good." Meryll said. "I was a little worried that even my new sword would have trouble damaging that body of yours."

Gwendolynne blinked before looking down at her arm, the opposite from the extended blade. A long gash was torn through the wrist, and there was a steady hiss as the condensed gasses used to propel the tethered fist leaked out from it. She barely had time to regain her composure and raise her own weapon to deflect the next strike which, with a rain of sparks, tore away several of the jagged teeth of the machine sword. From there, she was fairly effectively able to guard herself, to protect both her weapon and her body. Of course, that was nowhere close to good enough. She was an ascended being, after all, the epitome of modern technology and mouse ingenuity. The idea of merely fighting on equal terms with this primitive? It was completely unacceptable.

"You... you're nothing..."The enemy general glared. "The very idea that you could be my equal, that you're even worthy of looking me in the eye is an absurd joke." The red glass lens making up her own eye flashed with tiny, reversed print, as she continued to speak, but not to Meryll, rather to herself. "Engage overclock procedure, authorization A-N-G-E-L. Disable safety protocols. Disable pain protocols. Enhance adrenal flow by 200%."

Meryll stared at the woman, as a strange sound could be heard from the general's body. There was always a faint noise, a sort of rhythmic hum of the countless mechanical pieces working in tandem, but now there was another. A series of soft whines as they seemed to strain to support the new instructions against their will.

"You say that a mouse is more than the sum of her parts, do you? Pretty ironic, coming from you." Gwendolynne said, her voice sounding far more digitized and the words coming out much quicker, with little pause between them. "I'll show you just what proper parts are capable of."

The rat didn't even see the attack coming, barely able to duck away as the mechanical blade sliced through her cheek. A trivial wound, but if had she moved even a little bit slower, it could well have cut entirely through her skull. The next one she had just barely managed to parry, and as she tried to push the mechanical sword away, to her shock, she wasn't able to. She dug her toes into the earth, trying to force the woman back, only to find herself, instead, pushed back as the mechanical mouse stepped forward, knocking her sword aside.

The enemy general had previously looked calm and collected, even if rather annoyed by default, but now she looked crazed. Her organic eye was wide, her red glass one flicking. the HUD surely relayed dozens of warnings of risks to her body and potential systems failures, but of course she didn't care. All that mattered was victory, and she gritted her teeth and grinned like a madwoman as she thrust her arm forward. The blade caught Meryll square in the chest, the now crimson metal bursting from her brown furred back.

Meryll looked to her foe in shock, blood dripping from her mouth, as her whole body shook, the saw-blade activating, further tearing through the flesh, the damaged teeth sparking but still functional, as she fell forward, still standing, supported by the long wrist blade impaling her chest.