Eleanor: Decides that being the Queen is a lethal condition.
The guard carrying Eleanor arrived at the shore and carefully decanted Eleanor. She promptly sprawled over the sand before getting up. By now, the slaver ships were disturbingly close.
This is the pits. There's a bunch of slavers a hundred meters out and aimed directly at me, and the people I care for the most are right beside me.
At least that guard didn't fart. I think. Maybe I didn't smell it; we were running pretty fast.
Oh, bloody hell.
The ships bounced up and down on the waves, and on those ships, plenty of slaves were visible - mostly grey-collar slaves with a smattering of red and blue collars. And one per ship was a green-collar slave. Who were right now ordering the grey-collar slaves to jump off the vessels and get to land.
Eleanor watched in morbid fascination as a couple of slaves, as they were wading through the chest-high water, were taken by unseen predators below the surface.
There's already blood in the water.
Let's see, if this were a chess game, I would protect the Queen...
[Battle Field Management] kicked in hard, and Queen Eleanor started coordinating her assets, fully using her [Speaking to the Public] abilities.
"Aragon, Jane, you stand slightly forward from me! Esther and Evereena stand behind us."
And why are those two girls here anyway? It's probably more 100% vow nonsense.
She pointed to the Misfits, who had trotted up behind Aragon. "You stay behind us and protect the ladies!"
Included in the ladies were Lena plus her orphans. The Misfits, looking very uneasy about the whole situation, didn't make any objections.
She pointed to another group of guards and people from the port, ordering them to be on the side to prevent the slavers from invading the port buildings.
She ordered most of the guards, the ones from the town and the ones who usually lived at the port, to go forward and line the shore.
Eleanor looked back at the green-collar slaves on the ships and realised they were all looking at her.
Oh, damn this all; with my waving my hands around, they now know who I am.
She clearly heard one of them giving the commands to kill her.
Yeah, being the King or Queen is clearly fatal.
She looked to her side and saw Lena holding the hands of two little kids.
Lena looks terrified. Just like me.
"Sorry, my best friend forever."
"Can't be helped," said Lena.
All of the guards along the shore had some kind of bonded weapon. Eleanor could see dozens of swords, all of different shapes and sizes. But there were also a lot of spears, and some guards had shields. Then there were the more exotic weapons, like broad axes, chains with sharp hooks on the end, shafts, and even something that looked like a double-headed sickle.
Now that's a new one.
Only about half of the slaves have bonded weapons; the others use real weapons.
It's a pretty motley collection of real weapons. Most are not in all that good repair.
The guards stood slightly in the water:
Ah, I get it. Very shallow water won't impede their actions, but the slaves will be in water deep enough to slow them down slightly.
This [Battle Field Management] skill is a real doozy; I now know all sorts of extra information.
The slaves came at the guards in full force. The guards, knowing they had no choice, countered in kind. The first slaves died, blood spurting out and drenching their companions. Who paid it no mind and kept throwing themselves forward without regard for their safety.
Eleanor froze up at the sight.
Oh, by the Voice: this is too horrible - there's sliced up and mangled bodies falling - shit, some sea-going predator has snapped up a dead slave and taken them!
This is too much...
Her emotional control slipped and Eleanor had a moment of pure panic; then her [Battle Field Management] skill kicked in again with full force. It also turned her [Emotional Control] back up to 100%.
She swept her eyes across the battlefield with a calm and analytic gaze.
How can I be of any help --- Ah! I have the [Speak to an Individual] ability.
And that guard with the red and light brown colouring is being attacked by three slaves and needs help...
She spoke to two other guards, one on either side, who were not currently overwhelmed and directed them to help. It worked. The three formed a temporary fighting unit. And more blood went flying as the slaves' bodies went down.
[Emotional Control] is on full; don’t let it slip down again. Concentrate on managing the battlefield; don't worry about anything else.
Despite the best efforts of the guards, slaves started slipping past the front row and move onto the beach. Eleanor saw some slaves attempting to circle around and attack the group behind her, so she called for extra help.
The battle, having gotten off to a great start, continued.
Bronsen:
Bronsen was scared. The only reason he wasn't scared shitless was because he had [Emotional Control] on full.
Oh, and also because he hadn't had breakfast yet.
He had already activated his bonded sword, but...
If I swing this around, I'm just as likely to hit one of my friends.
Oh, bloody hell...
He watched, completely frozen, as three grey-collared slaves came racing up towards Eleanor, closely followed by a red-collared slave holding a small bunch of slave collars.
Then watched in more horror as Aragon, Jane and one of the male coast guard watchers slashed with their swords. They were much faster than the slaves, and the blood of four more slaves splattered all over the sand. And all over everyone nearby. Like the Misfits.
They all screamed a little.
Jane:
Jane had noticed that the Misfits were, to put it bluntly, utterly useless in this fight so far. But what could she do about it?
Those foolish 100% vows!
"Jane! group coming up behind you!"
Jane jerked her head around as Eleanor spoke directly into her ears.
At least Eleanor is picking up a whole assortment of valuable skills - more Misfit bullshit, of course.
With some of the other guards engaging with slaves to the right and the left of her, she faced down the slave in the centre.
She realised she was facing a formidable opponent - he had a bonded sword and knew how to use it.
Probably a captured slave.
The look in his eyes gave him away - he quite clearly was insane from obeying commands that he didn't want to.
He moved forward and swept his sword around and down, so she attempted to do a straightforward block, only to find he was way ahead of her. With a deft flick of the wrist, he rolled his sword over hers and flicked it straight at her throat. Only by digging her heels into the damp sand and pushing herself sideways with all of her strength was she able to avoid the razor-sharp, fast-moving tip.
He rapidly recovered and was moving into another attack, which she could not fully anticipate.
She jumped back a metre, but of course, he followed.
Shit, the Misfits are behind me, and I can't tell what this bloke is going to do next!
Between one instance and the next, there was a Voice of the World announcement:
Ding! The ability to tell if someone is lying is upgraded; You can now predict with a high probability of success what they will do within the next second.
Which disappeared as fast as it had come.
What...
Only now, she knew what he would do for his next attack!
He swung his sword towards her right side, apparently aiming for her legs, but she knew that he was betting on her blocking it as before, and he would rotate his sword over hers and get her arms on her rebound.
So she didn't block but moved her sword to where she knew his hands would be...
He got a cut on his hand before he could correct. This threw off his next movement, and after that, due to the speed at which they were both moving, it was all over in another two seconds.
Collapsing face up on the sand, he looked at Jane and nodded. Then he died.
Was he, maybe, thanking me?
Jane didn't get a chance to ponder on this unusual occurrence or even to feel sorry for the unknown former swordsman because:
"Jane! Aragon needs help!"
She leapt over the fallen body and went to their help.
Eleanor:
She belatedly remembered that she also had a weapon.
So she materialised her dagger and threw it at a slave who had fallen over with profuse bleeding but managed to crawl back up and was getting ready to use their sword.
Before she could feel sick at having committed another murder, she had to direct another guard to another hot spot in the battle.
Then she remembered that she had a long-distance intimidation skill. She tried it out against a slave who looked as if he was overwhelming the guard that was fighting him. The slave faltered. But only a little bit. But this was enough, and the guard managed to kill him.
She tried this a few more times but swiftly realised it required too much attention and time to make a difference unless the circumstances were ideal.
It's still useful; it's a pity it wasn't more powerful.
She kept on managing the battlefield. The slaves and the occasional guard kept on dying.
When will this ever end?
Cassy:
Cassy had her sword out but was merely waving it around. She was also utterly terrified. She had already collected some slave's blood across her tunic, a result of a fight she wasn't even in. Drayden was next to her, but he was no better.
But now, some grey-collared slaves were coming right at her; they had their weapons out, and they were definitely not waving them around for show. Fortunately, Aragon knew what he was doing. He charged in, intercepted the leading slaves, and slashed his sword across. Two slaves fell, bleeding from cuts on their arms.
Oh my god, this is far worse than anything else we've done.
Two more grey collars came at them. Aragon kept fighting so he couldn't see a grey and a red-collar slave come up from the opposite side. Presumably noticing that Cassy's and Drayden's fighting abilities were non-existent, they must have decided to try capturing Cassy. The grey collar slammed into Cassy, knocking her over. He frantically reached out and slapped a collar around Cassy's neck. Immediately afterwards, he died. Aragon skewered him. The red-collared one launched himself over the body of a grey-collared slave and reached out to Cassy. He was travelling so fast he almost overshot her, but he grabbed her shirt with one hand, slowing himself down and dragging Cassy half a metre. With the other, he touched the collar around her neck and tried to speak.
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Drayden frantically waved his sword around, but again, without the slightest use. He then had the bright idea of launching a fireball at the red. The slave saw it, ducked, and then turned his attention back to Cassy. At this point, the slave also died, again by Aragon. Several other slaves, seeing Cassy being collared, changed their directions and rushed at her. One of them began to shout out an order to get up and do something - only Jane killed him. By this time, several other guards had rallied around them, and with a lot of furious fighting, the guards were able to keep the slavers away.
This didn't help Cassy one little bit.
As soon as the collar was around her neck, a mass of cold, clammy blackness took hold of her, filling her mind and draining all light, colour, and good feelings. And then it poured into her status, blackness advancing over each of her abilities, cloaking and smothering everything in its path. She felt she was going to suffocate and drown in its advance.
She didn't. Instead, the blackness retreated. Sort of. Her abilities were still there, but everything felt dirty, corrupted, and tainted. She regained consciousness and realised she must have fallen. However, she didn't seem able to do anything much.
What she was able to do was panic. She was truly excellent at this.
And, maybe because of the interference of the slave collar, her Emotional Control ability wasn't working as it should.
I'm now a slave. Anybody can rape me with nothing more than a word.
There were images of unpleasant hands roughly combing through her hair.
No! No! I can't take it!
Her imagination supplied more details of what might happen.
Shit! Shit! But wait, there is that vow Drayden made to me!
"Drayden, kill me now. Please kill me, please, I don't want to be raped, I don't want to be used and defiled and discarded. Please, do it now."
Drayden:
Drayden was living his absolute worst nightmare. He never fully believed that this sort of thing could happen.
"I can't... Sorry, I can't..."
Ding! Drayden, you vowed to kill her if she was enslaved. She does not want to live as a slave. Are you going to betray her?
Ding! You have made a 100% commitment vow. You have no choice.
Fuck this. Am I compelled to kill her? Shit this! Fuck it!
Unfortunately, he could feel the unmistakable feeling of compulsion building up.
By now, he was sobbing, not noticing anything happening around him except for Cassy. She was lying on the ground where she had fallen,staring at him.
"Do it," she said.
His tears blinded his vision; everything was a blur except for Cassy.
The one I love most of all. Not to mention all of the sex stuff.
He realised that his hands were bringing his sword back...
What? But, shit, system san is taking over.
STOP IT!
Ding! Sorry, but you did make that 100% vow, and it is what Cassy wants.
Without believing it, he pulled back his sword and thrust it forward through Cassy's heart.
Cassy:
Ding! You have died.
Oh fucking hell, but at least I won't be raped. Wait a minute; we can't be raped anyway because of our Misfit's rules.
Well, I still didn't want to be a slave since I would have been ordered to kill my friends.
This sucks.
Drayden:
He let his sword go. It disappeared, leaving a blood-soaked hole in Cassy.
He was on the verge of screaming out, when
Ding! Due to the Misfit's rule number six, when one of you dies, the others die soon afterwards.
Err, what? That's right, we did make that rule. How did I forget that?
I suppose there's not much purpose in living after this, anyway.
Ding! Due to your linked status values, the remaining Misfits receive some of Cassy's points.
What?
Ding! Your relevant stats have been overloaded by 33 points, one-third of Cassy's points.
This was sufficiently unexpected that it deflected his attention away from Cassy's death, at least for a moment.
This feels weird.
His vision had a red tinge to it. The movements of the people around him appeared slow and jerky.
Also, his emotions were completely squashed.
Oh, right. I forgot to turn on [Emotional Control] before, but now it has switched on and is so strong that I don't feel any distress at all.
He looked at Cassy's body.
Nyah, nothing at all. In fact, I don't feel anything about anything any more.
Have I lost my humanity?
I guess I don't need it anymore, do I?
I have murdered my love, and I'm going to die soon.
So, what do I do?
He looked around. Alice and Bronsen were also looking around like he was.
They look weird and crazy, just like me, I guess.
He realised: Hey, System-san, isn't this like an Ashrend ritual?
Ding! It certainly is, almost exactly like an Ashrend Ritual.
I'm dying soon. I'm no longer particularly sane. But I still want to help Eleanor.
Drayden looked around at the utter mess that was the battlefield.
So, let's start killing the slaves.
Yeah, I really have gone mad.
All three of the remaining Misfits orientated themselves to the shore, and the bouncing slaver ships materialised their swords and started forward, hacking every slave they encountered. There was very little skill or strategy involved. Instead, there were the flickering images of their swords, hacking and slashing at speeds nobody else could keep up with.
Evereena:
Evereena and Esther stood there in the middle of a battlefield.
There were a lot of slaves coming at them with weapons drawn.
Between the two groups were Aragon and Jane, plus a few guards.
So far, Aragon and Co had succeeded in protecting Evereena and Esther. All of this she had found terrifying, right up to the point where Drayden had stabbed Cassy. Now, all she could feel was horror.
Horror at what had happened, with lots of grief added to make her feel worse.
Cassy! Why? And why did Drayden kill her? Didn't he love her?
She was about to go insane and start screaming, but-
Ding! Drayden had to kill Cassy; it was part of their vows to each other. Cassy did not, in any circumstances, want to be a slave. So don't blame Drayden.
Also, you might notice that Aragon and the other guards are getting overwhelmed.
Ability [Insta-Kill] has been added. This is a specialised extension of the [Intimidation] ability, obtained by increasing it far beyond the normal maximum.
Go for it, girl!
Evereena blinked. She spent a few seconds comprehending this crazy announcement from the Voice of the World. Then, she focused her attention ahead. There were so many slaves trying to get at Aragon and Jane they were getting in each other's road. So she picked the one closest to Aragon -
[Die]!
He abruptly stopped and collapsed.
This is incredible.
She could sense that the skill had a cooldown time, somewhat more than a second. She waited, then picked another nearby slave.
Aragon:
Ah, why are some of the slaves just collapsing?
Unfortunately, he didn't have enough time to think about such abstract matters since they kept coming. They were clambering over the bodies of the already fallen slaves. Some of them had blank faces, and some had faces filled with horror and pain, but they kept on attacking regardless.
He slashed again. Another slave's blood splashed against his shirt.
This one's a woman.
He couldn't dwell on this, as more slaves were coming at him. It appeared that a blue-collar slave, standing safely back from him, was specifically directing the grey-collar slaves to go for him.
And every second or so, another slave just - died and collapsed. But, even with this reduction, he was being overwhelmed.
He fought off another swordsman, only to have his legs scooped out from under him. Aragon looked to the side; some slave with a long stick was responsible. That slave promptly collapsed, but Aragon was down, with half a dozen slaves on top of him. One of them was a red-collared slave holding a collar.
Aragon, panicking now, punched him in the face - only to feel another slave from behind shove a collar around his neck.
Click. The collar closed.
No! No!
The collar exerted itself and squashed his willpower and motivation. He stopped resisting and lay there, inert. The red-collared slave, the one with a broken nose, started to speak to issue an order -
It was difficult to have independent thoughts, but Aragon still felt horrified. He knew what was going to come:
He's going to order me to kill Esther and Evereena.
The red-collared slave said, "Get up and..."
Esther:
Esther screamed in agony.
He's going to be ordered to kill us! Or maybe attack us and allow that Red to activate our slave collars again.
Ding! [Ability to Turn Off (or back on) Language Comprehension] for twelve hours has been added, max level.
Hint: use it on Aragon. Then he won't be able to understand any orders whatsoever.
Esther lacked understanding of what the hell that was about, but if there was one thing she had a lot of practice in, it was following orders. She focused on Aragon:
[Turn Off Language]!
Aragon:
From one moment to the next, the red-collared slave's speech turned into garble. He could feel the collar forcing him to concentrate on what the red-collared slave was saying, but absolutely nothing came through.
He is definitely speaking. I can hear the words, but nothing makes sense.
Not having any orders to the contrary, he kept right on lying where he was.
The battle continued around him.
Evereena:
Having gained her superpower, Evereena managed to collect herself and was Insta-Deathing every slave she could.
Damn! My range is too short! I can't get to that Blue who is ordering the attack on Aragon.
Ah!
The Blue, no doubt puzzled by Aragon's refusal to follow any orders, had run forward as if to order him himself.
[Die]!
The Blue fell.
I got you, you bastard!
Between Evereena, Jane, and a couple of other guards, they overcame the slaves in their immediate vicinity. This was made easier since the Blue was no longer ordering slaves in.
Lena:
In the constant agitation of the battle, Eleanor and Lena had ended up a bit behind Aragon. So, they weren't directly endangered by the slaves trying to get to Aragon. But they had plenty of other slaves who were paying attention to them.
Lena had two little children, one on each side, with their arms wrapped around her legs.
Just as well she didn't have to move much.
At least they can hug me. I want to hug Eleanor, but she is far too busy.
Indeed. Eleanor was jerking her head from side to side and issuing a continuous stream of orders.
Lena could hear them since she was right next to her. But the orders were softly spoken, barely audible above the din of battle.
It must be that [Talk to an Individual] ability.
Also, as each opportunity presented itself, Eleanor materialised a dagger and threw it - most of the throws connected.
Oh, by the Voice, there is a ring of dead slaves around us, with holes in them.
I wish I could help in some way...
Ding! [Cooking Ladle of Death] has been added to your abilities, with a maximum level of 100 out of 100.
Materialise it and throw it; it packs a mean punch.
It can also be materialised in a non-lethal form, helpful in pouring out soup for the orphans.
You're kidding me, aren't you?
But, she did feel the presence of the 'Cooking Ladle of Death' in her meagre list of abilities.
So she tried it. She concentrated on a slave banishing an actual metal sword, fighting with one of the guards.
OK, so I materialise it. Bloody hell, it is heavy. Then throw it...
Oh. Oh. I have now killed someone. I never expected that I could throw such a heavy thing so far and so fast and so accurately.
More Misfit's bullshittery.
There's a lot of blood.
Think about all the blood later.
I guess I should pick another target?
Becky:
Naturally, Becky and Mason didn't have much understanding of what the hell was happening. But they could definitely tell that a lot of horrible slaves were trying to get at Eleanor and Lena.
Becky stuck to Lena's side and could only watch as things kept happening around them.
Until Lena produced a long black spoon and threw it at a slave: the slave went down and was still.
What does that mean?
Ding! It means Lena is joining the fight to protect Eleanor and you. And you can help her! Ability [Lena's Little Helpers] has been added.
Look around you; you will be able to see who is trying to hurt Lena the most and warn her.
I can help Lena!
She perked up, her ears went vertical, and her tail, wrapped initially around Lena's leg, flicked out and high. She noticed that Mason was doing the same.
Looking around, just like Mason was, she saw a slave sneakily approaching, using the cover of a few dead bodies.
"Lena, over there, he's creeping up on us!"
She pointed with her hand.
Lena produced the [Ladle of Death] and threw it.
That particular slave was no longer a threat.
Mason and I can help Lena win this!
Lena:
Well, this is handy. I don't know how they are doing this, but they are picking good targets.
Am I really involving little kids in murdering slaves?
She had no choice but to put that thought aside.
Drayden:
Drayden was half insane by now. In his mind's eye, he kept picturing Cassy dying by a sword through her heart. Dying by a sword that he had yielded.
Stupid vow!
Holding hands with Cassy, walking along the top of the wall with Cassy, meeting the other Misfits with Cassy, making love to Cassy...
It was all too much.
He gave in entirely to his insanity and kept on slashing his way through the oncoming slaves.
The few blue-collared slaves on the beach must have decided that killing Drayden was of utmost importance, and they kept on ordering slaves to attack him. And also the two other Misfits.
They could have held off much longer if they had only thought about coordinating and forming a group. As it was, eventually, the slaves circled his back and swarmed him from behind. He went down under a pile of slaves, all trying to kill him.
Ding! You have died!
Fuck. At last.
Bronsen:
Ding! Drayden has died. Due to your linked status values, you and Alice receive some of his points.
Ah, OK.
Ding! All relevant abilities now increased to 200 out of a max of 100.
Bronsen's perception of his surroundings slowed down even more. It became a series of jerky images, tracking in slow motion the movements of the slaves surrounding him. He no longer felt anything at all, merely a vague desire to kill all of the attackers. He couldn't remember why; it seemed the easiest thing to keep on doing.
He became a human threshing machine, wreaking death and destruction all around him.
Eventually, however:
Ding! You have died!
The mental fog cleared his mind.
Oh. Right. Fuck. At least this time, I didn't die a virgin.
Alice:
Ding! Bronsen has died. Due to your linked status values, you have received the remainder of the Misfit's points.
Ding! All relevant abilities now increased to 400, out of a max of 100.
Not having the slightest bit of conscious awareness or sanity left, she continued with her frenzied attacks. Being overloaded with four times her original System-derived powers, she was driven to extreme berserker mode. Crying and screaming from emotional agony that even her [Emotional Control] couldn't control, she ploughed through the slaves, leaving blood-soaked sand behind her, along with heaps of dead and severely injured slaves.
The blue-collared slaves, presumably under express orders to kill the Misfits if they can't be captured, made sure that she had plenty of slaves to kill. Eventually, the pile of bodies around her grew so high that it impeded her movements. As well, her body was burning out from the extreme physical stress she was under.
A few slaves managed to slash her badly, and she started to bleed out, all the while cutting everyone around her.
Ding! You have died!
She found her awareness and sanity coming back.
Fuck. And I never did do Drayden.
Then she faded out.
Eleanor:
Eleanor watched in even more horror than usual as two guards were also overcome but not killed. Instead, they were collared. They were promptly ordered to return to the boats, which they did immediately.
So now the slave Emperor can get all of our secrets.
Probably because the last of the Misfits had gone down, the green-collar in charge started using his own [Speak to the Multitude] ability and ordered all still mobile slaves to retreat. Immediately, every slave still standing turned around, ran for the shore, and waded to the boats. Eleanor, totally exhausted and just glad to have, sort of, won, ordered her guards back. They all watched as the four ships, now with considerably less crew, prepared to leave.