[Chapter 4: Quid est venire/What is to come]
-A few days later/En Route to Ansur/09:41:34 AM SGT (Standard Galactic Time)-
Chloe did not appreciate her current situation as she rode her horse. She was the ever loyal assassin and retainer of the Queen of the Jagged Crown, Olga Discordia, and yet here she was doing this!
"We may be fighting the same foe, Celestine Lucullus," she though bitterly, knuckles going darker than her normal skin color as she gripped the reins tightly, "but I am not yours to command!" With that said in her mind, she glared at the person running alongside her horse.
Corzo White paid the half-dark elf no heed as he kept up the pace with the equestrian creature. In all honesty, he could simply just outrun the poor girl but he thought better of it and decided to give her the illusion that he was trying to catch up. Carried on his back, secured firmly by some belts, is the Gate of Anthrakia, the staff itself giving off an otherworldly aura that Chloe had felt even at a distance between it and herself. The gunslinger had sensed the ill emotions that the half-dark elf girl was harboring towards him but had chosen not to confront it lest he delay the journey towards Ansur.
He and Chloe soon saw the tips of the outermost walls protecting Ansur in the distance, prompting the two to hurry in their pace. This was where Corzo decided to stop fooling around and picked up his speed, figuratively and literally leaving Chloe in the dust, making the half-dark elf yelp in surprise. As soon as the main gates were within a few meters away, the gunslinger skidded down to a halt, surprising the guards that were stationed there.
One of them, perhaps a new recruit judging by how young he looks, raised his lance at the newly-arrived gunslinger, the young lad shaking in his place as he did.
This wouldn't be the first time some people were hostile and intimidated every time Corzo White would come to a town. Whether it was back on Earth or any dimension the Hell Portals led to or even on this planet called Eostia, people were wary of the mysterious gunslinger that would come into their towns and disappear like the wind.
"Peace," the gunslinger held up one arm in a manner to placate the uneasy men, "I mean no harm." They were unsure of what he means by that as they still held their weapons out, although they look as if they prefer to avoid a conflict from happening.
Hearing the galloping of hooves, he glanced behind him to see that Chloe had finally caught up to him. From her expression on her face, she was not pleased when she saw him waiting by the gates with the uneasy guards.
"Why didn't you give me a warning before dashing, human trash?" she growled at him, making Corzo roll his eyes (although none can see it due to how they have this supernatural glow) as he addressed the guards.
"At ease, fellers," they were extremely reluctant to do so, "we just wanna do a li'l check on your little town. So open the gates an' let us two through and we'll be outta your hair," The gunslinger then turns to Chloe as the guards begin the process of opening the gates.
"To be frank, li'l missy," he noted that the half-dark elf's eyes narrowed as her scowl got a bit more intense when he addressed her as such, "I like ta' keep my friends on their toes, comprende? Looks like you could use it."
"I don't your helping me, human trash," Chloe retorted as she got off of her horse. The Shadow of the Dark Queen folded her arms underneath her petite breasts, frowning at the tall gunslinger accompanying her.
"Cry me a river, li'l missy," Corzo said as the two walked through the gates and into the Shield City of Ansur.
Ansur is one of the larger cities under the protection and/or influence of the Seven Shields Alliance. Established around twenty or so years after the war between Celestine Lucullus and Olga Discordia had begun, this city served originally as one of the more able training grounds for Celestine's forces, allowing the Seven Shields to quickly train more mercenaries and soldiers in hopes of fortifying as much of their cities while the already established mercenaries would deal with the Demon Armies of the North. As such, Ansur was known as the City of Mercenaries to all within Eostia.
That tidbit of history reminded Corzo of what exactly did Celestine did wrong during the war. She and her alliance clearly had the numbers to wage war, yet she didn't take the chance, making the gunslinger chuckle in his mind at how the Goddess Reincarnated held the mentality of saving everyone's lives including of each kingdom's actual soldiers while ironically sending scores of mercenaries to their deaths fighting the Demon Armies of the North.
Regardless, Ansur was originally intended as a massive training camp for mercenaries that were more aligned with Celestine's views. However, as more people were saved from the Demons that Olga had allied herself with, it became apparent that Ansur would have to be converted from simply a training grounds into a settlement until the war would be over, which the gunslinger thought of it as a good move on Celestine's part as it meant that lesser resources were wasted on making an entirely new settlement. And since Celestine and Olga decided to prolong the war, Ansur and other such training grounds of massive size were turned into the cities that they are now. Of course, the city isn't exactly a ray of sunshine.
Where other Shield Cities would be ruled by the Princess Knights and/or their family and trusted council (technically, this is Maia's domain), Ansur was more or less a paradise for the criminal underworld. The city was currently under the rule of various crime families, with the top dogs (so to speak) being the multitude of crime families based around in this large city of mercenaries.
Currently, the more civilian-safe areas of the city were bustling with activity which should be expected of a populated area this large. Civilians were roaming the streets for whatever they were going to do today, vendors selling their merchandise by the sides of the roads, and some knights stationed there patrolling their posts.
Many would stop and stare as Corzo and Chloe walked to their destination. Women ranging from young teenagers to lonesome widows and even married women would gaze at the gunslinger as he passed them by, the younger ones giggling while some would give off some comments at how the half-dark elf was lucky to walk alongside him.
Many of the men would leer lecherously at Chloe given how her outfit did reveal many desirable traits of a woman's bare flesh, which was made even more sexually appealing thanks to her exotic skin color. But overall, the adults either neutral or negative that a dark elf was within their city, or at least a newcomer dark elf as a few surviving dark elves were seen living in the various villages near to or far from the Shield Cities themselves or, even rarely, actually living in the Shield Cities.
The children, on the other hand, had more positive auras coming from them as they would point in awe at either the gunslinger or his half-dark elf companion. They would even start talking about the staff on the former's back as its red gem would shine briefly before falling into a 'dormant' state if you would compare it to a sentient object.
"Let's move, human trash, I do not like all these looks," Chloe hissed as she walked beside the gunslinger. Corzo simply ignored her somewhat-subtle plea as he gazed upon the many citizens that they passed by, noting many would look away whenever his glowing eyes would meet theirs.
"Liven up a li'l, child," the half-dark elf scowled, "try an' enjoy the place bef'r' we get to the main joint of this here town, you comprende, child?" Corzo said as they passed through the streets.
"We're supposed to meet up with Lady Maia and assess the situation of this city, human trash," pointing at him without slowing down her pace. "And stop calling me a child! I have a name, human trash!"
"Maybe y'can call me by my name instead of callin' me human trash, child," the gunslinger retorted as he watched some of the citizens move about their daily lives. Seeing the men doing whatever they did such as drinking with friends or flirting with the ladies while the women would be a bit more responsible such as drying the recently washed clothes of theirs or their family's or their peers perhaps. Corzo couldn't help but lightly smile at those as he and the half-dark elf passed them by.
Chloe simply gritted her teeth as the gunslinger said those words. Her irritation seemed to grow as the man known as Corzo White kept labeling her a child.
Unbelievable! She had slaughtered many of the knights of the Seven Shields, had caused discord across their cities throughout the past five decades, and had killed many of the Alliances elite including a few Princess Knights of old. And yet this... human trash would refer to her as a child? Unacceptable! She will gladly drag her daggers down his back and rip out his innards if she could.
"Well, if yer done rantin', child," the human trash's voice broke her from her thoughts, "we're here."
Blinking, Chloe could definitely see that they had arrived to Maia's fortress. While not as large and extravagant as the White Fortress in Ken, Maia's own fortress serves its purpose of housing its nobility (or in Ansur's case, the head honchos of the head honchos in Maia's own words) and their staff.
By the gates, the two could see Maia grinning at them as she ordered the guards/soldiers stationed by the gates to let the two in.
As the two stepped inside, they could see the major difference from the White Fortress and Ansur's own fortress. Where the former was the epitome of pristine in the entire continent, the latter was more rowdy with various mercenaries and soldiers who were still loyal to the Alliance roughhousing and fighting one another with the intent of toughing one another up.
A crude yet somewhat effective method of training, the gunslinger noted. Looking to his left, he could see Maia's own Buredorozu company instructing some of the newer recruits, although he can tell that the young men were distracted by their... ahem, assets that were a bit exposed to begin with.
The gunslinger could see that Maia was by the entrance of the main hall, waving at them as soon as she laid her eyes on them. He and Chloe simply said nothing and changed their direction towards Maia.
"So," the self-proclaimed Mercenary Queen began, "what took you chumps so long?" Chloe glared at Maia's good-natured jab.
"I'd watch your tongue if I were you, human," the half-breed sneered, hands hovering over the grips of her personalized daggers. She made her hatred and annoyance clear to all within her vicinity. The self-proclaimed Mercenary Queen simply gave a teasing smirk before leading the two inside of the fortress.
"Lady and gentleman welcome to my not-so-humble abode and home away from home," Maia introduced as she dramatically gestured to just about everywhere in the main halls. Corzo simply shook his head while Chloe simply tried to burn a hole at the back of Maia's head with her glare.
A few minutes of unnecessary touring later, the trio made it to the war room. Here, multiple nobles and tacticians were busy discussing various methods on how to deal with the Kuro Inu that have been sighted near their borders. The tacticians were adamant on using the best they have in order to suffer the least amount of losses, while the nobles argued that they would be left defenseless should that plan be done and instead opted to have their lesser trained soldiers guard do the work in their own words.
"All I'm saying is," a young female's voice said, "that we have our archer divisions in the rear and our knights in the front when dealing with their small scouting parties. We'd lose less if we chose some of the better skilled ones than our new recruits."
The female was just out of her teenage years at twenty years old. She wore a dark robe over her white clothing underneath. Her light blonde hair was accentuated by her deep blue eyes.
"And what of us, Young Mistress Tactician? If we let our best go out and away from the city," A noble's voice argued, "The nobles will be in danger!"
The noble looked like any typical noble found anywhere. Dressed extravagantly despite the war he and his fellows were in.
The young tactician simply shot back with a slight change in her voice, "I'm not saying all of them should go. It would be best if about half of the best went out and struck the Kuro Inu scouting parties when they least expect it!"
"I'd say you best go with a quarter, li'l missy," Corzo's drawling voice made everyone else stop what they were doing and look at the gunslinger that had walked in unannounced.
The same noble who had argued with the female tactician sneered and asked rhetorically, "And who are you to interrupt a meeting between those of noble blood, commoner?" Corzo simply rolled his eyes and answered.
"D'name's Corzo White... I'm li'l Miss Celestine's new private knight but folks 'round here an' there call me The Drifter," he let his words sink in to everyone in the room. The noble, and those around him, paled at the revelation.
Immediately, the noble kept his mouth shut as the gunslinger looked around the room, the silence seemingly comforting him.
"I gotta say," Maia started, "these bozos have been squawking day and night. Good to see at least someone had something to shut them up," she gave a grin as she finished. Corzo simply shrugged off her appreciation as he walked over and gazed at the map laid at the center of the room.
"When were these last updated?" The gunslinger asked the tactician that the noble from before was arguing with. She blinked before making her reply.
"U-uh, if I remember correctly... about a few days ago?" she gave a weak smile as the gunslinger simply nodded, eyeing the various miniature wooden figures representing both the rebelling Kuro Inu and Ansur's own forces.
"If that's the case, li'l missy," he spoke as he moved the figures representing the Kuro Inu a few centimeters closer to Ansur's location on the map, "then they'll be much closer than last y'all saw 'em. If I was you lot, I'd reinforce the gates while sending out 'em small groups to fight 'em rebels."
He pointed to where the forests surrounding the Shield City were. "If I was them, I'd camp out here. The thick woods oughta keep 'em hidden 'til they get ballsy and charge the lines." The tactician nodded as she thought his words over.
"But that means that..." Her eyes widened as she shot her head towards Corzo, "There'll be hundreds of them hiding there!"
"Aye, li'l missy," he nodded before grabbing his Cintia M1901 shotgun. "If any of y'all got some boys t'spare, you'd best send 'em to me now," he ordered the nobles and field commanders in the room.
"And if we don't, Sir White?" one asked. While they couldn't see it, Corzo smiled darkly under the shadows of his hat.
"Then I guess I'll be slaught'rin' them wild dogs down m'self," he chuckled as he turned to leave. One hand grabbed his shoulder before he was even a step away.
"Not so fast, Sir White," the tactician's voice reached his ears, making him slightly turn his head to her in response.
"I'm ass'min' y'got some folk in mind, li'l missy?" The tactician nodded at his question.
"I have a few mercenaries able to lend a blade or two, Sir White. Some of the best I'd ever fight alongside with," her words made him raise an eyebrow.
"You fight? Hardly look the part, li'l missy," the tactician pouted briefly before nodding.
"I'm more of a field tactician that one stuffed into a room like this," she gestured to the room they were in. She also patted the scabbard at her hip, revealing that she was armed and ready for combat. Corzo can see that the sword itself was rather simple in comparison to the rest of the ones used by the Seven Shields. A practical one, Flynn and he would approve of this.
"My mercenaries are ready to go, too, stud," Maia spoke up with a bit of a tease at the end as she drew her blades from their sheaths and twirled them around for a bit. The gunslinger simply nodded, resting the shotgun into his shoulder as he walked out of the war room. He looked at Chloe, the half-dark elf glowering at him before sighing.
"I suppose I can lend a hand. Not because I want to but because you'd fail otherwise, human trash," he frowned at that. Her attitude might be a hindrance at some point.
"Then let's go get 'em, li'l missies," he drawled as he walked through the halls with the tactician, Maia, and Chloe in tow, leaving the nobles and the other tacticians to discuss further on how to defend the city.
[---]
They had reached the Buredorozu's barracks first at Maia's request. The gunslinger could see some familiar faces around like Eliza for instance.
"Alright, ladies," Maia's voice brought them out of their relaxation, "we got ourselves some pricks to kill and people to save! I'm gonna need some of our more experienced girls go along with us for this run," the mercenaries nodded at their commander's words.
"Alrighty then... Sarah, Penny, Eliza, Alyx, Regina, Calypso! All of you ladies form up on me!" The six mentioned did so and readied themselves.
Sarah was a tall woman at around six feet flat with an athletic body to back it up. Her chocolate brown hair was tied into a ponytail and her aquamarine eyes were behind a pair of clear spectacles. She wore a black tank top and dark brown pants with pieces of leather armor on them and on her shoulders and torso for protection. On her back were a blunderbuss that she had bought from the Halflings and a greatsword she had personally made herself.
Penny was a short woman at five feet and three inches, but her lithe frame allows her to maneuver quickly to strike and avoid as she fights. Her ginger hair makes her stand out from the rest, alongside that it is styled in drill-like curls at the sides, and her emerald eyes do the same. She wore a simple blue blouse underneath her set of leather and steel armor. On her hip was a battle axe made for someone her size while on her back was a short bow. A quiver of custom-made arrows lay by her side, along with a pouch filled with medical supplies.
Eliza was still the same in terms of appearance. She still wore what essentially is considered an armored bikini, although it covered more than the other sets of armor worn by either Claudia or her Dawn Templars or Alicia and her own Iris Knights as they fully shielded Eliza's breasts and ass along with providing protection to her arms, legs, shoulders, hips, and back. A rapier was on her left hip and a long sword was on her right.
Alyx sported lightly tanned brown skin, and was standing at five feet and eleven inches in height. Compared to the previous three, Alyx had focused more on muscle than feminine beauty in some regard as her body had more hardened muscles and less body fat (which translated to less bouncy assets, her team mates would tease from time to time). Her black hair was kept into a bun with a few loose bangs framing her face, and her steel blue eyes shone with some hardness in them. She wore a simple white shirt underneath an open leather vest with black gloves for her upper wear, while her lower wear consisted of blue pants and brown shoes. This attire made her stand out to the others in the group as no apparent armor can be seen. Two pointed ears were obvious, signifying that Alyx is a dark elf, potentially making her the oldest in the group. The weapon in a holster fastened to her right upper leg was a flintlock pistol and the weapon on her left breast was an intricate dagger of some sorts.
Regina was a woman of athletic build as well, with somewhat pale skin going neatly with her cyan blue eyes. She wore a leather bodysuit that was dyed black at the main body and light gray at the legs, with the sleeves removed to reveal her arms, and her forearms were covered by long, light gray gloves that were fingerless by the hands. Two dark brown boots made up her footwear, reinforced with iron to ensure that extra kick in her attacks involving her legs. A scimitar was sheathed on her right hip and a flintlock carbine was slung over her back.
And lastly was Calypso. She was a woman of the same height as Maia, if not taller, with the average light brown skin color. Her dark brown hair was kept short, reaching only past her shoulder blades. Her eyes were of a light emerald hue. She wore a rather revealing set of armor. White pauldrons, gauntlets, metal greaves, and a metal skirt with gold trims, they exposed her body despite the aim to protect. Her chestplate wasn't too protective either, only covering small portions of her breasts. Luckily, silk fabrics were able to cover up the rest of her body yet still show off her prominent figure. A warhammer was firmly resting on her back.
"Alright, let's move out! We got ourselves a city to defend!" Maia's words energized the aforementioned women, who eagerly readied their weapons as they stepped out of the barracks.
"So what's the plan, boss?" One of them, Regina, asked.
Maia simply led them to the stables, explaining to them on the way.
"Impossible, they shouldn't be able to move so swiftly in such a short span of time!" Alyx protested.
"Well, li'l missy," Corzo spoke, "perhaps they weren't moving fast... If they've been preparing for a longer time."
"You don't mean..."
"I'm sayin' these dogs have been pr'parin' to take Eostia by force for a long time, we're only seein' the op'nin' act so to speak."
"Hmph, perhaps if you humans actually took note of the signs, this would've been avoided," Chloe jabbed at them. The tactician, listening in, spoke up.
"Well, considering you and your queen kept us busy, we weren't exactly aware of the problem!"
"Enough, lass," Corzo calmly stated, gaining their attention. "We're here, so saddle up and let's ride on out!" Maia simply nodded and gestured to her close friends and fellow veterans to get on their personal steeds.
Chloe scowled but didn't protest as she got on her horse. She did not want to experience her arm, or any other limb for that matter, being broken then snapped back into position again.
The women noted that while they had gotten on their horses, the Drifter had opted to stay on his feet rather than ride.
"Sir White, perhaps it would be more comfortable if you rode with one of us," to the surprise of the one asking, Penny, the Drifter simply shook his head. For emphasis, Corzo tapped his legs.
"I can keep up with y'all. Chloe 'ere can vouch for that," when they looked at the mentioned half-dark elf, she simply gave a nod as she narrowed her eyes.
Grabbing the reins, Maia got her horse to move.
"HYAH!"
With that, they were off. To the surprise of the women on horseback, the Drifter did in fact kept up with them. The more perceptive of the bunch, like the tactician, Eliza, Calypso, and Chloe, took note that the staff on the man's back was glowing, particularly the blood red gem on the top/tip.
"Who is this man?" were the collective thoughts of these women as they all travelled into the woods surrounding Ansur.
[-]
They had reached the opening to the forest. The women had dismounted their horses as Corzo had grabbed his staff. He brought the magic weapon closer to his face, feeling the heat emanating from the gem/crystal.
The Helfire being channeled through the crystal was rather intense for any normal mortal being. This meant that there was still a lot of Helfire to go through before the staff must go dormant again.
Flynn had cautioned both him and Hae-Lin on using their more powerful weapons. Flynn's own Plasma Rifles and his BFG's used Argent Energy, which can burn far more intense than the sun that the Earth orbits around, meaning usage of those weapons are a last resort and only then if no other option can present itself. The Plasma Rifles were easier to use as their projectiles aren't too destructive per shot, essentially dissipating a second or two after making an impact on whatever they had hit which would still leave smoldering holes in their wake, but the BFG's own were far more devastating, especially in a large city.
In Corzo's case, the Helfire in his two power weapons, the Gate of Anthrakia and the Mask of Basilissa, can burn hotter than the core of a planet the size of Earth which, while not as intense as Argent Energy's potential heat generated, can still burn straight through a planet if one were to haphazardly fire it wildly. The Gate of Anthrakia fires less intense Helfire, but the Mask of Basilissa can fire fireballs nearly as devastating as the BFG 9000's own projectiles.
"Keep close. " He warned, slinging over his staff on his back for the time being, as they slowly progressed through the forest. "They'll use the shadows as cover." The tactician's eyes widened.
"Standard ambush tactics!" The Drifter nodded at her words.
"No honor amongst these dogs, eh?" Calypso asked rhetorically, sword in her right hand.
"This is warfare, lass, there's no such thing as honor." Corzo moved away a branch that was in his path, letting the women move first before moving on.
As they passed through, Corzo could note that there were voices nearby. His hearing, as well as Chloe's, caught the voices of men and Orcs.
They were close.
Readying one of his M12 Grasa sub-machineguns, the Drifter began to take lead.
"What is it?" Maia asked to the Drifter as he overtook her.
He simply aimed the tip of his gun at one direction.
"Kuro Inu forces nearby, best you ready yourselves, lassies," he said with finality in his voice as he walked up to the bushes blocking their foe from their view. He forced them apart, revealing more than before.
A group of Kuro Inu appeared. Lightly armed, the men were. The Orcs, the Imps, and the Trolls were more or less the same.
"Well, well, well... If it ain't Maia," one of them spoke, condescendingly so, as he lecherously leered at the group.
"Decided to surrender to us instead of fighting? I should've known you're not as loyal to that Whore Goddess as we thought." The men chuckled, while the Orcs, Imps, and Trolls simply grunted and grinned like idiots.
Maia gritted her teeth in anger, brandishing her swords.
"I'm giving you this only warning. Surrender and we might be lenient." Her only answer came in the form of guffawing men, who also readied their weapons.
"Surrender? I think you're mistaking the situation, slut!" As if on cue, more Kuro Inu emerged from all around them.
"We fucking outnumber you and your little boy toy!"
Sarah unsheathed her greatsword, Penny readied her short bow and nocked an arrow, Eliza grabbed her rapier and sword, Alyx aimed her flintlock pistol, Regina unsheathed her scimitar, Calypso swung out her warhammer, and the tactician brought out her sword.
The men of the Kuro Inu did the same, making a cacophony of weapons being drawn out of their sheaths and holsters.
The Kuro Inu made their move first, not giving Maia's group any time to think it through.
It wasn't a problem for Corzo White, though.
As soon as the first dead man swung his blade, Corzo opened fire. The bursts of .460-Rowland rounds tore through the men and the Orcs like knives through butter.
Swaying his aim, the Drifter continues to shoot down the rest of them as he quickly moved. Ignoring the screams of agony and dodging their strikes, Corzo was like a hurricane of thunder that destroyed their ranks.
Maia and the others can only look on in surprise as their sole male companion shot up the opposition like a skilled archer hitting the bull's eye on all the targets in a county fair.
Corzo ceased firing from his SMG and grabbed his Montaraz-1899 shotgun. Aiming it at one of the Orcs, he fired, the double-barreled 10-Gauge blast of metal pellets shredding through their unarmored bodies.
The Orcs and the mercenaries that were stubborn enough to keep fighting despite being lit aflame began to attack, prompting the Drifter to dodge their strikes and jump away from the burning foes.
Jumping again, Corzo fired again, killing off a few of them. Reloading, he dashes past them and fires again, killing more of them.
Shoot, kill, reload, and repeat. Within a few seconds, the dead bodies of Orcs and Kuro Inu littered the forest area they were in. One man tried to crawl away, bleeding as he did. His whimpering gathered the attention of Maia's group.
Maia instructed Regina and Sarah to restrain him as she knelt down to speak to him.
"Where is your camp? Tell us and we may spare your life," Maia spoke, voice slightly faltering at the combination of the smell of bleeding bodies. "Why did it have to come to this?" she asked in her mind.
The man gurgled out blood as he tried to speak.
"Penny!" The short woman nodded, grabbing something from her medical pouch. Kneeling down to the man, she began to stitch up the wounds as much as she could.
Chloe surveyed the surroundings. Dead bodies everywhere, all done in less than a minute.
"What nation could've built such devastating weapons?" She can only dread what in the name of all of Eostia would require such destructive forces to be used. That dread became stronger at the thought of someone like Corzo White wreaking havoc across the continent or, worse, the very nation that he originated from taking interest and conquering this land.
The aforementioned Drifter simply watched the corpses with disinterest. These were simply the casualties in a war. They weren't the first and they won't be the last.
It was the circle of war, a never-ending cycle where only the best can survive and thrive in.
The dying man's gurgling caught his attention. Making his way to the group, he placed a hand on Penny's shoulder.
"He's lost, child, no need to waste over one," he spoke in that calm voice that rubbed off the wrong way. Penny wanted to argue, that saving this man's life would allow them the benefit of knowing where the rest were. Yet that gaze stopped her from doing so; that cold, dead gaze that unsettles many. The gaze that speaks of things left unspoken and sees things best left unseen.
And so, doing what the mysterious drifter had told her, Penny allowed the man to bleed out.
"W-We could've saved him!" The gunslinger simply shot the poor bastard's head off with his Montaraz-1899 shotgun. Ignoring the medic's shock and horror, he gave his reply.
"His suff'rin' would've gone on longer, lass," a calm tone came from his lips. "Besides, he's one of them Kuro Inu gits, I think we'd all prefer 'em dead," he finished off in a cold tone.
Glancing around, the tactician made herself the center of attention.
"Judging by their direction, it appears that their camp must be further in," the tactician spoke up, pointing in the direction that the group of brigands and Orcs had come from. Maia didn't reply, nor did Regina and Calypso and the others, too focused on the dead bodies still burning.
They had died at the hands of their sole male companion.
The gunslinger simply nodded, readying his Montaraz-1899 once more, loading a fresh pair of 10-Gauge shells into the two barrels. "Much obliged, tactician," said the gunslinger to the tactician.
"Robyn," he looked at the tactician.
"What?"
"My name is Robyn," the tactician, Robyn, replied as she shrugged. "Figured I say it now so you don't have to call me tactician, anymore," the gunslinger simply nodded at that, closing the double-barreled shotgun in his hands. The sound had snapped Maia out of her previous state, looking at Corzo with a horrified gaze.
"H-how long have you been holding b-back?" He looked at her, those damned eyes never losing their otherworldly glow.
"What're you getting' on with, lass?" A finger pointed at the staff on his back was the answer.
"I mean why didn't you use them so much at the start of all this?!" Corzo simply shrugged as he looked at the weapons in question, his response pissing Maia off. Looking around, he sees that the rest had their weaponry out; an interrogation, one where it can lead into two outcomes.
He could tell them about the reason why he nor Hae-Lin nor Flynn had bothered to do so and they all come with him quietly.
Or dead by his hands as he kills them.
Raising the M12 Grasa and the Montaraz M1899, he explains.
"The amm'n'tion I carry for these thingamajigs are in limited supply. Not only that, but y'all lacked the proper means of makin' 'em," keeping away the shotgun, he then pulled the charging handle of the SMG and showed to them the cartridge. A stout, brass thing, they noted, with an oddly shaped tip for the bullet.
"The brass you can fetch for me, but the gunpowder?" He shook his head," It's a whole lot more refined than what your little peashooters can handle, that's for sure." With a single finger, he flicked the round from the casing and emptied the contents of the casing onto his free hand.
"Each grain is smaller and more refined than your crudely placed powder. Where yours is crafted by hand, ours are done by machines, designed to push the limits of precision and firepower," gingerly putting all the gunpowder back into the casing, putting the bullet back into place and stuffing it back into his satchel, Corzo White begins to leave.
"I'll be off now, li'l ones. Hope y'all can catch up," with that, the gunslinger had left the group to dwell in their silence.
After a few minutes, Regina decided to be the one that breaks the silence. "So that's Corzo White, huh? I gotta say, thought he'd be bigger."
"Scary," Sarah said, the woman shivering on the inside on how cold the man had sounded in his words. Calypso narrowed her eyes and looked to Robyn.
"A man with that much power could easily pose a threat to all of Eostia and her neighbors if left unchecked."
"I know," Robyn replied, not taking her eyes off of the now-departing Drifter, "which is why we have to make sure he doesn't have a reason to turn on us."
[---]
Corzo sighed as no further signs of the Kuro Inu war camp were seen. A little further, he hazarded a guess, and he'd see them. A quick glance at the sky showed that the sun was setting down in the next hour or so. Perfect, he'd hazard a guess and say that the Kuro Inu will use campfires to light up their encampment at night. Assuming he can find the bastards, of course.
"Well that's just swell, these little mortals know how to hide," Basilissa's voice echoed in his head as the demonette spoke. They had been searching for the past few minutes, and still there was no sign of any war camp within the immediate vicinity.
"I'd say our progress is a li'l slow, Basi. Would it really hurt if you can just zip that piehole of a mouth of yours shut?" The gunslinger rhetorically asked as he scanned the area, Thunderhawk readied in his left hand.
"No it won't, insolent lesser being," she gave a sensual growl as she replied. Since she wasn't allowed to manifest out of her skull, the demon queen had taken to speaking out her mind to Corzo whenever the two are alone or within the presence of Flynn or Hae-Lin.
"It just means that I am not having what you lesser beings call fun," she added as Corzo walked a few feet forward. She would've continued on until she started to catch something with her nose.
Taking a few experimental whiffs of the air around them, Basilissa eyes widened within her mental plane.
"Corzo, do you-"
"I do, Basi. I oughta wait for the ladies, though," his words were met with a scoff from the demon queen.
"Has this land already weakened you much in such a blink of an eye? I hope that that isn't the case here."
"It ain't," he took a seat on one of the larger and smoother stones in the area, "I'm just givin' 'em gals some time to catch up, is all."
As if on cue, Maia and her group had caught up to the Drifter, most ready to fight if their drawn weapons aren't obvious to begin with. Nobody said anything as they regarded Corzo with differing expressions. He crossed his arms as he addressed them.
"Well?" Maia tilted her head as her hands stayed firm on her hips.
"I'm gonna reckon they're close?" Corzo White nodded, grabbing his Gate of Anthrakia from his back. The powerful staff gave off that sensation once again that made Chloe reel back slightly.
"I'd thread lightly, if I was you gals," the gunslinger said, bringing up his M12 Grasa. Maia gave a smirk, a forced one if he ever saw one, as she drew out her swords from their scabbards.
"Let's get to it, then," the gunslinger nodded and led the way.
For minutes, they had walked in complete silence. As the gunslinger walked ahead of them, the women were eyeing his back with questions running through their heads.
Who was Corzo White? Why was he here? What exactly did he want?
Questions such as that ran through their heads as they trekked the forest as the sun continued to set. Suddenly, Corzo stopped, raising a closed fist to signal them to do the same. Readying their weapons, they prepared themselves.
"Are they close, human trash?" Chloe asked, still snarky as ever as she readied her daggers. Corzo readied his SMG with his other hand holding the Gate of Anthrakia, the staff sending down chills through their spines.
"Real close, lass," was his only reply as he walked into the bushes...
... And had walked right into the hidden Kuro Inu war camp. The very one that they were looking for.
At first, nobody did anything. They had just stared at one another, the Kuro Inu's soldiers' eyes widening and Maia and her group watching with equally wide eyes.
Corzo had fired the first few shots, killing a group with a few bursts before activating his staff. These dogs were more trained, it appeared, as they immediately sounded the alarm and sprang into action.
"What're you fools waiting for? GET THEM!!!" One of the apparent leaders of the war camp cried out before a flintlock shot from Alyx forced him to duck and hide behind cover.
"Dammit!" Alyx kept away her flintlock pistol and started to use her dagger against the lighter armored foes.
Sarah shot her blunderbuss at a group before bringing out her greatsword to carve a path through her enemies.
Penny used her bow to great effect, killings those she can and wounding those she couldn't. Calypso helped finished off the wounded ones with her warhammer, using it as well to take on the larger foes.
Eliza used her rapier to lightly stab her foes as she kept herself light on her feet, dodging blows that would snap her rapier and parrying those that wouldn't as she took down a few Kuro Inu before jumping back to rejoin with the others.
Chloe was like lightning, her speed allowing her to evade any attack coming her way as she used her two daggers to cut up her enemies, leaving none alive.
Regina knelt to fire her carbine before getting into melee combat with her scimitar. She dodged and parried whatever she can. She also utilized some unarmed combat through the media of fists and feet being thrown in elegant yet swift and deadly manner.
They'd do fine for now, Corzo observed.
The sound of clashing steel from directly behind him reminded him that he wasn't out of the fight just yet. Turning his head, he saw that Robyn had blocked an oncoming sword before kicking away its owner. Maia had used her short swords to throw off her enemies as she danced through them.
"You call yourselves Kuro Inu?! I've seen babes do better than you!" The Mercenary Queen taunted as she continued to cut them up, clearly enjoying the thrill of combat.
In her thrill, she did not notice one Orc slowly sneaking up on her, raising its warhammer to strike her down.
Corzo did, however, and he used his bullwhip to snap the poor thing's neck in the wrong direction, effectively beheading it in a way. Maia blinked as the ugly thing's corpse fell with a loud thud. Looking at the Drifter, she gave a toothy grin.
"Thanks for the save, but I could've taken him," the gunslinger simply shrugged as he resumed to kill off more of the Kuro Inu, using his bullwhips to take them apart before switching to his Thunderhawk and firing at the distant soldiers/mercenaries.
Maia began to slice at any that would get near her, as did Chloe. The two shortsword users moved with a grace rarely seen in the middle of an actual battlefield and not in a sanctioned tournament. Eliza herself seemed to dance around her foes, striking at their weak points with her rapier. Penny had jumped high into the air, firing a trio of arrows that stopped a Troll in its tracks, with Regina killing off a few Hobgoblins that were sneaking up on the ginger-haired medic with her scimitar and firing her freshly-reloaded flintlock carbine at an armored soldier of the Kuro Inu while Sarah would do the same. Calypso slammed warhammer into a group of Kuro Inu and Orcs, crushing them. Robyn, lastly, had killed off a few on her own with her sword.
They were doing fine by Corzo's standards. Sloppy at a few moments, but nonetheless fine as they took down sizable amounts of enemies.
The gunslinger then ducked under the swing of one Orc before killing it with his Cintia M1901 shotgun. He takes notice of multiple imps rushing at him, their red bodies being bright beacons for him to snuff out. There were nearly a hundred of them, he estimated. Most would've fled at the sight...
But not someone like Corzo White.
Corzo placed the shotgun back into the pouch before bringing out the Gate of Anthrakia, the destructive staff's lone blood red gem glinting in the dying sunlight. Aiming the weapon, he lets lose its main attack.
A steady stream of Helfire that seemed to reach out infinitely, roasting the imps alive. The Kuro Inu had paused as they saw the hellish display of power.
Not giving them any time to retaliate, the gunslinger aims the staff at the Orcs, roasting them as easily as the imps, while he shoots at the human targets with his M12 Grasa, nailing them in the chests of the heads as he did.
Maia and the girls could only stop as well, watching in horror as living beings, human or otherwise, were being eaten alive by the flames. Even from a considerable distance, they all felt the heat. It was like being close to a volcano that was violently erupting.
Ceasing the flames, the gunslinger rights the staff and slams its' bottom into the ground. Sending nothing but a thought, the gunslinger activates its secondary, more devastating, attack.
All round him, entire streams of Helfire slithered across the large war camp of the traitorous mercenaries like snakes straight out of Hell itself, incinerating any that stood in their way.
The gunslinger moved, as did the streams of Helfire that killed any of the Kuro Inu. Corzo had mentally held himself back, as he did not want to kill the Princess Knight and her friends indirectly through the Helfire. Had he been alone, he would've gladly burnt down the entire forest with the Kuro Inu and their inhuman allies in it, but he wasn't, as such he had to hold back.
Sometimes being with friends can be a pain in one's neck.
After a minute of outright incinerating his enemies, Corzo ceases the flames and surveys his surroundings.
The entire war camp was singed; nothing but his allies and he were spared from the destructive flames. Bodies upon bodies were unrecognizable charred corpses, making it was hard to tell which were human and which were not. Corzo went over to one dead mercenary and gave it a light tap with his boot. It crumbled to ash within seconds.
"Not bad, not bad at all," he mused to himself out loud before turning to Maia and her allies.
They were scared. Not the type of scared where little boys were afraid of touching girls because of cooties or whatnot.
The truly scared type of scared, looking at him as if he was the devil himself and they were the members of the cloth. It brought back memories of scared townsfolk whenever he'd ride into their towns for a quick drink before departing into the plane between the living and the dead.
He always hated those looks yet he never lashed out on them back then and certainly not now.
He took a step towards them, they backed away ten steps.
"You're afraid," he stated the obvious after the silence between them became unbearable.
[---]
Maia could not believe what she had just witnessed. One moment she and the girls were busy killing off the soldiers and the monsters within the war camp, the next moment the entire skyline was burning along with the war camp and the forest. The screams of utter agony that reached her ears were harrowing, echoing within the confines of her mind and no doubt of the other girls as well.
Maia had felt fear again. It was like before, before she even knew how to fight and was a simply farm girl living happily with her mother and father in a quaint little village on the outskirts of Geofu.
Then the monsters came, killing her father and raping her mother all while she watched helplessly from behind the slightly ajar doors of her closet. They had sniffed her out later and had brought her to the outside of the house, where the rest of the horde was waiting with dead men and raped women around them strewn across the place like a festival of gore.
She remembered being saved that day by the then-loyal Kuro Inu mercenary group, specifically by a younger Vult, who simply held the title of Platoon Leader back then before he had risen through their ranks into the man that he was today. He was twenty and she was ten at the time, many years ago.
She was remembering that time of fear once more as she saw the sole male companion of their group single-handedly burn their foes alive with that staff of his.
When he had spoken just now, his voice didn't sound like the drawling foreigner that she had grown accustomed to. It sounded... wrong.
Inhuman, demonic even.
She had struggled to find her voice for a few seconds. When she finally did, she had stuttered it out.
"Wh-wh-who a-are you?" She quivered in her place, the gunslinger's gaze seeming staring directly into the Mercenary Queen's soul rather than her face or her eyes. The man kept silent, as if trying to find the proper answer that wouldn't set off anything rash.
Then he spoke.
[---]
Chloe hadn't this type of fear from anyone else save... him.
The very thought of that... monster sent a dark chill down her spine. Even after years of escaping and leading some of Lady Olga's monster hordes, his very existence filled with dread even when she was far from him.
That was the kind of fear she felt when she saw the gunslinger Corzo White unleash those demonic flames to turn their foes into mere cinders and ashes currently being scattered into the wind. Rarely would she see her own mistress use a powerful fire spell such as Inferna to turn any unlucky warrior into cinders, but that took longer than what this... creature had done in such a short span of time and to so many targets.
"Wh-what a-are y-yo-you?" She too had stuttered in her words at the powerful display.
Then the gunslinger spoke.
[---]
Robyn hasn't seen such vulgar display of power.
Unlike others, Robyn had lived her life in relative safety within the walls of Ansur until news of her father perishing fending off a band of Orcs came to shatter her sheltered life. Her mother had taken the loss hard, loudly mourning when she was awake and silently weeping when she was asleep. Robyn herself had taken the loss hard as well, barely coming out of her room unless it was to eat away her sorrows with sweets and/or drink them away with milk and honey. It was a miracle that they had survived from their inactivity, thanks to a close friend of her father's (Her father's commanding officer, actually) having taking it upon himself to help the mother and daughter move pass the pain.
It wasn't until she had seen multiple soldiers in the man's barracks wounded that she had become motivated to help them drive back any way she can. As she was still six at the time, she was barred from sparring not because she was a member of the opposite sex but because she was born with a slightly weaker body than the average human being.
She was still able to help them through tactics, somehow coming up with strategies that resulted in the least losses for them and crippling defeat to their enemies.
As she had grown into the fine woman that she is today, she learned that there are atrocities and other horrors soldiers had or will face on a daily basis.
She just didn't know that the sole male of the group had such a horrifying weapon within his arsenal.
She didn't speak, for the two questions she wanted to say were already spoken by Maia and Chloe.
Then she heard the man speak in that voice.
[---]
"The name's Corzo White, and this," he simply looks at the razed forest and war camp, "is just a taste of what happens should you even think of screwing me over."
His words carried a sense of gravity over the entire group of female warriors. Every one of them was dreading the thought of someone on their side of the war pissing off the Drifter to the point he'd do... this to Eostia. That feeling of dread had gotten stronger as they remembered the two others with Corzo White: Jung Hae-Lin and Flynn Taggert.
Out of the three, it would appear that Miss Hae-Lin was the most calm of the trio. But looks can be deceiving, as they have all learned one way or another over the course of the previous war against the Dark Queen of the Jagged Crown and the current war against Vult and his band of mercenaries of the Kuro Inu and their newfound friends in the form of the monstrous hordes of Garan.
Sir Taggert, on the other hand... the killing intent that he gave off sent shivers across their bodies whenever they were near him. They can only dread what would've been had the man chose a different side or had sided with none at all.
The gunslinger took note of their silence and used it to walk past them. They made no indication that they had noticed until he spoke again.
"So are you gals gonna stand there lookin' purdy or are you's gonna come back with me to Ansur?" He asked, his voice gone from that smooth yet demonic tone to the drawling desert-dweller tone that they all know and are accustomed to.
Maia nodded, seemingly speaking for everyone present. "Y-yeah, l-let's go."
And they did, leaving the war camp and the surrounding parts of the forest utterly burnt beyond recognition.
Had any of them lingered any longer, they'd see something arrive.
Had any of them lingered any longer, they'd see that this was Balth'Azar himself as he inspected the burnt surrounding.
"Hmm..." the Hell Baron had hummed, stroking his chin as if it had a beard rather than the stony flesh that all Hell Barons are known to have, "It would appear that Basilissa is here as well."
The demon had been tracking down certain things that had been hidden across Eostia and the entire continent of Selenus. The presence of the Mors Exitio meant that sooner or later his home dimension would take notice and begin to conquer it.
That part of Hell Balt'Azar still held fondly to his dark heart, but the rest of it he loathed with a passion. The Spiders had crippled their true God, to the point a mere human had destroyed it singlehandedly. When they had sent the Titan to stop this human, Balth'Azar was tempted to storm the Habitaculum Araneae and kill them all off for wasting such a powerful demon to kill one measly human.
But it wasn't until he had seen that human singlehandedly kill the Titan and entire hordes of Hellspawn with nothing but his armor, his fists, his feet, and his dreaded Continentis Inferos after full-on years of non-stop fighting.
It was then that Balth'Azar had begun to not fear but respect the Mors Exitio despite him belonging to a species that he deems weaker than his own. When he had learned that the Mors Exitio had been sealed away in a weakened state, Balth'Azar had seen him as a kindred spirit.
Both hated Hell for reasons personal, and both had garnered a reputation fear and respected throughout the demonic realm and their conquered territories.
"Doom Slayer..." Balth'Azar spoke out the human translation, "Someday, we shall have our final bout. It was prophesized by the Typos Paganos as it was surely prophesized by Argent D'Nur's very own Nativus Idolona," he paused to open his mouth and soon many souls of the recently deceased began to flood in, filling him with energy slowly. It wasn't enough to reach his full power, but he shall settle with it for now.
"I can only hope that you are merciless as they say," he snorted before summoning a portal to spirit himself away to some unknown location. As he had disappeared, his last words were spoken.
"For I shall be as ruthless as possible, that is my guarantee."
-Back in Ken/The White Fortress/09:57:13 PM Galactic Standard Time-
Within the confines of Flynn Taggert's own room, the Soul Cube was glowing. The Martian weapon/artifact started to hover from where it had lain, its' alien blades spinning along its' cube-like body.
"They draw ever close... The dragon of powerful metal... the man of blazing trails... and the little tailor girl..." the object of Martian origin hummed and glowed one last time before falling dormant once more.
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-Kingdom of Dragundaala/At that time-
Catue was enjoying a nightly stroll through the woods. The Princess Knight had gazed upon the Night Lilies around here, captivated by the enchanting blue particles being released as the light of the moon had touched the flowers.
Grandfather would have loved the sight, she sadly smiled. Looking up into the clear night skies, Catue searched for a shooting star to make a wish from.
Before long, she had found one. It was oddly red compared to the bluish white colors of the other stars. If what she could remember from the classes on Astronomy and on Elements she and her fiancé, Jindrack, had attended, red flames tend to be the least intense in terms of heat.
So this shooting star is much like her, huh? Despite their beauty, they were still weak, especially when compared to their respective peers.
Closing her eyes and putting her hands together as if she were praying in church, she began to speak.
"Oh red star, swimming across the endless, beautiful sea of blue and white stars," she said as if greeting the celestial object, "I pray that my wish is granted. Please grant my friends in Eostia the strength to face the horrors that are to come in the coming weeks. I could not bear to think what would happen should any of them perish."
Different visions of Alicia, Prim, Kaguya, Ryuu-Ryuu, Maia and the rest of the Princess Knights native to Eostia flashed through her mind.
As she finished her wishing, she opened her eyes. Hmm, odd, it appears as though the red star was growing bigger by the second. Squinting, she noticed that it was getting bigger. And it was heading straight towards her! Emerald green eyes widening, she began to run to the side as the red star had bypassed her and had crashed into the woods ahead, creating a somewhat deep furrow in the land that continued until the star had slowly came to a stop, the process taking nearly a minute to do.
Catue got up, sweat created by the heat coming from the fallen star apparent on her face and body. "What was that?!"
Part of her wanted to head back to her parents' castle and have them send a band of knights in the morrow. Part of her wanted to see it just to sate her hungry curiosity at this very instant.
Going with the latter, which was perhaps against the judgment of a more rational-minded person such as Claudia, Catue had ran to where the star had ceased moving.
As she got closer to where the star was, Catue noticed that small, shiny bits of bronze littered the area. The amount was small at first, until they slightly grew with every meter Catue had taken towards the fallen star.
When she had reached the end of the long furrow, what she saw was not what she had expected. She had expected an alien rock of unknown material that could benefit Dragundaala and her allies; she had expected a burning inferno that would've burnt the rest of the forest.
She did not expect to see a Draco-Demon lying down on its' back as the fallen star's identity.
Draco-Demons were normally found and by normally it meant that only a rare few of the already rare few found in Dragundaala would be found in other parts of the world. Some of the more spiritually-minded individuals like men of the cloth say that these creatures were the original rulers of Dragundaala before they were slain and scattered by the Elven Goddess before Celestine Lucullus herself.
They beheld features seen on dragons, hence their name, such as scaly skin and a draconic head. Few sported wings, usually a sign that they had reached peak adulthood where they are highly regarded as some of the most destructive monsters to plague the land and beyond.
Draco-Demons, like all other demons, were creatures that followed their primal instinct to mate with any female species that catches their fancy such as Elves and Humans. In addition to that, they also have a high resistance to magic, making magi useless a majority of times any one Draco-Demon was to be encountered.
As Catue readied her sword to strike down the beast, she took notice of its appearance. The Draco-Demon was wearing more clothes than most Draco-Demons would wear, which normally was only a loincloth or similar article of clothing. This one wore actual clothes that more or less covered up what needed to be covered up.
Deep blue leggings similar to what the Princess of Dragundaala saw Sir Taggert wearing, minus the paddings of peculiar armor, covered the beast's legs, with its' knees being protected by strange paddings. The Draco-Demon's feet were covered by steel-gray boots with four metal spikes jutting forward from each boot as if they imitated claws on the feet of Dragons and Draco-Demons which are an odd sight to Catue as Draco-Demons already have those claws on both their hands and feet, while they had a dull aquamarine glow to them. The beast's torso was clad in an equally steel-gray jacket with nothing beneath it, showing the beast's chiseled body. Pauldrons covered the beast's shoulders while metal gauntlets covered his forearms and hands much like Sir Taggert's own gauntlets, although these ones sport a dark gray color scheme with blood red highlight, and they were glowing a dull maroon color, too.
By human standards and even elven standards, the beast was tall. If standing, Catue roughly estimates that he'd be over 7 feet and a few inches but then again she did flunk in arithmetic lessons. Its draconian head sported two pitch black horns pointing backwards, as seen on other Draco-Demons who had preferred speed over brute force. The beast's scales were bright red, with a few black marks seen on the upper and lower torso as well as on the arms. Two large wings sprouted from the beast's back, unmoving like the rest of the body.
But by Draco-Demon standards, this one was actually on the short end of the spectrum. Most would reach up to 15 feet in height and only the really old ones would reach up to 75 feet in height, with the wingspan growing in direct proportion to the height of the Draco-Demon. Perhaps this one was a youngling, Catue asked in her head but she dismissed it. If she remembered, Dragon and Draco-Demon younglings didn't have any developed wings or at least wings capable of actual flight. Nor do they have massive wings right off, as younglings often have smaller wings.
In the Draco-Demon's hands Catue could see two weapons. One was a large, eight-barreled blunderbuss of advance appearances and technology (She could even see a large box attached to the bottom of it much like Sir Taggert's own advanced blunderbuss) and the other was a small (Compared to the large 'blunderbuss'), black revolver that curiously had sparks of blue lightning emitting from the barrel; perhaps an enchanted firearm rarely seen in the world? The Crown Princess of Dragundaala did not know the answer to that.
She approached with caution, sword at the ready. As she slowly got down to the downed Draco-Demon's level, Catue steeled herself for what she was going to do. Once she was a foot away from the creature, she raised her sword and plunged it into its heart.
...
...
...
Or at least that's what she had thought. Somehow, the Draco-Demon had woken up and caught the sword, passed down from generation to generation with a long history of slaying Draco-Demons and similar monsters, effortlessly without struggling. Catue's eyes widened and soon dread seeped into her core.
It was a Mexican standoff now, neither party making a move nor a sound. The silence was deafening, while Catue's mind went into overdrive and tried to find a way out of this predicament. Suddenly, the Draco-Demon spoke, its voice slightly raspy compared to the guttural tones often heard from these creatures.
"So... you gonna put the sword away, girlie? It's rude to stab sleeping pricks, y'know." Blinking, the Crown Princess of Dragundaala began to struggle more, intent on moving the blade close to the monster's heart.
"Hey, hey, easy on the gloves! I just repaired those!" The Draco-Demon complained as his grip tightened around the blade ever so slightly, preventing Catue from moving her family's blade.
"Let-let go, demon!"
"So what, so you'll stab me? Hell to the naw, girlie! I like living, thank you very much!" The Draco-Demon retorted before his foot snapped, kicking the Princess Knight away from him and her family's sword.
Standing up to his full height, the Draco-Demon looked down at the fearful Catue. He spoke once more.
"Alright, where the hell am I, girlie? And make it quick, my trigger fingers are kinda itchy."
Cygnis Flaynithere, the Guncaster, had arrived and he's none too happy about his current predicament.
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-Outskirts of Feoh/At that time-
Ella, the girl that was saved from a certain, terrible fate, was not sure of what to make of her savior. She had expected many things on that night a week ago.
She expected a rookie adventurer that got lucky.
She expected one of the village's local militiamen to come save her.
She expected a knight in shining armor.
Her savior... did not meet those expectations.
Currently, he was sitting casually on a wooden chair watching the last of the bodies of the war band invaders with a smoking stick in his mouth (Although this smoking stick looked like it was made of paper from what Ella could see), idly twiddling with his silver revolving pistol that he had used to save her from those men.
He was tall, having stood over six feet and six inches before he had taken a seat to watch the latest of his handiwork. His upper body was clad in a leather jacket, dark grayish blue in color, with a grayish white shirt underneath it, with certain parts of the jacket being padded to serve as either armor or cushions against harsh impacts. Black fingerless gloves covered each of his two hands, one hand holding the revolving pistol and the other fiddling with the parts not in the manner of fixing it but in the manner of simply moving it for the sake of moving it. His lowers consisted of pants of the equal color as his jacket, padded for extra protection much like the jacket and black boots with metal linings made up his footwear.
His hair was fairly clean, styled up similarly to what Ella would see in fairly attractive young (But arrogant) nobles, although he had a shaved beard similar to what some of the older nobles had but rather than just his chin it also extended to the sides of his mouth. It was his face, however, that grabbed her attention and those of the village once the initial fighting had ended.
Various scars and wounds long healed decorated it, while an eye-patch had covered his right eye and with left one to do all the seeing. That very eye that was unnerving to some and outright terrifying to most, including Ella herself.
It had no human feel to it, as it was entirely orange and glowing, much like the eyes of a demon, if anything.
It was like glimpsing at the infernal home of demonkind, Ella thought darkly. She shivered, the action getting the attention of her savior.
"You alright, kiddo?" His voice was gruff, speaking much about the man. He was a survivor, a soldier that had gone through hell and back again many times over. Ella got out of her little funk and addressed the man.
"O-of course, Sir Striker," she said clearly.
"Oi, the name's Malcolm, kiddo, Sir Striker's my father's name."
"O-of course, Sir Striker," the girl heard the man sigh at her words, clearly annoyed at her insistence on referring to him as a member of nobility.
The man shook his head, instead swinging out the cylinder of his revolving pistol, removing the spent cartridges and loading in a fresh batch. Each batch, Ella noticed, carries eight shots before a reload had to be done. Quite the advance piece of kit, even the Halflings of Rad haven't created something as complex as this and it was just a pistol!
"Terrible sight, ain't it?" His question caused her to cease inspecting the weapon and look at the man.
"P-pardon, sir?" The man simply gestured to the funeral pyre composed of dead members of the Kuro Inu and their demon allies.
"The burning, I mean. Nasty business, I tell you," his smoking stick had now been reduced to a stump, prompting him to throw it away and grab another one from his pockets. Setting down the revolving pistol on the table to his right, he brings out a small silver box and pops the top open. Flicking a finger across one side, a beautiful flame appeared as he brought the new smoking stick's tip towards it. Once it started to smoke, the man placed it in his mouth, seemingly content of the smell of tobacco and nicotine, not that his female companion would know of the materials made for it.
"Reminds me of 'Nam," he spoke with nostalgia, clearing remembering an event in his past similar to this as Ella had noticed. His lone eye looked at her, she can tell as the center of that orange eye was a brighter and smaller orange orb that made up his pupil, and spoke.
"So what made you grab one of my Macheterangs that night to kill these pricks? I get it that they were gonna rape you, but I think you should've left it to the pros, kiddo," Ella shook her head.
"I wanted to live, for I want to find my father and drag him back home so he and mother can reconcile and we can be a family again. A whole family," she said, making the man shake his head in response.
"Yeah well, that shitty aim of yours," Ella cringed at the mention of that, remembering clearly that the deceptively heavy weight of the blade made her lose balance more than once that night when she had attacked the Kuro Inu and their demon allies, "could use a little more work, kiddo. That's coming from a guy with one eye, mind you."
"So what did you expect me to do?! Just stand by as my village gets plundered and raped?!"
"If it meant living, then hell yeah!"
"That's immoral!"
"Screw morality kid, it's survival! And you're not gonna survive long in the world with them shitty swings. Not without a mentor," the man said with a certain tone in his voice.
"Then to damnation with survival, I wanted to- Hang on," she paused, looking at the man with ever widening eyes at the prospect. "Are you saying you'll train me in your ways?"
"Your words, not mine, kiddo," the man said as he laid back, picking up his silver revolving pistol and stuffing it in its holster. "The ways of the Trailblazer are difficult, filled with harsh trials and deadly ventures. You sure you wanna go down this road?" He ask Ella, whose face was hidden slightly as she kept her head down to think it over. On the outside, her frown indicated that there was a dilemma in her mind.
But in the confines of her mind, Ella was ecstatic. This was her chance of leaving the village and searching for her father out in the world. All she needs to do is to ask this man to take her under his wing.
Getting down to her arms and knees, she asked.
"Please teach me the way, Sir Malcolm Striker!"
The man gave a small smirk, seemingly happy at her declaration even when many villagers were watching the exchange with varying reactions.
After thinking it over, he made his decision.
Look out, multiverse, for Malcolm Striker, the Trailblazer, had taken in an apprentice.
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-Back at Ken/A few minutes later-
"It's not so bad," Celestine said to Hae-Lin, who was accompanying her along with Claudia Levantine and Klaus Levantine, as they were walking towards a local seamstress's building. Currently, they were passing through the marketplace which wasn't as packed as it was in the daytime, so they moved with little difficulty.
Hae-Lin pouted. "Easy for you to say! You're not the one going to be prodded at by some lunatic just so I can get a dress!"
"It's so you can look more presentable," Claudia retorted, not exactly seeing the point in the South-Korean swordswoman's words. Giving her a look, she added, "It also helps to expand your wardrobe."
"I'm fine as I look right now! Isn't that enough?" Hae-Lin shot back, not wanting to deal with this and wanting nothing more than to run back to her room and snuggle up to her human-sized pillow.
Klaus looked between the two women and held up his hands in order to placate them. "Come now, dear, Lady Hae-Lin isn't as used to this as you are," he told his wife before looking at the other woman.
"And this could be an opportunity for you to get better. I had heard that this seamstress makes outfits that also enhance one's capabilities in battle, although currently she is only catering to female customers. I heard that she is shy towards males," Hae-Lin scoffed.
"I don't need no stinking fancy dress to look good! If anything, it's Claudia and Celestine that need the wardrobe change!" She pointed at the aforementioned women loudly, grabbing the attention of everyone else in the vicinity.
"And why would we need to?" The answer to Claudia's question came in the form of Hae-Lin repeatedly poking at her stomach and breasts at a fast pace, much to her horror and the surprise of everyone else.
"You keep flaunting that figure of yours! Makes girls like me a bit self-conscious! And I hate being reminded that I'm a late bloomer!" Ceasing her assault, Hae-Lin huffed, crossed her arms, and looked away from the shocked veteran Princess Knight, grumbling about 'stupid big tits' and whatnot. Celestine, Kalus, and several others looked on in shock as well.
No one, not even her own husband, had touched her like that. For this upstart recruit to do so had forced Claudia do something she had rarely done.
Really lose her composure, as a killing intent burst forth from her. Looming over the shorter woman, Claudia began.
"You... you dare touch me, you upstart recruit?! I shall have your head for this!" As she was about to hit her on the top of the head with her armored glove, a new voice had joined in the conversation.
"Oh my gosh, Hae-Lin? Is that you?" Hae-Lin perked up at the voice and turned to face the speaker.
The person was short, much like her, standing over five feet and nine inches in height. She wore a green tank top and a pair of black shorts with a pair of combat boots for her clothing. Her stunning, red hair flowed down to the bottom of her neck, with a golden pin on the left side just above her left eye. Speaking of her eyes, they were a deep azure blue, captivating in their own right.
Recognizing who this person was, Hae-Lin immediately ran up and glomped the woman.
"Daina! Is that you?!"
"Yes, it's me, Hae-Lin," the redhead smiled at her friend's presence. Hae-Lin then asked, still surprised about the entire thing.
"Oh my gosh, how'd you end up here?" Releasing from their embrace, the now-identified Daina scratched the back of her head and gave a little giggle.
"W-well... Let's just say that I'm..." Daina mumbled the rest out, making it ineligible to Hae-Lin to hear.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Daina blushed this time, rubbing her arm and looking.
"I-I said I'm the..." Again she mumbled, making Hae-Lin a tad bit annoyed.
"You're the what?" Klaus answered in Daina's place.
"She's the seamstress that shall be making your dress," Hae-Lin looked at Klaus in disbelief and then to Daina, who simply nodded and was a bit embarrassed at the reveal.
Then, to the surprise of everyone, Hae-Lin fell to her knees, the reveal having an effect that left her in a trance.
"Oh my," Celestine turned to Claudia, who was still fuming at the woman under a trance, "can you please bring Miss Hae-Lin to the building, Claudia?"
The Dawn Templar commander seethed one last time before picking up Hae-Lin's unresponsive body and walked past Daina and Klaus, still fuming as evident in the stomp of her step.
"I don't think I've seen your wife in that mood before, Lord Levantine," Daina commented as she, Klaus, and Celestine followed Claudia. Klaus simply nodded at her words.
"I haven't seen her that mad since her 24th birthday," when the tailor girl was about to ask, he added.
"Don't ask. Less said about that day, the better," taking his word for it, Daina simply kept her mouth shut.
It appears that Daina, the Tailor Girl, has surfaced. It was only a matter of time before something big happens.
-The Goddess's Peak/The next day/08:12:43 AM Galactic Standard Time-
In a hidden cave of the revered holy ground that was called The Goddess's Peak, something was stirring. If one looked into the cave, they see various items made of metal. In fact, if one were to realize, the entire hidden cave is actually a large metal room.
And in the center of this room was a suit of armor. The suit is mostly dark green, silver, black and bronze in color, with slightly lighter legs and helmet, with its visor being a dull semi-transparent glass in the color of amber. It was no doubt advanced and alien in origin, as no known armor within this world matches with this suit of armor.
Without warning, the suit's visor lit up, the dull amber now glowing brightly before adjusting to be safer for human eyes. Slowly, the suit began to move. It was apparent that the suit itself is heavy, as it took considerable amount of time for the suit to move its own head and hands.
Then a voice came from the suit.
"RE-RE-RECA-CALI-CALIBRATING... PRO-PRO-PROC-PROCESS COMPLETE... VEGA ONLINE..."
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Betcha didn't expect that, didja?
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...
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Oh who am I kidding? So many of y'all wanted to see the Praetor Suit and here it is! And VEGA is back, too!
Some of you might be wondering as to why VEGA's is having a difficult time to move the suit, here is my bullshit explanation:
Despite being more complex than other combat armors in the UAC's armory, VEGA itself is far more complex. Because of this, if VEGA tries to move too much, it might end up causing the suit itself to lock up or, worse yet, explode. I mean VEGA is so complex that it takes an entire scientific field called Vegaphysics to understand! Not only that, but VEGA's facility in DOOM 2016 is also said to be able to overheat to temperatures higher than our own sun considering everything is powered by Argent Energy.
Enough about VEGA, some of you might also be wondering what the Latin names Balth'Azar was speaking in this chapter mean, so here're their translations from Latin to English:
Mors Exitio = Doom Killer (Alluding to the Doom Slayer A.K.A. Doomguy A.K.A. Flynn Taggert)
Habitaculum Araneae = Lair of Spiders (Alluding to wherever the Spider Masterminds had come from)
Continentis Inferos = Hell Container (Alluding to the Crucible, which is another word for container)
Typos Paganos = Symbol of Heresy (Alluding to the Icon of Sin)
Nativus Idolona = Elemental Wraiths (What'd you think, Captain Obvious?)
And I do hope that I have introduced the winners of the poll in decent to great ways. I stayed all night trying to write the best ways I can get them in the story without simply giving up and saying "Bullshit Hell Portals" every time I introduce people.
So what happened to Cygnis before he met Catue, what exactly was Malcolm doing on the outskirts of Feoh, and why is Daina only appearing now? Will the Doom Slayer ever reunite with his beloved Praetor Suit? Find out next time on Dragon Ball- GOD FUCKEN DAMMIT! THIS AIN'T THE SHOW!
And yes, I have seen the gameplay reveal of DOOM Eternal and I am looking forward to ripping and tearing once more, baby! In the words of 2RGames: HYPEHYPEHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPE! From worrying fans back in the Quakecon reveal of DOOM 2016 to hyping them the fuck up with DOOM Eternal with 30 raw minutes of ultra-violence! HELL YEAH BOI!
Regarding the SJW controversy of DOOM Eternal as well, all I can say to them is: "You get insulted by historical accuracy, you get insulted by a couple of jokes in fiction, and you guys are even triggered by costume parties held in your universities every fucking Halloween, so what crawled up your asses and died?"
See you all next time!