”I never imagined such a fine lady was hiding beneath that armor.” Gauda quivered in delight as he admired the goddess’s exposed, metallic curves. ”What a shame no one will ever get to taste that body!” The Warlord lunged forward with his claws unleashed. In response, Harmatia unleashed rays of energy from her thirty-six Zweihänders—like a gatling, a storm of radiant bullets hammered against the hangar steel.
”The bigotry that still festers in Reactionarysm is easy to exploit, and by masquerading as a man, I infiltrated places you can’t even imagine exist.” The Alpha couldn’t help but smirk at her audacity as he slithered through the neon tempest, dodging most rays while deflecting the ones aimed at Carmen and ignoring those fired at Jacques. ”To this day, I still cannot decide which amused me the most. Watching the walls built by the most paranoid of men crumble at my smile, or the look in their eyes when I stabbed them in the back after they gave me everything I desired.”
The Alpha took the bait, shifting his tactic from evasive circling around to a frontal charge. Rougeserker reacted instantly, its mass of organs and coagulated hemogoblin morphed into a bloody whip before slashing toward the incoming enemy.
*TWACK!* *TWACK!*
. By swinging his hand as the pivot of a spinning top, Gauda twisted his entire body, gaining momentum for his massive white tail to lash out at the whip—an impact so strong that both were instantly repelled in opposite directions.
*TWACK!* *TWACK!* TWACK!* TWACK!* TWACK!* TWACK!*
”Holy shit. I’ve forgotten the last time I had so much fun!” By hopping hand to hand and swaying his tail-butt like in a Dance of the Veils, Mishaab matched the Rougeserker’s fury, fencing the Eldritch Abomination, and, bit by bit, closing the distance to Harmatia. ”I have not even use a 1% of my power, and that’s the best you can do?” Gauda sneered as he pulled back his tail, twisting it into a spiral until it resembled a spring. Next, by applying just the right amount of pressure, the snake propelled himself at the Kataphract with such incredible speed that the Rougeserker saw only a blurred white cloud.
*TWACK!*
Between the sharp fangs of the Naturian, a steel finger now flickered due to the strength of the teeth’s grip. ”Oh, so you can shape your exoskeleton?!” Harmatia’s free hand had inflated its size, thick enough to stop him. ”You’ve said that under this armor of yours, you are alive as a liquid, didn’t you?” His grip hardened more and more, till a crack formed on the gauntlet. Then, Gauda’s snake tongue slithered forward, wrapping her arm and starting to apply pressure too. ”Let’s see how it tastes of this cononau’s juic…what?” The half man, half reptile stopped as soon as the corner of his Opal Eyes glimpsed something unsettling—one of the Zweihänders had lost its glow, now as black as coal.
*Woooooo—OOOOOOOOOOSHHH!*
It happened in less than an instant. The Exoskeleton blazed blue before a flash of light erupted with the wrath of a supernova, erasing every shadow in the hangar. Gauda screamed as his white scales bubbled and his flesh liquefied—his whole world had become a furnace.
”You have just been struck by the amount of energy consumed in one year by the inhabitants of Korinth.” Harmatia’s voice boomed across the battlefield, imposing her dominion. And yet her lips never moved and her eyes never blinked—a goddess statue in truth and in whole. ”A somewhat accurate approximation would be—being hit by a hundred million lightning strikes at once.” As the blinding haze thinned down, the result became clear—nothing but dust remained of the Warlord’s flesh. Except for a single organ now floating midair—his beating heart. ”It’s time for you to take this fight seriously because you are, by far, the underdog.” The Hegemon concluded as, in less than a millisecond, new flesh blossomed around the floating organ—scales, bones, sinews all knitting back together at impossible speed—perfectly restoring the body of the Anima, but not his bold expression—for the first time in a hundred years, the Kal ph of Gupta’s self-confidence had been ripped apart.
”I wasn’t even using 5% of my power, anyway,” Gauda rebutted before ordering his [Instinct] to react to the new annoyance, and it obeyed by rewriting the [Genome], mutating every cell of the Warlord’s body to maximize magical defense, hardening it enough to endure even that tsunami of Cruda Mana. ”You know, Harmatia, I’ve figured out your trick.” The Alpha pointed at the array of Zweihänders that formed the goddess’s Imperium. ”Why is the leftmost sword completely black now? Why aren’t you recharging it?”
”Seriously? You didn’t try destroying the tubes first, but you went straight for the blades.” Harmatia rewarded the snake with a single clap that echoed across the hangar. ”And I thought the brain of a Reactionary was as small as a peanut.”
”Yeah, she’s kinda right…” Carmen, bewildered, told to a still-writhing Jacques. ”Why isn’t Gauda destroying those three pipelines on her back? That’s the source of her power.”
”[Basic.Javelin]. [Basic.Javelin]. [Basic.Javelin].” Three thin, long, and blurred projectiles got fired toward the pipelines, shattering them into hundreds of pieces on impact. However, the heavy water inside did not leak, flowing as if the tubes were still intact. ”The tension produced by the Antimagic Particle is too strong for mere gravity to affect them in any way.” Jacques wheezed. “In other words, there’s no way to separate that whore from the ship’s reactor. So, technically speaking, she has an infinite supply of Mana at her disposal.”
”You are absolutely correct, little man. So, why isn’t Harmatia recharging that empty blade?” Gauda flashed her a grin. ”If all your swords run out of fuel, you die, am I wrong?”
The Kataphract shrugged. ”You have a theory. Now, test it.” Her free arm began to shimmer like a supernova as an astonishing quantity of Crude Mana gathered beneath the Exoskeleton.
”Useless.” Mishaab fearlessly rushed straight at her. ”My scales can now endure a billion lightning stri—”
*CRRRSHK!*
Rougeserker surged forward with impossible speed and precision, cleanly piercing Gauda’s skull through the forehead. From that makeshift opening, the Eldritch Abomination began its banquet, twitching in delight as it devoured the brain, then hungrily gnawed throughout the rest of the head until nothing remained. However, before it could finish its meal, Gauda’s [Instinct] seized control of his now headless—and therefore consciousness-less—body, evading the bloody sword’s successive strikes until his brain regenerated and his persona was downloaded back from the Collective Consciousness—four nightmarish milliseconds.
The shivering Alpha, disgusted, transfixed his sight on the second sword from the left, which was not as black as coal like its neighbor but as red as blood. Thanks to its recent meal, the Rougeserker’s mass of organs and coagulated hemoglobin had spread on the Zweihänder, feeding on its Quantic Mana—the Eldritch Abomination’s [STR] had become a [Dynamic.Stat], showing no sign of stopping its growth.
“Weird. Why did your skin suddenly turn as soft as crushed paper?” Harmatia asked, genuinely puzzled, while Gauda, burning with hatred, ordered his [Instinct] to overwrite his [Genome] once more, this time focusing everything on physical defense.
“Try now.” The trick worked, and as Rougeserker and Gauda’s tails fenced together dozens of times per second, his scales remained untouched, holding firm under the assault and slowly gaining ground with every exchange. Moreover, Animas were the best at duels, and once his [Instinct] finished mapping all of Harmatia’s attack patterns, the Warlord grew confident enough to aim for her heart. ”One Dow—”
*Woooooo—OOOOOOOOOOSHHH!*
His enthusiasm betrayed him. The moment the Alpha closed the distance enough with his focus locked onto Rougeserker, the Hegemon gently placed her left hand against the side of Mishaab’s chest—a wave of energy incinerated half of his body in an instant.
”Are…you…JOKING?!” Gauda shouted as his flesh regenerated, but he wasn’t a fool, immediately grasping the grim truth. He ordered his [Instinct] to rebalance his defenses, splitting his [Genome] between magical and physical resistance. “You’re just an Omega—HOW?!” Harmatia’s right hand embodied the pinnacle of physical destruction, while her left, the pinnacle of magical annihilation—before him stood the apex of humanity.
“You’re right. I’m neither an Essentia, nor an Anima, nor a Legalist, just a mere mortal.” Harmatia stepped forward. “That being said, as a Loyal Knight of Heroine Korinna, I am something more—I am the Champion of the Soulful.” Rougeserker morphed into a long sword. “From the peasants who grew the food that fed us, to the engineers who designed the Antimagic Reactor, the struggle of billions who lived under oppression worked toward this very moment. I am the final result of a two-millennia-old dream, and now I may finally prove that.” Suddenly, the mortal, with her weapon fully charged, rushed forward at the man who dared call himself a god, severing his head in a single strike. ”One small cut for a man, freedom from the chains of Reactionarysm for all humanity.”
“[DefenseJavelin]!” A bluish, javelin-shaped mass slammed against Gauda’s white scales, releasing a blue wave of energy that flowed throughout his newly regenerated body. “Get up, you useless lizard!” the ’Javelinist’ shouted. “You’re a fucking Level 29—basically immortal. Swallow the pill and rope-and-dope the whore until she runs out of Quantic Mana—I’ll support you!”
“Who the fuck do you think you are to—” Harmatia despised comedic intermezzos—and comedy in general—believing it was impossible to be smile once one is aware of all the suffering that plagued the world. So, she sliced the Naturian Warlord in half the very moment he lowered his guard. ”You, filthy Ome—!” The regeneration was swift, but Mishaab’s stance was shattered, and the moment he regained control of his legs, Rougeserker swung again—this time aiming straight for his heart.
“[Basic.Javelin]!” A long and blurred mass of Mana shot toward the bloody blade’s tip. Jacques’s [STR = 010] was far too low to either stop or deflect it. However, perfection does not exist, and the javelin actually succeeded in slowing the strike by a single millisecond—more than enough for the ’Deception Squamata.’
“DIE, BASTARD!” When an enemy’s attack targets the heart of an Anima, the emergency protocols of [Instinct] activate, prioritizing immediate survival over long-term consequences. Hence, a torrent of adrenaline now flooded Gauda’s body as he unsheathed his claws, driving them straight into the statue-goddess’s abdomen.
*KRRRANG!*
A metallic cry echoed in the hangar as Gauda’s entire arm pierced Harmatia’s Exoskeleton, driving through her metallic body until his triumphant fist emerged from her back.
*SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAGHHH!*
Rougeserker reacted instantly, extending a whip of flesh toward the command room doors and violently yanking his master across the hangar, transporting her to the opposite side while coiling itself in preparation for another assault. Gauda, however, stood perfectly still, lust-eyeing the golden liquid dripping down his arm.
”You’re so beautiful, and you also taste wonderful.” His bifurcated tongue lashed around his limb, quivering in ecstasy with every drop of Ambrosia. “You know, Harmatia—you’ve intrigued me. Military women are usually far too sour for my fine palate, but you would be such a unique addition to my Birdcag—” A sudden and violent spasm crushed his chest, interrupting him mid-sentence. Gauda collapsed to one knee, clutching his heart and moving around in panic. “My Empr…I mean, Carmen—I was joking! Ahaha…come on, you know I’ve changed!” He desperately waved his hands, pleading as the ’Ego Witch’ flayed him alive with a single glance.
“What the fuck is he talking about?” Jacques asked, utterly confused.
“Ahem…I made him promise he’d become a good person…” Carmen awkwardly replied. “Right, Gauda?” The Naturian furiously nodded as she flashed a weird smile at Jacques’s deepening frown.
“Sure, dudette. Guess that’s your charm.” The Javelinist scratched his head. “Anyway, you dumb lizard—kill the whore before she regenerates!”
“Too late for that.” Harmatia’s voice echoed as a blinding bluish beam flooded the hangar. When the light faded, the third Zweihänder was now as black as the first, while the Exoskeleton began to tremble—its metal vibrated violently, glowing with an incandescent radiance. Slowly yet inexorably, the alloy expanded, knitting itself together and sealing the hole in Harmatia’s abdomen. Nevertheless, the goddess’s perfection was now gone forever—a grotesque scar now dominated the statue-like body of the goddess.
“A metal that can restore itself?” Jacques pointed out. “Is that your weapon’s power, too, or is it true that the laws of physics are merely an opinion for an Antimagic Particle?”
“Neither. I’m simply using Mana to regenerate my body.” Jacques frowned. “What’s with that expression? Didn’t I already tell you this isn’t armor—it’s an Exoskeleton.” After hole was completely reconstituted, the Korinna’s Knight rose to continue the fight. Meanwhile, Rougeserker slithered away from the second-leftmost Zweihänder and latched onto the fourth, leaving behind a black wasteland to feast upon a fresh new oasis. “The general term for a human-based alloy is Twiril, named after the Twilight Queen—the supreme smith of the metal. According to the legends, the Twilight Dolls who failed the contest to become her next reincarnation were melted down into Twiril, then reforged into ornaments for her chambers so they could stay with the Queen for eternity.” She swung the freshly regenerated Rougeserker toward the silent observers of the duel. “Anyway, let’s not Digress. For reasons I do not fully understand, you’ve found some interesting friends, Mr. Gauda. Were Mr. and Miss Impostor part of your plan from the beginning, or did you simply meet them along the way? It doesn’t matter. Let’s see if you can fight me—while protecting them!”
*TZTZTZTZ!* *TZTZTZTZ!* *TZTZTZTZ!*
From the still-glowing thirty-four Zweihänders, a new storm of energy bolts battered the hangar’s wall. This time, however, none of the shots targeted the Alpha, converging, instead, on the two Class-F intruders. Nevertheless, the instant Carmen entered their line of fire, [LilithWhip] rewrote the priorities of Gauda’s [Instinct], and immediately, his massive tail coiled around his Empress, pulling her tight against his chest as he turned his broad back toward the incoming barrage.
*KRAZZZZZ!* *KRAZZZZZ!* *KRAZZZZZ!*
Thousands of bolts pierced his scales, and yet Mishaab felt no pain because his true treasure was now safe in his arms.
“YOU STUPID LIZARD, HELP M—ACK!” The ‘Javelinist’ wasn’t granted the same princely protection, forced to dive and roll desperately to stay alive. “JUST EVOLVE, YOU IDIOT! YOU’D BE BIG ENOUGH FOR BOTH OF US!”
“You need to save Jacques, too.” Carmen glanced at her slave, his expression cracking with every hit he endured to shield her. “Mishaab—evolve!”
“I’VE ALREADY TRIED, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!” Gauda roared between impacts. “But I can’t, and the worst part is that I don’t even know why!”
“Fuck!” Jacques spat, barely avoiding another blast. “Must be because that whore is, technically, still a Soulful—not a worthy enough enemy to trigger your [Evolution].” Both of them grimly nodded at how it logically sounded. “ANYWAY, YOU NEED TO FIND A SOLUTION, RIGHT N—ACK!” Harmatia finally advanced, Rougeserker aimed straight at the exposed back. However…
“That’s what I was waiting for.” In less than an instant, Gauda’s massive tail released the ’Ego Witch’ and warped around the bloody sword, stopping it mid-swing. “I might not be able to evolve against you, but the Sultan of Deception has hundreds of tricks hidden in his turban.” From Mishaab’s forked tongue, a single droplet fell to the ground, instantly evaporating and inflating into purple smoke that swallowed the entire hangar. “Welcome to my Iqta…” The mist carved out a space severed from reality itself, one where no sense could be trusted. Your sight, sound, smell, touch, and even taste couldn’t be trusted in this world of deception, while its Sultan moved freely, circling his prey in silence to find the perfect angle to strike. “Your last station before Jah—”
*CRACK!*
With a merciless swing, Rougeserker decapitated Mishaab. “Eyes, ears, nose, touch, taste—our five senses are all flawed instruments for perceiving reality,” Harmatia stated calmly. “Which is why I abandoned the limitation of my old body, basing all my immediate perception on the Radiation emitted by the Antimagic Particle.” Jacques’s ears darted upward. ”From my heart, waves are projected and reflected back in an infinitesimal span of time, then they are translated into sight, sound, smell, etc., freeing my worldview from any bias and from the tricks of the Sultan of Deception.” Ironically, Harmatia now held the advantage inside Gauda’s own Iqta, as the purple mist dulled the Alpha’s senses as well, allowing the Korinthian Knight to cut him into a thousand small pieces each time he regenerated. Eventually, the Anima reabsorbed his kingdom, restoring the view on the battlefield. “You cannot evolve, you cannot deceive me, and you cannot fight while protecting Mr. and Miss Di Mario—you’ve lost, Mishaab.”
“Coward!” Gauda barked, his tone reeking of exhaustion as he slashed at him. Sadly, he was too agitated to think rationally, making his combat patterns easy to predict, and his claws met nothing but air.
“Are you a child?!” Harmatia has hardly replied, almost yelling. “This is war, and the victor decides whether an act was cowardly or heroic.” She turned her free hand toward the Class-F intruders. “For now, let’s dan—” Abruptly, she stopped, unsettled by an uncanny sight. The southern wall of the hangar had vanished, replaced by a black and impenetrable barrier. It was as if a piece of reality itself had been forcibly excised by its creator—or so it seemed to her. “Where are they?”
Gauda grimaced, puzzled by Harmatia’s shouts. Although a thin curtain of smoke now covered Jacques and Carmen, they remained perfectly visible to him.
“Hey, retard Demmie!” The ’Javelinist’ yelled as he poked his head out of the smoke, raising both middle fingers. “You can’t do shit!”
Harmatia didn’t take his laughter well. She emptied a Zweihänder, unleashing a new wave of energy as long as the entire room toward what she perceived as empty space. “What…” The energy dispersed the instant it touched the smoke, leaving Jacques and Carmen completely unharmed.
“Have you forgotten about someone?” Capitalizing on her moment of shock, Gauda wrapped himself around the Goddess statue, squeezing with all the strength he had, determined to end this once and for all by pressing the lemon dry. The Korinna’s Knight was forced to empty yet another Zweihänder to free herself, but now the Deceptio Squamata could fight without endangering Carmen, he was ready to give her hell. ”You know what? I’ve sat in my palace for hundreds of years, waiting for someone like you, a hero who could finally free me from the torture called life.” His tone darkened. “And yet you appear only after I’ve found a reason to live—how ironic.” Gauda cast one last glance at Carmen, then, with a single slice of his massive claws, he tore through the hangar’s eastern wall. From the ship’s open wound, dozens of human–snake hybrids flowed into the room, their bodies writhing as they waited for their Alpha’s orders.
“Let’s dance.”
