Making Monster Girls 10: For Science!, page 26
My soldiers fanned out around me and collided with the Queen’s army like two enormous waves crashing together. Before we left our position, I’d given my soldiers and guards their direct orders. We would treat our attack on the capital as we would with any other city. The army would occupy the soldiers, guards, and aristocrats while pushing my women and me closer to the palace. Once we were inside, our core group would take out the Royal Honor Guards, scouts, and other guards on patrol. Then we would move on to the palace where undoubtedly, the Queen waited for us. Before I brought down my sword and clashed with one of her soldiers, for a split second, I wondered what she had prepared? Would she fight us head-on or wait until the last second before appearing?
The blade of my flamberge smashed against the guard’s weapon, and as I hastily stepped back then ripped my weapon away, flames streaked through the air from the colliding metal. The woman grinned wickedly behind the large helmet, slammed her sword out at me, but I stepped to the side to avoid the blade. With the soldier so close to my body, I brought up the hand holding my sword and slammed my elbow down. The bone clanged against the helmet’s thick metal, and the soldier fell flat on her stomach from the force, but before she could, I ripped the flamberge back then plunged it forward. The flaming weapon entered into the area of the helmet where her right ear should’ve been and continued through to the other side. Blood exploded into the air, but I had no time to admire its elegant arc before thrusting the weapon backward out of her skull.
I immediately turned before another downward strike from another guard could slice into the slope of my shoulder. Our weapons smashed together, and the fire burning off my curved sword burned even brighter. Suddenly, the tension between the weapons lifted with a loud sizzle, and the longest part of the attacker’s sword clattered to the ground. My blessed weapon had burned right through the silver, and as I brought the flamberge down then to the right, the soldier’s expression dropped. The woman’s mouth hung agape, and her greenish-blue eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. She hadn’t expected this outcome. In fact, it looked as if she thought I’d be an easy foe to beat.
My flamberge slashed through her neck in the span of two seconds, and when I turned to advance toward the second ring, her severed head rolled backward down the sloping hill of the bridge. When I glanced over my shoulder toward it, it quickly disappeared into the thumping crowd of my soldiers’ feet. Before the battle started, I thought I’d be overcome with fear and anxiety, but that’s when I realized something. As I mowed through the troves of the Queen’s soldiers who threw themselves at me, I finally knew that I was a completely different man than the one who’d started all of this back in Edenhart. I wasn’t scared or anxious at all and in fact I was quite the opposite.
The sight of my soldiers, guards, and monster-women ripping the Queen’s women to pieces exhilarated me. In a way, I’d never felt so alive, and maybe it was the fact that I was the first man in history ever to fight a battle against Calistia. Sure, there’d probably been men before me who’d attempted such a feat, but had they gotten this far? From what I’d heard, the moment word spread about a resistance, the men and the Harlots were quickly taken care of.
As I ravaged forward through the crowd of guards, I lifted my eyes toward the palace above. We were even closer now, and the battle had only just started. Did this mean that I’d be in front of Calistia before long? So many times, I’d question if I was ready to face my mother finally after all these years, and I knew deep in my heart that it was time… The Queen couldn’t continue her onslaught for much longer, and I would be the single person to put an end to it.
Inside of my body, my ability roiled and fought against my limits to escape. I couldn’t hold it in for much longer, but I wanted to reach the palace at least before I unleashed it onto the Queen’s soldiers. The guards we fought against now were probably nothing more than low-level aristocrats, and I could tell from their sloppy moves, they weren’t very well-trained. It was clear that the first and second rings weren’t Calistia’s priority, and it didn’t matter to her if they were destroyed as long as the third ring remained intact, but that meant one thing to me. Once we reached the palace, we would unleash absolute hell on it.
Suddenly, yet another guard advanced on me, and she swung her sword down over my head. Time seemed to slow as I gingerly stepped out of the way, dodged the downward blow, and slashed through the air with my flamberge. Blood spurted out across the guard’s chest, and like so many before her, her top half slid to the side with a moist sound. As she fell to the cobblestones in two severed pieces, I moved on and calmly sliced at the women who threw themselves in my path. Suddenly, I was thrown to the side, and I stumbled to keep my balance. My breathing struggled out of my tensed lungs, and I lifted my gaze toward the attacker.
This soldier held a massive Warhammer between both hands and looked as if she could barely lift it independently. Her chest wheezed painfully, and sweat dribbled down her slick hair into her wide eyes, but she hastily wiped it away with the back of her hand. My ribs ached where she’d smashed me in the side, and I wondered for half a second if any of them were broken. I didn’t have any more time to think as the panting woman forced a painful grin, ripped the Warhammer backward, and struggled to lift it over her head. If that weapon hit me directly in the chest or head, it’d all be over, and my side would be without a leader.
The guard took a shaky step forward, but I was ready for her in an instant. When she brought the enormous hammer down, I spun away with my sword held out in front of me. The sizzling blade caught her in the small seam where the plates of her armor didn’t quite connect. The massive hammer fell to the cobblestones with a clatter, and she threw her head back with an echoing scream. My trajectory spin put me directly behind her, and I prepared to slash into the middle of her back, but before I could, the guard disappeared with an explosion of scarlet. Bits of gore flew through the air and rained down all around me.
It took me a second to realize what’d happened, and slowly, I raised my head to the towering mechanical creature above me. Its bright orange eyes stared down at me for a second, and a low beeping sound erupted in my ears before it moved away toward another group of soldiers. My heart pounded in my chest, and my tongue felt like sandpaper stuck to the roof of my mouth. Within a mere two milliseconds, there was a living being in front of me, and the next… there was nothing more than an oozing blob of crimson blood and broken shards of bone.
“Charles!” Valerie shouted from behind me. “Let’s go!”
“I’ve got ‘im!” a familiar twangy voice boomed from behind me, and the sound of galloping hooves reached my ears.
When I turned, the green-haired desperado rode through the street on the broad back of her silver, mechanical horse. The stunning horsewoman grinned down at me but never slowed her pace before reaching out her silver hand to me. Without missing a beat, I shook off the sudden shock and grabbed the green-haired woman’s outstretched glove. I braced my legs against the cobblestones and then jumped. Right as Matilda let go, I slammed down onto the back of the horse in front of her and snatched the reins from her hands. I smacked them down onto the robotic horse’s back, and we raced forward through the crowd. In one hand, I held the leather straps, and in the other, I wielded the flaming sword.
With Matilda’s aid, we cut through the approaching guards in tandem, and when I glanced behind us, the rest of my women raced down the path we’d created for them. Edony floated directly behind us held in the massive undulating orb of electricity, and above her, spheres of yellow surrounded her. The wolf-woman’s delicate hands were blurs through the air as she tossed them almost leisurely into the crowd of soldiers. The guards struck by the neon-yellow orbs fell to the ground in jerking heaps.
Behind the wolf-woman, Daisy and Valerie worked in tandem to keep the other soldiers off our backs. Then came Rian, Kleeia, Cecelia, and Josephine, with the rest of the desperados following quickly behind. Somewhere amongst the crowd, Olette, Celty, and Beatrix fought, too, but they were nowhere in my line of sight. My gaze settled on the rest of my soldiers in the distance, and I admired how admirably they fought. Amongst the mass of guards and soldiers, I spied Aschere, and my trusted lieutenant used his mighty battle axes to cut down the Queen’s women who dared come closer. Suddenly, a resounding crash caught my attention, and massive pieces of rock and stone rained down from the sky.
The massive metal creature lifted from the earth, and it only took me a few seconds to recognize the enormous digger I’d built with my own two hands. The spiraling spike at the front of it groaned then spun faster with an explosive sound right as it dipped back down into the earth. The enormous digger smashed into the roof of one of the quaint houses on the street and then disappeared into the massive black hole it’d created.
Seconds later, the digger reappeared farther down the street through the ground again, and I spied one of my men through the tiny window. The wide grin spread across his features told me everything we needed to know. The second ring was already ours, we’d turned the tables in our favor, and now, it was my turn to tip the scales entirely. I shifted my gaze back toward the palace looming high above us, and a wicked grin spread over my features. I smacked the reins down hard on the mechanical horse’s back, and we sped forward faster than physically possible for a regular horse.
A group of guards marched toward us, and as we neared them, Matilda’s mechanical horse reared back on its hind legs. An explosive neigh ripped through the air before it slammed back to the cobblestones. As we raced forward, the soldiers broke out into a run, and instantly, we were plunged into their midst.
Even though we were surrounded on all sides, I kept myself calm and swung my flamberge down. The burning weapon cut through a woman’s armor with a loud sizzle, and then she threw back her head in a deafening scream. As I continued through the arc, the weapon sliced through her shoulder, cut halfway through her side, and completely severed her right arm. The dead limb fell to the ground along with the broadsword she carried, but before she could bend to grab it with her free hand, Matilda’s silver arm jerked backward. Her fist flew through the air in a blur, and one second, the woman’s head sat cleanly on her shoulders, and the next, it looked like a smashed pumpkin in the streets.
“Stop them before they reach the gates!” One of the guards roared, and instantly, I felt a change come over me.
The need to unleash my ability was unbearable, and if I held it in for one more second, I felt as if I would explode. With an ear-splitting roar, I let go of the reins, gripped the hilt of my sword, and raised it over my head. An aura of crimson fell over my vision, and as I swung my sword down toward the wall of guards in front of us, the sounds around me softened. The only thing I could hear was the soft thumps of the horses’ hooves all around me, but then I realized it wasn’t that… it was the heartbeats of all of the guards surrounding us. I physically felt the blood coursing through the maze of their veins, and immediately, my ability flexed within me like the curling of a massive snake.
Suddenly, all of the soldiers around us tensed, and this time, I didn’t feel the sensation of Josephine’s ability wash over me. No… this was my ability all on its own, and as I flexed it even more, their limbs twisted at odd angles with explosive and sickening snaps of bone. Each woman’s eyes widened, and their mouths opened in a chorus of agonized screams. I certainly wasn’t controlling their bodies, but instead, the blood within them. As my hands twisted on the hilt of my sword, their bodies contorted into obscene shapes, and slivers of bone ripped through their pinkish flesh. Their bodies continued to move through my ability, and when I gritted my teeth, the metal of their armor sunk into their horrifyingly misshapen forms.
Blood seemed out onto the ground and ran in rivulets along the cobblestones. I’d promised my soldiers we’d paint the capital red with the blood of the aristocrats, and I’d made good on that promise. We were almost to the gate, and through the wrought-iron bars, I spied even more guards, but they wore armor entirely different than the rest. In between each Royal Honor Guard, a scout poised herself closer to the ground like a bloodthirsty hound, and I dreaded having to fight even more of them. So, my guess about the Queen’s tactic was entirely correct. She’d sent out the weaker guards to fight against my army while she used the skilled Royal Honor Guard and the scouts to protect the palace and her.
As I retracted my ability, I concentrated on the closed gate in front of us, but I didn’t have to for long. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and a familiar sensation bit at my exposed skin. This feeling was more than just familiar; it was burned into my memory. The wave of electricity rose over me, and the sensation intensified to the point that I thought I was drowning in it. Right as I thought it’d be too much, the largest orb of electricity I’d ever seen rocketed toward the iron fence.
Before it even reached the gate, the black metal wavered and shook from the intense heat. Seconds later, the sphere crashed into it and exploded with a clap almost like thunder. The waiting guards and scouts were thrown backward by the force of the attack, and our group raced over the threshold into the third ring. Immediately, I jumped from the back of Matilda’s horse, and the green-haired woman leaned forward toward the creature’s mechanical head. The silver horse turned immediately and then kicked out its strong hindlegs at one of the approaching guards. The woman’s muffled scream barely reached my ears before she flew across the massive garden then slammed into one of the walls of another building.
“We have to keep going!” I reached, lifted my flamberge, and aimed at the open archway into the main hall.
As I stomped forward, and my monster-women quickly followed after me, I glanced over the crumpled bodies of the scouts and guards. A few of them who’d been farther back in the crowd struggled to their feet, and I immediately advanced on them with my sword held loosely at my side. Right as I loomed over one woman, in particular, she grabbed her sword and then glared up at me.
“You will never win this war, brute,” the guard snarled. “You aren’t strong enough to defeat the Queen. She’ll wipe the floor with you… You think you’ve won because you’ve made it this far. You have no idea what waits inside for you.”
The woman lunged forward, but because of her position, her blade completely missed its mark. I lifted my leg in one swift movement, kicked the hand that held the sword, and sent the weapon skittered across the stones. As the guard stared up at me with hateful but terrified eyes, I leaned closer with my flamberge held slightly out.
“I’d heard over the last few months that the Queen’s guard was the strongest in the world,” I said, clicked my tongue, and then grinned down at her. “That their abilities and skills were enough to kill anyone who stepped in their path, but from my experience, that must’ve been a lie. Either your forces are feeble and untrained, or… my women are twenty-times stronger than you will ever be. You simply stood at the gates and waited for us… like sitting ducks. You’re the only guard who managed to attack. How sad is that? This is the Queen’s Royal Honor Guard? Aren’t you supposed to be a force to be reckoned with? How pathetic.”
In quick succession, the guard gritted her teeth and then slammed out her right hand. Purplish black smoke obscured her fingers, and as she reached out to slam the hand into the middle of my chest, I gripped the hilt of my sword in both hands. Before the guard could even lay a hand on me, I slammed the flamberge’s blade into her chest and felt the bone of her sternum snap. The vibration shot up the length of my weapon and wrung all the way up to my shoulder socket.
The guard’s hand fell through the air almost in slow motion, but the dark purple smoke surrounding her fingers dissipated only the tiniest bit. The tip of her index finger brushed against the crackling flame of my weapon, and the fire grew even wilder. As I lifted the weapon aloft, the color in the fire deepened and then shifted even more. When I gripped the hilt of the sword in both hands, the weapon separated into the small, handheld weapons I’d never seen before. As I held them loosely in my hands, royal-purple and inky-blue smoke surrounded the two circular items.
I gripped the handheld weapons by their intricately carved ivory handles. The design pressed into the skin of my hand looked like that of a snake’s scales, and a face of a dragon opened up as if spewing out the single, largest blade between the two. The weapons looked like two crescent moons locked together, but with each of the half-circles pointed edges pointed outward, so the smaller crescent pointed toward the below, while the other slashed outward away from my body. I’d seen these types of weapons long ago in a book about ancient warriors of the north, and the name echoed up from my distant memories.
“Double-antlered bagua tomahawk,” I whispered under my breath.
Suddenly, the hairs at the back of my neck raised, and I half-turned to see what was happening, but before I could do any of that, a massive force slammed into me. The heavy feet in silk slippers smashed into my already bruised ribs, and before I had time to steady myself, I slammed down onto the cobblestones. My eyesight blurred, and my breathing hitched while an immense weight pressed into my chest. Hot, rancid breath hit my face while my vision slowly returned, and a sea of black entered my focus, then slowly, the eyes above the massive swatch of fabric over the woman’s face.
The sickening yellow of her irises were wild with a feral madness. Her hitching breathy sounded almost like the panting of a dog, but as the woman reached up a single dirty talon to pull down her face-covering, I slowly realized it wasn’t breathing… it was insane, maniacal laughter. The woman’s face was unbelievably thin and long like that of a canine’s muzzle, and a thin line stretched out from the corners of her mouth. Her nearly non-existent lips were coated in bubbling saliva, and as the muffled laughter grew louder, her mouth unhinged.
