Redux: Lineage

The scramble to get dressed and back into the courtyard was filled with panic and desperation. I barely managed to get out of the main building in the compound before a giant ball of fiery rock smashed into it, destroying it nearly instantly. I was thrown by the impact, slamming hard into a wooden cart and dropping down to the ground as chunks of rubble were tossed everywhere. Pain exploded in my chest as I tried to push myself off, the initial agony caused by the impact making it impossible to move, and my ears were still ringing from the explosion.

I felt the ground vibrate moments before I was dragged up and thrown over somebody's shoulder, roaring in pain as the damaged, and possibly torn, muscle in my back was forcibly flexed. I was then carried into a basement by the back wall of the compound and gently yet roughly set down on a bale of hay. My eyes focused on Zane, his forehead split with blood pouring down over his smoke-blackened face.

He said something, my lack of lip-reading skills failing me miserably, before placing a hand against my ear. He gritted his teeth angrily and pulled his hand back, fingers soaked with blood. I only realised at this point that the explosion had burst my ear drums... that I'd gone deaf immediately. I'd been nowhere close to Heimili and a single one of her off-hand attacks had crippled me, possibly for life. I spotted Zane turning his head and yelling at someone in the entrance to the cellar. Lot soon made herself visible as she ran into my field of vision, her clothing soaked with blood, but I was unable to tell whether it was hers or not. They spoke briefly about something before Lot placed her hands next to my ears, her palms glowing brightly before my hearing was restored.

"Anywhere else hurt?" Lot asked in as calm a manner as she could muster.

"My... my back," I said, barely able to breathe without pain shooting through me.

"I'm gonna need to move you forward," she said, trying to comfort me. "Only for a moment, though. Can you manage?"

"I don't really have a choice," I said with a forced chuckle.

Lot moved me forwards, more pain rocketing through my body before her soothing magic made quick work of whatever injuries I had. I only noticed once she was done that I hadn't been able to feel my legs at all. Getting thrown by the blast had broken my spine; I'd been paralysed during the impact. I would've been rendered deaf and unable to walk, provided I survived at all without Zane dragging me down here.

"Where are the others?" I asked, now able to speak properly without spasms of agony.

"I don't know," Zane answered. "They were on the other side of the compound when the attack happened."

"I'll get in contact with Grael," I said, focusing on our mental link and yelling out to him.

"Richter!" he yelled in a mix of fear and relief. "Thank the gods you're okay. I felt your pain a few moments ago. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I nodded. "Where are you? Is Annerose with you?"

"Yes, she's here with Angela and Celana as well," Grael answered. "We're trying to keep as many of those damn meteors from hitting the compound."

"Why the hell are their meteors to begin with?!" I asked in a confused manner. "Dragons don't have that kind of power."

"We'll figure that out later!" Grael barked. "Do you know where Zane and Lot are?"

"Here with me," I answered. "Where are you?"

"By the western gate," Grael said. "If you can make it here, do so quickly!"

I cut the connection with Grael at that point, got up, and informed the other two of what was happening.

"Then we need to get moving," Zane said quickly.

"Hold on one moment," Lot said, closing the cut on Zane's head and clearing the blood from his face. "We need you at your best."

"Thanks," Zane nodded before eyeing the way out of the cellar. "We need to move, now."

The three of us bounded up the old stone steps, breaking out into the hellish battle ground to see more than just the ruined compound. There were bodies of the Barb Tails littering the area, the dirt and snow stained with blood, only there was something not right about the corpses. They were dismembered, some even being disemboweled, with weapons and shields scattered about the area.

"This isn't right," Zane growled, drawing his greatsword and looking at the bodies. "Stay close..."

I did the same with my sword, sliding it out of its scabbard and eyeing the area; I heard Lot’s magic flare up once more as she prepared elemental attacks. There was a sudden screech from behind us as Zane was tackled to the floor by a mess of teeth and wings before he swatted it away. Once back on his feet, he brought his greatsword down onto the... thing's head and cleaved its skull in two. The three of us looked at whatever it was that attacked him. I made the initial assumption that it was a Wyvern upon seeing the creature’s wings, teeth, and claws... but whatever the hell it was, it wasn't a Wyvern anymore.

The body had cuts and ruptures all over it that oozed red, oily fluid. The bones and joints were broken and warped with large, black, crystalline shapes protruding all over the creature's body. Its two eyes had been split across the head and formed into one due to the injury, and its tongue was barbed and vicious-looking as it hung from the mouth of the corpse.

"What in the gods’ names is that?" Lot asked, the Elf truly horrified by what she was looking at.

"I think it used to be a Wyvern," I said, looking over the body once more and recognising familiar injuries on its body. "I... I've already killed this thing."

"Why didn't you tell us this was prowling around out here?" Zane asked.

"Because it wasn't like this when I killed it," I answered. "Grael and I killed loads of Wyverns a few days ago and this was one of them... something brought it back to life and turned it into this."

"I'm sensing very strong demonic energy coming from it," Lot said, holding her hand out above the corpse. "And I'm getting a very faint feeling that this isn't the only one."

"If someone brought this one back to life," I said, looking around the area. "Then there's a high chance they resurrected them all. The question is..."

"Who did it?" Zane asked.

"Forget about that for now," Lot said. "We need to get to the others and fast."

We made our way through the compound, taking note of the enormous yellow barrier that had been erected around it as Angela's handiwork. The barrier was keeping strong and showing nary a crack as it was bombarded with more of the meteors that continued to rain down all around us. We made our way into the small stone building, seeing members of the Barb Tail clutching at crushed bones or burned flesh while others laid sheets over the already dead. I spotted Celana tending to the wounds of another Nekomata with long, black hair.

"Ressa!" Zane called out to the catgirl, indicating that he knew who she was, before rushing over to her.

The catgirl blinked her grey eyes for a long moment, trying to focus on Zane as he knelt down next to her. I ignored the little conversation for a moment as I walked over to Celana, gripping her shoulder and asking where the others were.

"Annerose and Grael went outside a few moments ago," she said in a slightly-panicked tone. "Said they needed to keep the way clear for you."

"That explains the dead Wyvern," I mumbled, patting her on the shoulder as I stood up. "Zane, we're going to get Annerose and Grael."

"Right," Zane nodded, placing a hand on the shoulder of the black-haired Nekomata and smiling. "You stay here and rest up, okay?"

"Sure thing, champ," she said, coughing quietly before nodding at him.

The two of us headed outside and heard the loud sounds of steel clashing against steel over a destroyed wall. We ran over to the sound and spotted Annerose and Grael engaged in battle with something that didn't belong on this plane of existence. It was a humanoid creature known as a Sinner's Remnant; a corpse with darkness in its heart resurrected by demonic magic and forced to fight for a master in a similar manner to Necromancy. The Remnant was well over seven feet tall, clad in hulking, charred armour and wielding a monstrous greatsword in one hand and a greatshield in the other. Dark fog spilled from the visor in its armour and red light shined out through cracks in the armour.

Annerose seemed to be struggling against the armoured enemy, her longsword making no impact on the armour and the stabs she landed in the gaps in it leaving no impact on the Remnant. Zane charged over to her before I did, swinging his greatsword directly at the Remnant and slamming it straight into its back. The impact sent the creature sprawling to the floor, the rattle of heavy armour accompanied by a pained, monstrous groan from it as it staggered back to its feet. It lifted and brought its sword down in a mighty cleave only to have it stopped by Zane stepping forward and catching its wrist.

He reached up with his other hand, hooking the tips of his fingers into the gaps in the chest plate and, without dropping his own sword, tore the armour clean off and revealed a rotten, moulding torso. He then pulled his sword arm back, shoved the Remnant forward, and plunged his greatsword as far into the creature's chest as it could go before hitting the plate on the other side. He then twisted the large blade, ribs snapping and flesh tearing, before kicking the vile hell-spawn off his sword and onto the ground.

More red light began to spill out from the new wounds as the Remnant starting convulsing and twitching, more fog pouring out of the visor before it exploded in a dark mass of black energy, the shockwave causing Zane to stagger back slightly but still stay on his feet. He then turned to Annerose, placing a hand on the panting girl's shoulder before she gave him a smile and a wave.

"Thanks, big guy," she said. "I owe you one."

"Add it to the count," he shrugged with a smirk. "Now... why the fuck are there demonic creatures running around?"

"There's more than just that one?" Annerose asked.

"We've seen Wyverns that have been brought back to life in a similar way," I nodded as I walked over, looking down at Grael's and seeing his fur matted with blood. "You hit?"

"Just a scratch," he said in a low growl. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Lot sorted me out," I nodded, remembering just how close I was to being a permanent cripple. "Anyone got any ideas as to what the fuck's going on here?"

"If I had to wager, Heimili seems to have partnered with a rather strong demon," Grael said. "I cannot guess the reason, but that seems to be what's happening."

"Great," I sighed. "Because a Narrowscale Matriarch wasn't bad enough."

"And let's not forget Luna left half an hour ago," Annerose growled.

"That can't be a coincidence," Grael said in a snarling tone. "Somebody's been watching us."

"Wonder if it's Heimili's demon friend?" Annerose suggested.

"We'll ask her when we see her," I said, looking over the city and spotting the enormous dragon breathing what appeared to be streams of acid onto the castle. "Does... does she look weird to you guys?"

Once I'd pointed it out, they all took a look at the colossal beast. Her once snow-white scales were marred with burns and charring, her eyes were visibly black and smoking, even from this distance, and the same black crystals that were on the Wyvern seemed to be attached to her body in places as well.

"Demonic corruption," I growled, putting a name to the strange transformation. "What do we think? Soul for power, as always?"

"Seems like it," Zane nodded. "Also means the big girl's probably got a whole new bag of tricks as well."

"Because meteors and Sinner's Remnants weren't bad enough," I growled, looking up at the still-falling meteors piling down on Angela's shield. "Right, we need to regroup and evacuate this place as soon as possible. Angela's strong, but I don't want her wasting any more of her energy blocking these damn meteors than she needs to."

"Where is she?" Zane asked Annerose.

"She was in what was left of the war room last time I saw her," Annerose answered. "The roof had gotten blown off and it gave her a pretty clear view of where she needed to put the shield."

"Then we get everyone in there with her and come up with a damn plan," I said, casting my eyes back to the demonic-infused dragoness that was raising cain back at the castle. "But first, we need to get all the survivors in the cellar by the left wall. Being underground is the best place to be once that shield gets dropped and we move on Heimili."

"Sounds like a plan," Annerose nodded.

"Grael, you go see Lot and get that wound on your leg closed up," I said to him. "We need you at your best."

"Right, fine," he said with a sigh, not a fan of being babied in such a manner, but knowing better than to disagree.

Once we'd all been patched up and gathered in the war room, Angela remained in the position we found her: cross-legged on the table itself with her eyes closed. She needed to focus all her efforts on keeping the barrier up and couldn't allow it to slip for a second lest the barrier be shattered by the immeasurable force of the impacts. Celana was also extremely anxious, pacing back and forth frantically and keeping her eyes locked onto the castle.

"So... what's our plan here?" Annerose asked. "The Barb Tails, our army, are either dead or too injured to help us, their armoury has been completely destroyed, and their base of operations doesn't exist anymore."

"Not only that, but we're also dealing with a super-powered dragon that's laying siege to the city," Zane added in. "And we lost our strongest fighter less than an hour ago."

"Really doesn't look good, does it?" I asked with a sigh. "The plan is as it always was: kill her. We just need to move faster now."

"But we've lost our army," Annerose said.

"Though we have gained the Royal Guard," Grael pointed out.

"Which won't exist for very much longer unless we hurry up and get Heimili away from the castle," Celana said in an irritated manner, walking over to the table and pointing at the castle. "The wards I've built up around that place aren't going to hold forever. That castle may be sturdy, but it’s not impregnable. Especially not with a dragon beating the door down."

"I'm willing to wager that they'd have sealed those big doors, right?" Grael asked the court mage.

"Without doubt," Celana nodded. "But I'm not sure what good they're going to do if Heimili tears the roof off and goes in from there."

"Any evacuation routes in the throne room?" I asked.

"Sadly, no," Celana growled. "The original architects of the castle forwent the addition of a secret passage due to their belief in their door design."

"Don't ever get cocky," Zane said with a shrug. "So, you desperate to go and get your queen?"

"Of course I am," she nodded. "She'll be safe in the castle so long as Heimili isn't near it."

"So then let's go with our initial strategy of cutting her wings off," I said, looking at Angela. "Once she's grounded, we can move in for the kill."

"Wish we could've gotten a few extra swords on hand and a few people to use them," Grael said in a quiet tone.

"Ressa should be able to help," Zane commented.

"That's the other Neko, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah, she's Karra's second-in-command and the best she's got," Zane nodded. "Can we ask her for help?"

"Fuck, I'd take help from a blind man with broken legs and half his head cut off at this point," I said with a shrug. "If she's as capable as you say she is, then I'm gonna be tripping down those stairs just to ask her for help. Go get her to meet us at the front gate of the compound and wait till we're finished putting everyone into the cellar. Once that's done, we can move on Heimili."

"Right," Zane said, moving out of the war room and heading down the stairs.

"Angela, be ready to drop this thing and get the hell out of here on my command," I said to the blonde mage.

She didn't verbally respond, but I knew she understood me. With that, the rest of us assisted with the evacuation, closing up the cellar and telling them not to come out until we came back. Once that was done, I hollered up to Angela for her to drop the shield and move back with the party. The accomplished mage did one better, expanding the shield rapidly and throwing several of the meteors back at Heimili, the impacts briefly knocking her from the sky and getting her attention.

Angela then propelled herself through the hole in the roof of the war room. She landed in front of us, rolled, and continued walking with a smile on her face.

"If this skank has smashed my guild, I'm pissing on her corpse," she said as she headed out of the gate.

"Don't ruin my specimen, Angela!" Celana barked as she hurried after her.

Grael, Annerose, and I all looked at each other with confused expressions before a loud, catty yawn was heard behind us. We turned around to see Ressa dressed in chainmail armour with several steel plates positioned across her arms, legs, and shoulders. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail and her grey eyes were narrowed, accompanied by Zane standing behind her with his greatsword in hand.

"You two ready to go?" I asked them.

"Yup," Ressa nodded. "Can't wait to kill this thing. It cost me a job."

"Well, I'll make sure to find you a new one," I said with a nod, seeing Heimili climb back into the sky with furious beats of her wings, eyeing up the compound with pure fury. "But first..."

Heimili seemed to abandon her siege of the castle, flying towards us at breakneck speed. We knew the ruined compound was a bad place to engage her. Too much rubble and nowhere near enough clear space to properly move and fight.

"Oh no you don't!" Angela's furious voice bellowed from the town square.

Suddenly, an enormous yellow mallet appeared in the air beside Heimili and swung into her sides, sending her flying off to the side towards the town centre. The attack was followed up by an enormous clawed hand appearing to catch her and brutally slam the dragon into the stone ground; despite being out of view, the sound of the cobblestone path shattering was more than audible.

"We best hurry up before she kills it for us," Ressa said. "I want at least a slice at the thing."

With that, the speedy little Neko blitzed off towards the town centre with sword in hand. We exchanged looks with one another, eventually shrugging and following after the excited catgirl. We made our way past the ruined buildings and into the town centre. As we approached, several Sinner's Remnants appeared from portals in the floor, each clutching at different weapons ranging from maces to great hammers, and converging on Celana and Angela.

Ressa proved to be an ample distraction for them all, dashing and slicing just enough to get their attention before Zane came barreling in, using his greatsword to cut clean through unarmoured arms and throats in a single swing. Annerose seemed to find her home on the battlefield next to Ressa, the two of them making short work of their 'assigned' Remnants, while Grael and I made our move for the ones directly surrounding the two mages. Lot kept to her work, shielding us from Heimili's breath attacks by diverting the powerful blasts, but struggled to do anything against her new demonic attacks. This was where Angela came into play, managing to keep her mind on her opponents and yet somehow still focus on blocking the meteor attacks and dark energy blasts the dragon spat out.

I rushed at one of the Remnants, cleaving open its stomach that was exposed from its damaged armour and seeing more of that same red light shine out through the injury. Grael leapt upwards, closing his teeth around the throat of the demonic entity and tearing it straight out.

He landed down beside me, shoulder charging another one to the floor and allowing me to pierce its skull with my blade, killing it instantly. Throwing a glance across the battlefield, I spotted more of the demonic Wyverns flying in. Celana seemed to notice them as well and was doing her best to shoot them out of the sky. The attacks were ineffective, barely denting the corrupted scales of the Wyverns and she seemed to notice this. She then reached behind her, stuffing her fingers into a pouch on her belt and pulling out a large metallic-looking card. She closed her eyes and the card began to shine brightly, leaving a trail of sparkling energy behind it as Celana threw it high into the air.

The card then erupted into light, transforming into an enormous crystal dragon that released a ground-shaking roar. Its enormous crystal wings were large enough to knock the corrupted Wyverns out of the sky through force alone. The beast landed mere feet away from Heimili and roared defiantly at the titanic Narrowscale. Heimili's eyes lit up with rage once more, clearly offended at the sight of the crystal dragon, and charged at it. Her larger form tackled the crystal dragon easily, and the two began biting and slashing at each other with their claws.

With Heimili distracted by the crystal dragon, we were free to take on the rest of the Remnants and the Wyverns. We regrouped in the centre of the square, each one of us adding to the pile of bodies more and more as they kept coming.

"Anyone got any purification magic?" I asked aloud.

"Do I look like a Sunlight Priestess to you?" Celana barked angrily.

"Nope, you’re much too good of a lay for that," I smirked, ducking behind Zane and moving over to Celana to cover her from a Remnant's strikes while she drew another card to summon up a crystal Direwolf that was slightly taller than Grael.

"I'm beginning to feel a little inadequate right now," Grael chuckled as he bucked a Remnant over with his hind legs, much like a horse.

"Sorry, dear," Celana chuckled, narrowly avoiding getting her head cleaved off by a Remnant with a battle axe. "Needs must, and all."

"Fair enough," Grael sighed, pinning a Remnant down long enough for Zane to crush its head with the pommel of his greatsword.

"Good work, buddy," Zane said, petting Grael on the head before pivoting on his heel to block a strike from another Remnant. "Anne!"

"On it!" the nimble fighter called back, ducking away from her own battle and plunging her new longsword into the neck of the Remnant, wrenching it sideways and tearing the creature's throat out. "One more for me! Get to work, big guy."

Zane rolled his eyes before spotting a Remnant moving towards Ressa's flank. He grabbed Grael by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up into the air before throwing him across the square and allowing him to tackle the Remnant to the floor. The Direwolf proceeded to rip the demon's head clean off before spitting it out and turning back to Zane.

"A little warning next time, please?" he asked.

"No promises," Zane smirked, cleaving through the collarbone of a Wyvern that wanted to try its luck.

"Your sword a moment?" Celana asked, pressing her back against mine.

"Sure," I said, booting a Remnant's kneecap and causing the leg to snap back the wrong way.

I held my sword out to the court mage, who proceeded to rub her finger down the length of the blade a split second before it erupted into flames.

"You never seem to amaze me with the magic you work on a shaft," I chuckled, using the blazing blade to cut and burn through the Remnant's head.

"Is it a common thing for you to sexually harass your compatriots in battle?" Celana asked me.

"Yes!" Annerose called back over.

"Only the pretty ones," I said, giving her a wide grin.

"Shut up and get killing," she said, pushing away from me and leaping at a Wyvern with a flaming palm, burning straight through the creature's head.

I watched her for a brief moment only to be tackled to the floor by Grael just before an axe swung right over where my head is.

"She has a fantastic ass, we get it," he said as he once again bucked the Remnant away from me. "But is it really worth dying for?"

"I-"

"-don't answer that," Grael said quickly, biting down on the strap on my chest and heaving me back to my feet. "Don't you dare answer that."

I cast my eyes over to the crystal dragon and Heimili, the crystal beast clearly on the losing side of the struggle as it had several large chunks smashed out of it, one of its wings torn off, and its entire lower jaw missing. Heimili continued to beat and batter the other dragon with her claws and tail, smashing it through buildings continuously in a matter of seconds. With how badly this dragon was losing to the true beast, we didn't have long before Heimil returned to the fray.

Speaking of Celana's monsters, the Direwolf she'd summoned was shattered to pieces by the hammer of a truly enormous Remnant, clad head-to-toe in pristine armour with a single arrow sticking out of his eye. I then heard Celana roar in pain, looking back at her to see her drop to one knee with blood spurting from her side and a Wyvern's barbed tail lodged into it. I attempted to move towards her only to be blocked off by two of my own Wyvern's attacks, only managing to deflect them but making no ground on them.

Celana was nearly surrounded by Remnants at this point, one of them raising its sword high in the air to cleave straight through the injured mage's neck before Angela leaped in, booting the sword from the Remnant's hand with a rather impressive backwards somersault move. She landed lightly on her feet and summoned up a large yellow spike around her arm that she then plunged all the way through the Remnant's bare stomach. She then wrenched her arm to the side, tearing clean through the Remnant's abdomen and stabbing the spike into the Wyvern's head, killing it instantly. She tore the spiked tail out of Celana's side, blood and flesh being torn away with it, before checking her pulse.

"She alive?" I asked, letting Zane assist with the two Wyverns in the form of slicing their heads off.

"She's hurt!" Angela nodded, pointing to the visible organs, ruined muscle, and chipped bones in Celana's side. "Lot?!"

"Coming!" the Elven warrior called back, using a powerful blast of wind to knock all of her opponents down onto the ground and rushing over to Celana. "Oh no..."

"Can you fix her?" Angela asked.

"Yes, but not quickly," she nodded. "I'll need at least fifteen minutes to fully repair her."

"Is there a minimum fix to where she can survive?" Angela asked. "We don't need her fighting fit, just stable."

"I'm afraid not," she said. "This level of damage is so severe that I need to fix all of her."

"Can we cover for Lot?" she asked the rest of us.

"For how long?" Zane asked.

"Fifteen minutes?" Lot asked in a meek tone.

"Probably," I nodded. "Just get somewhere safe and get her fixed up. We'll take it from here."

"Try not to die while I'm gone, please?" she asked the group, receiving a collection of 'no promises' in response.

With that, Lot used her magic to clear a path through the carnage while Angela and I covered their retreat.

"Think we can manage without her?" I asked the blonde fighter.

"We'll have to," she sighed, cracking her knuckles and summoning up a small series of spinning blades, twirling her finger around. "Hit the deck!"

Everyone looked in Angela's direction and, seeing what she had planned, immediately threw themselves to the floor as she unleashed the spinning blades of death, slicing and cutting through nearly everything in a matter of moments, spilling blood and black fog all over the place.

Leaving only the giant Remnant standing.

"Where the fuck do you even get a guy that big?" Angela asked in a shocked manner, staring at the nine foot behemoth as he raised his enormous sword for a strike aimed at Annerose and Ressa.

Before the strike could land however, Zane put himself in the danger zone, swatting aside the giant's blade with his greatsword and causing the titanic weapon to bury itself into the stone ground.

"Angela?" Zane asked the guild master.

"Right!" she yelled out, rocketing forward and leaping into the air, summoning up an enormous hammer and bringing it down on the giant's face, crushing the helmet and skull inside it.

She landed light while the Remnant landed hard, the sound of metal crushing and stone smashing being audible to us all. Just as the giant Remnant fell, Heimili overcame the crystal dragon, smashing its skull into a thousand pieces with mighty punch. Just at this moment, more Remnant began to climb out of portals in the floor, pushing their numbers up higher and higher. We all gathered in one group again, tired and spent, panting in exhaustion as the effort this battle had taken began to weigh upon us.

"So..." Heimili snarled as she stormed over to us, her black-stained claws tearing up the pavement. "This is it? The Alicorn have sent this pathetic little troupe after me? Is this truly all Celestia can muster?"

"No..." I said in a cocky manner. "It's all she thinks you're worth. She would've sent a the palace gardener after you... but he refuses to work with your kind of dirt."

Heimili snapped instantly, charging forward with a mighty leap, jaws open and aimed for me, only to be smashed aside by a construct fist that Angela had created with what little remained of her strength.

"Sit down, honey," she spat. "The boy's not done mocking you yet."

"Why... you insolent... pitiful... worthless excuse for-" Heimili began only to have her face smashed into the ground by the same fist once more.

"Shush, bitch," Angela remarked.

Heimili seemed to lose all rationale here. She lifted her head back and screamed in a manner so loud that it was nearly deafening. Her primal bellow soon became corrupted, black smoke billowing more and more from her mouth as the strange black crystal on her body continued to grow and encompass her. It turned her stained scales completely black, morphing and warping her body into something hideous. It opened cracks in her scales that black ooze began to flow out of and her bones broke and snapped into strange positions as another set of wings tore from her back and spilled more of that black ooze everywhere.

"What's she doing?" Ressa asked.

"She's trading more of her soul for power," Angela answered, gritting her teeth furiously. "The coward."

"What?" the catgirl asked.

"I'll explain later," Angela said, only to pause briefly and look around at the overwhelming odds we seemed to be facing. "Well... if there is a later for us."

"Mongrels! Filth! Creatures born from dirt and sodomy!" Heimili screamed with her damaged vocal cords. "I shall purge your kind, nay...all kind from this rotten world and build anew! All shall fall before me and I shall reign as queen!"

"And she's gone off the deep end," I sighed in an annoyed manner. "Why can't we ever fight sane mass-murdering demons?"

"You guys have a history of this?" Ressa asked as Heimili continued to thrash and rant.

"Yup," Annerose nodded.

"It's a good story," Grael added on. "A good one to tell on a dark and stormy night by a fire."

"It's got a few racy bits in it, but you don't have to hear about it if you don't want to," I chuckled. "The dinner was my favourite part, though. Those dips were incredible."

"Spooks, sex, and sauce?" Ressa asked with a wide smile. "I need to start hanging out with you guys more often."

"Can we focus a little here?" Grael asked, getting our attention back onto the dragon who had just turned herself into demon, spilling black ooze all over the ground with a new set of wings, fangs too large for her mouth, long, gnarled horns, and a serious attitude problem.

"D'you think Luna would be able to help us if she were here?" Annerose asked. "Does this count as part of the Rite?"

"Honestly?" I began. "I don't think she'd care if it was part of the Rite or not."

"I miss Luna," Annerose sighed.

The jolly bit of regret and fear was soon interrupted by the Remnants making their move, the black ooze seeming to empower them something fierce. Each move they made kept each and every one of us on our toes, forcing us to fight at the best we could to so much as get a hit in on one of them. We were outnumbered and out of options at this point, not to mention that Heimili was in the fight with no distractions whatsoever. She rained down meteors, fire, acid, ice, lightning, and all other kinds of attacks that Angela barely had any time to block, several of them getting through to her and hurting her rather badly.

The fight soon turned for the worst with Zane taking several bad hits from two Remnants and being disarmed, Annerose and Ressa being knocked nearly unconscious, Grael having his leg slashed clean open and several of his teeth knocked out, Angela sent flying through a nearby building, and me having my arm broken clean in half by a brutal kick from one of the Remnants, which sent me rolling and sprawling by the impact alone. Pain shot through my body, my arm broken, face cut from the roll, and other injuries too plentiful to name. I attempted to crawl towards my sword, hearing a vicious roar of pain from Grael and feeling it through our link.

Anger ripped through me, giving me the strength to ignore the pain I felt as I crawled towards my sword, invigorated by the pain everyone was experiencing... only it wasn't enough. A Remnant mockingly kicked my sword away before booting me in the chest, shattering ribs and causing me to spit blood onto the broken cobble.

"Back to the dirt," Heimili snarled from the centre of the square. "Like the worms you all are."

The Remnant closed its hand around my throat, hoisting me up into the air and cocked its arm back, ready to run me through on its sword and kill me here and now. I kept eye contact with the monster, seeing the dark fog spill from its helmet. But I wasn't going to die screaming and begging. As my last act of defiance, I cocked my hand back and slammed it into the helmet, splitting the skin on my knuckles and causing more pain to erupt through me, even more than just the broken ribs.

"Fuck you," I said, literally spitting on the Remnant and staining its armour with blood.

This was it. It was all over, here and now. My friends and I were all going to die at the hands of a corrupted, defamed dragoness and her batch of hellspawns... it was a good life while it lasted, I thought.

However, it seemed that someone saw fit to keep us all going a while longer. A certain someone that I never expected to see walk into this fight.

Before she appeared, however, there was an explosion in the centre of the square, landing atop Heimili's skull and spreading outwards from there. As the warm, holy light embraced the courtyard, the Remnant began falling apart and my injuries began to heal, even as I landed hard on my knees. I recognized the effects of Sunlight Magic immediately, turning around and watching all the other Remnant fall to pieces and my friends recover from their injuries.

"I once held you as a hero..." a familiar voice growled. "You were once my idol, the thing I aspired to be..."

I turned around and spotted the speaker: a very familiar woman with an unfamiliar look on her face.

"I was sung to sleep by songs of your valour and grace," Svea snarled, firing bolts of Sunlight Magic at Heimili, each one chipping off more and more of her darkened scales, revealing the ruined white once beneath them. "I was raised hearing tale after tale of your kindness and strength of heart!"

"Traitor!" Heimili screeched, firing a beam of dark magic that Svea merely swatted aside as if it were nothing.

"And here I find you, swallowed whole by the darkness you once fought to destroy!" Svea roared, tears falling from her cheeks as she poured her heart at. "You are a mockery of everything you yourself once stood for! You have thrown yourself into the darkness and cast aside everything that made you what you were!"

"You cannot harm another dragon!" Heimil screeched, clearly scared of the magic Svea was wielding.

"You are no dragon!" Svea bellowed, the ground itself shattering underneath her as a powerful wind swept up all around her body, throwing chunks of stone and rubble around. "You are nothing more than a blight on this world!"

Svea cupped her hands, launching them forward and firing a beam of golden magic that stripped the darkness away from Heimili's body, reducing her back to her normal state, panting and wheezing.

"And I assure you," Svea snarled, walking over to Heimili and placing a hand above her forehead. "I will take great pleasure in cleansing this world of your filth."

Heimili reacted, throwing her head forward and knocking Svea back. The former Matriarch beat her wings furiously, summoning up a gale that had no effect on Svea, firing breath attacks down at the much younger woman, only for her to use her Sunlight Magic to protect herself. Heimili dropped onto the floor, staring in fear at Svea.

"The Council will skin you for this!" Heimili roared. "Think of your mother! Your sister!"

"If I am to be blamed for this, I shall take that blame alone," Svea said, casting her eyes over to me and nodding.

I retrieved my sword, signaling to Grael mentally to get up before looking to all the others, each one of us fully restored by Svea's power and ready to fight against Heimili.

"I will take exile with a smile and a song for this," she said, allowing us to circle in on Heimili, the dragoness noticing our advance. "Because I shall take solace in knowing that my crime was removing a false idol like you."

Heimili tried to take to the air at this point, flapping her wings as she leapt upwards, only to have two mighty construct axes cleave straight through her wing joints, blood spewing everywhere as she dropped hard onto her side.

"Zane!" I yelled at the taller man.

The brute gripped his greatsword with both hands, rushed towards Heimili, and slammed the blade into her with a mighty upwards slash, bowling her over entirely and exposing her softer scales on her belly.

"Annerose! Ressa!" I called out, the two girls rushing forward and, with great synchronisity, rushed up Heimili's body and plunged their blades deep into her body, both dragging them downwards in a different direction and cutting her stomach wide open.

Moving in for the coup de grâce just as Heimili attempted to roll back over, I threw myself forward, mustering up all my power into my arms as I plunged my longsword downwards, stabbing her through her lower jaw and through the rest of her skull, deep into her brain. Heimili's body stiffened for a long moment as I rested on her jaw, her tail twitching and extremities moving for several more moments before she went entirely limp... the last of her life force drained out of her as I twisted my blade, making sure to do as much damage as possible.

I wrenched my sword out of her skull, staggering backwards and collapsing onto the ground, panting in exhaustion as I dropped my blade. The others gathered around me, dropping down next to me as Svea walked over, examining the dragon, no... the corpse of the dragon with an eager eye.

"We did it," I said in a delighted manner, looking at all the others around me. "We fucking did it!"

"Ah... I don't feel like this is really happening," Annerose said in a shocked manner. "We're dragon slayers now, right?"

"Yup," Zane nodded with a wide smile. "Yes we are."

I looked over at Grael, the Direwolf still not having joined us as he was digging around in the rubble of the inn. I watched him for a long moment, seeing him pull something from the wreckage of the bar before padding back over to us, dropping what he'd brought in my lap and sitting down next to me.

"Don't say I didn't do my job," he chuckled.

I looked down at what he'd brought: a glass bottle. It had somehow survived the destruction of the inn. I picked it up and read the label with a smile on my face.

"Hestew's Honey-Brewed Whiskey," I read aloud, wide smiles spreading onto the faces of everyone gathered around except for Ressa.

"What?" she asked, looking at both of us.

"It's a bit of an in-joke," Zane said. "Hang around for a while and you'll get to know a few of them."

I nodded along before looking up at Svea with a worried expression. I got to my feet and wandered over her, wiping the blood of the other dragon off my sword and sheathing it over my back.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"I'm fine," she nodded, turning around to look at me with a gentle expression. "It's a good thing I arrived when I did, hm?"

"Indeed it is," I nodded. "Where'd you learn how to perform Sunlight Magic?"

"I picked it up off a travelling priestess a few months ago," she said, showing me the small sunlight charm she held in her hand. "She told me it would be useful for healing and purifying abominations... didn't think I'd be using the latter for a while."

"It's good you did," I said, staring at Heimili's corpse. "So... how long should we wait before expecting you at the castle for your tutelage on humans?"

"A good while," she answered. "I'll have to bring this event before The Council and face their judgement. If they view this as a crime... then expect me a lot sooner and for a lot longer."

"I'll be waiting eagerly," I said with a smile, holding out a hand. "Thanks, Svea."

"Don't mention it," she said, shaking my hand before giving me a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you in the near future."

With that, she wandered off through the wreckage of the city. I turned around to my little group, each of them taking a brief swig from the whiskey bottle as a brief method of self-congratulations.

"We ready to go find Lot and Celana?" I asked. "I get the feeling that court mage is gonna be busy putting the city back together."

"Then what?" Zane asked. "We waiting for Luna to come back?"

"I figure that's the best option," I nodded. "Because I cannot be fucked to ride all the way back home. Especially after the week we've had."