End of an Era: The Upheaval

The shield projected by Shining Armor finally crumbled, with a sound like shattered glass which reverberated across the Crystal Empire. Queen Chrysalis wasted no time, as she led the charge into the Crystal Palace, the damaged wall at the front easily collapsed under brute force. Likewise, more of her swarm followed the tunnels made earlier, to spill in from another direction. Wings buzzed when more of the oversized insects swooped in from above, a few stray maids snatched and carried off amidst screams, while Fiery Kickstart and his military branch launched a counter-offensive.

Within the throne room, a sweat-soaked Shining collapsed unconscious on his throne. “Protect the queen,” reminded Thunder Storm, who planted what he hoped wasn't a farewell kiss on his wife's cheek. She shot him a concerned look, and kissed his cheek in return for luck as he left.

Night Blade also embraced his wife, Moonflower. He said, “Fare you well, my beloved.”

“And you,” she replied, as she removed a flower of her namesake from her mane and planted it on his breastplate like a brooch. Know that your daughter and I are ever proud of you, my love.”

Cadance wanted to follow her 'Swords' into battle. Yet she refused to leave her husband alone. Again, she considered escape was possible by way of teleportation...but then her stallions would all be slaughtered, her mares reduced to livestock, and she refused to abandon them like a coward! She too took up the sword, in anticipation for the inevitable, when she'd have to defend those here.

Her free hand brushed her belly, and she wondered if her husband's seed had taken. Fortunately, her memories of a forced dalliance with the hyper-stallion were lost, or else she'd question whether she'd bear Midnight Blitzer's foal instead, and waver over how to explain that to her husband.

A clash of weapons and magical explosions could be heard in the distance, which shook the palace, and mixed with battle cries, screams, and shouted orders amidst the confusion. Again, she remembered the day when they took Sombra's country...but now with the roles reversed.

Was anywhere safe anymore? Could she teleport them elsewhere, and face the end alone...?

The doors to the throne room exploded into chunks. Queen Chrysalis stalked in, her halberd in both hands. “Face me, Queen of Whores! Or will you continue to hide behind your 'Swords'?”

“I accept your challenge,” answered Cadance, who didn't question what happened to her 'Swords', and assumed Chrysalis had slipped past them while they were busy with the almost endless army that swarmed in. She raced to meet her, while their weapons connected in a hiss of metal.

Their weapons crossed and locked, face-to-face while they twitched to break a deadlock. Chrysalis cackled when the alicorn started to falter under her might. “Now, it's made clear, Cadance! My power and skill is far beyond yours! You've become lazy and overly dependent on your 'Swords'!”

Cadance strained, aware that the insect-pony hybrid was physically beyond her.

But their magic? That was a different story! Her horn lit, and a burst of power she unloaded slammed into Chrysalis, who hissed and her scorched breast armor smoked where the beam hit.

“A cheap shot,” snarled Chrysalis, knocked onto her butt while she wiped drool from her chin. She shimmied back to her booted feet, and barely evaded more prismatic beams that zipped around her. The wicked queen's smirk spread when she spotted the unconscious stallion, and the mares that took shelter and hid behind the thrones. “Oh? Maybe the poor queen is distracted?”

Cadance stepped to block her view of them. “You stay away from them, or else...!”

Chrysalis cackled harder, and her own horn released its own wild flurry of blasts, most of them not aimed at the bystanders, but at the ceiling above them as she threatened to bring the throne room down on them. Chunks exploded under the blasts, which Cadance attempted to deflect as her own prism lasers collided with her opponent's. Debris rained down, as the whole interior shook.

“Damn you...!” Cadance knew she'd been forced on the defensive, that she'd lose for sure at this rate. With no recourse, her horn lit, and she used some of her reserves to send her husband and the pair of wives away in a blink to somewhere she hoped would be safer than this.

Unfortunately, the act allowed one of Chrysalis' beams to strike her torso. Cadance was thrown back with a cry, opened her plume as she flipped, landed on her heeled boots, and skidded back. The ceremonial armor, not meant for actual warfare, cracked and a chunk of metal fell away.

“Mmm~, what's this?” Chrysalis licked her chops when she saw one of the love queen's heavy breasts flop out, Cadance apparently oblivious as she seethed and brandished her crystal sword. “Perhaps I'll keep you as my personal pet. Your 'Swords', too, will service me daily!”

“I'd sooner die with my people! But I'd rather send you to Tartarus!” She rushed her with a fierce snarl, and her own sword swipe carved into Chrysalis' armor, knocked off-balance once more while the pair of them traded blows, each stab met with a riposte, like they were locked in a dance.

This time, Chrysalis was forced back with each furious attack from Cadance. Chrysalis balked and her heart skipped, as for a moment her stomach dropped, in fear she'd vastly underestimated her.

A two-handed blow to Chrysalis shattered her chitinous armor, which exploded off her physique and knocked her to the floor, now naked and her halberd slipped far from her hands with a rattle as it rolled across the carpets. The blade tip rested so close at the fallen queen's throat it drew a trickle of colorless blood. “Yield, and call off your forces immediately! Or I'll execute you here!”

Chrysalis trembled. She'd never seen such naked fury in her entire life, not even when she'd slain the lovers of those she'd conquered from other hives. Reluctantly she yelled, “R-retreat...~!” Her voice carried outside the throne room, where her immediate followers reacted with confusion.

“It's like they've lost their minds,” noted Thunder Storm in a nearby hall, the hivemind severed.

“This is our chance,” responded Night Blade from a floor above, as many of the drones ran or wandered blindly, or attacked at random, which made it easier for the ponies to dispatch them. Guardsmen thundered into action beside them, heads and mandibles removed by their blows.

Reduced to more of an inconvenience than a real threat while the effect rippled across the swarm, the cultists redoubled their efforts to support them, but it was clear the tides had turned. Chrysalis whimpered, draped across the floor with a blade at her throat, as her dreams crumbled around her.

She'd intended to beat Cadance in one-on-one combat, and finally prove her superiority, but now with the risk that she'd lose it all, she wished she'd applied her toxins to the halberd's blade!

“Whatever you've done,” said Cadance, who didn't let up. “I'll see you have a fair trial.”

“Bah. You think pony rules apply to me?” Most likely, they'd ship her away to Tartarus, where she'd spend the rest of her life imprisoned like so many other defeated villains.

What both of them failed to notice was, further into the partially collapsed throne room, where the shadows were deepest, a hooded and robed trio moved within the darkness. Each of the cultists raised a unicorn wand, took aim at Cadance's back, and channeled arcane power into the tools.

The three blasts united and struck Cadance's back. She cried out in pain as the wound on her back steamed, and stumbled forward from the impact, only to slam into Chrysalis, who'd seen her chance and shot to her feet. With a hiss, Chrysalis opened her maw, bared her fangs which dripped with her noxious venom, and latched her mouth around the queen's exposed tit as she sank in.

Cadance screamed when venom was directly injected into veins in her bitten breast, and the hateful poisons took affect almost immediately. The alicorn threw herself to the floor, felt like every inch of her was afire, which her eyes widened and she saw thousands of insects crawl across her flesh. “Get them off~!” She ripped what remained of her ceremonial armor away in desperation, brushed and slapped at her denuded flesh, lost in a desperate attempt to remove the vermin she hallucinated.

“Serves you right!” Chrysalis kicked her over while Cadance continued to writhe, scream, and weep like a foal, as her heart raced, she perspired, and palpitations struck her heart. She turned her attention instead to Trixie, Lavender, and Fuchsia. “Well done. But we have a nation to conquer!”

With her fortunes suddenly reserved, Chrysalis mentally communicated with her hive to resume their concentrated assault. Normally, this was only achievable with the queen that birthed them, but with her use of the dark arts she'd learned new ways to warp other drones with her essence, to make the sister hives she'd conquered subservient and loyal to her alone, their individual wills stripped. It's why the one docile creatures turned malicious, poisoned by their queen's malice.

She surrounded Cadance in her aura, and carried her out of the throne room, out into the open where her followers could see their queen's defeat. “Witness,” she commanded with a hiss. “Your beloved queen, brought low by my poisons! See how pitiful she truly is, stricken by terror!”

“My queen!” Thunder Storm pursed his snout, another fallen drone at his feet. Night Blade prepared to swoop in from above, and help Thunder and his men assail the swarm leader.

“Throw down your weapons and surrender,” demanded Chrysalis, who floated a barely conscious Cadance into her arms, and caressed her from behind, one hand sank into a wide pink hip and another cupped around the breast she'd bitten, dotted in a couple of tiny bite marks that oozed her venom. “Or I'll let my poisons finish her off! You have mere minutes to decide before she expires!” She cackled when they waffled, for once even the 'Second Sword' unsure what to do.

Thunder demanded, “You promise the lives of my soldiers and the civilians?”

“You're in no position to negotiate,” snapped back Chrysalis impatiently. “But yes, I'm certain they can still amuse me yet! Throw down your weapons without resistance, and I promise your lives!”

Night Blade hissed at his old friend, “Don't do it!” Yet Thunder Storm, sworn to his queen, drooped his head when he tossed down his blade and ordered everyone there to surrender. Reluctantly, they obeyed his command, the bat stallion included, in the thin hope she would keep her word.

“Take their weapons,” demanded Chrysalis, as her followers obeyed.

“Your promise,” reminded Thunder Storm with a snarl, as he stared at his discolored queen, her veins bunched up across her skin, particularly on the swelled breast that had been bitten.

“Mmm~. Very well,” said Chrysalis, who lifted the bitten titty and craned her head so that she could lift it to her lips, where she latched on and started to suckle fiercely on it. Cadance's whimpers turned to ecstastic moans, delirious while the toxins were siphoned out back into the dark queen.

After the love queen stabilized, Chrysaslis licked her chops. “Throw them in their own dungeons for now. Shining Armor was sent away, but I'll find out where once my little love slut reawakens!” She continued to molest her prey's half-conscious, supple body. “There's another 'Sword' out there. The flame-haired, mustard-colored one. Somehow, I doubt that one will ever surrender!”

A small hope swelled in the other two 'Swords' present, that Fiery may be able to mount a resistance.

When the two 'Swords' were led down the corridors, they ordered more of their men to lay down their arms, and with the sight of a beaten Cadance the fight went out of them. Soon they were stripped of their armor and imprisoned, not far from Ocellus, who sat alone in an empty cell across from them, still trapped in a form which made her a plush triplet to the twin crystal maids.

The sounds of battle continued to die down. An eerie quiet settled over the dim cells, where some of the men sat ot slumped, defeated, while others paced or rattled at the bars. Night Blade murmured, “At least we're still alive. For the moment. But few villains keep their word.”

“It was this or lose the queen,” lamented Thunder Storm, who doubted his decision. He lowered his voice and whispered, “It's all up to Fiery. Maybe he was correct, to try and militarize our nation.”

“And have the people live in constant fear? Morale would drop until they turned on our queen,” he presumed, from how he'd seen Nightmare Moon and Celestia rule their own countries in ancient times, the former by the fear she invoked, the latter with a love her subjects reflected back on her.

“Maybe so,” he answered, defeated as his shoulders slumped. “I pray our wives are safe. I couldn't bear to live without Snowy Blizzard. Our children, too. I'd tried to send the cadets to safety.”

“Keep the faith my friend.” He patted his shoulder. “All tyrants fall eventually.”

“The question is, will any of us survive to see it?” When the 'Swords' cornered Sombra in the Crystal Palace throne room, they'd wounded the madman, but it was Thunder's blade which finished him off. He'd seen the hatred warp the dark stallion's face, as a curse on their nation escaped bitter lips.

Was this the fallen conqueror's revenge from beyond the grave? He didn't want to indulge in superstition, but from all the bizarre stuff he'd seen in his lifetime, anything was possible. Grimly, he met the crestfallen eyes of Ocellus across the tunnel, where she avoided his reproachful stare with flattened ears.

*****

The constant use of his flame left Fiery winded and fatigued, which pushed him to engage in a tactical retreat to the cafeteria, where a number of maids, butlers, civilians, and cadets took shelter from the bloodshed outside. “Bar the doors,” he ordered, and used more of his fire like a blowtorch to melt down spare weapons until they hardened and sealed them in. He knew it wouldn't hold them forever, especially if they had more of those rhino beetles, but it would provide them time to rest and recover, whereupon he could launch a counter-offensive once refreshed.

He checked to see who he could account for. Midnight, Lightning, and Moonlight were there, as were Foal-Bearer and Wet Nurse. He furrowed his brow in puzzlement when he spotted Shining Armor's slumbering form sprawled halfway over a table he'd been seated at, alongside Snowy Blizzard and Moonflower, as the former helped fetch soup and the latter mashed up flowers.

Fiery marched over and asked, “How did you all end up here?”

“The queen teleported us away,” explained Snowy. “We last saw her locked in battle with Chrysalis!”

Moonflower said, “I'll prepare some tonics that will speed the recovery of the wounded. I took a number of rare plants with me from Nocturne's Peak, in case of such a situation.”

“Good call,” admitted Fiery, impressed. “Unfortunately, we don't have much time.”

“Best use it well then,” replied Moonflower, who used water to brew up the mashed petals. She helped Foal-Bearer and Wet Nurse play medic to the wounded, mostly his own soldiers. Gloves, masks, and bloodied aprons covered the twins while they worked to heal and soothe their patients.

He smiled at them on his approach. “You two can do everything.”

“Not really,” admitted Foal-Bearer, forlorn. Blankets were placed in the open space in the cafeteria, where the patients were draped about and tended to. “We're not warriors, like you.”

He shook his head. “We all have our roles to play. People like you are vital to our country!”

“This is true,” admitted Foal-Bearer, who took a needle and thread to sew up a wound.

Wet Nurse added, “Just wish we could do more! I learned a few tricks to help out, and thanks to my connection with sis she's even picked up on some of them, but I can only do so much!”

“No one can carry the entire world on their shoulders,” he mused. “Bah, I sound like Thunder Storm now. I've never been the inspirational type. I prefer to lead by example. I meant what I said. I plan to marry you both, if you'll have me.I don't have a ring to mark the occasion, but-”

“That doesn't matter to us,” replied Foal-Bearer as they tenderly hushed a stallion that moaned in pain. “Come closer. We want to share a secret that no one but our parents and the queen knows.”

He crouched down by them while they moved to whisper into his ears. “Amaranth Carnation,” whispered the wider-hipped mare. “Amethyst Butterfly Coral,” murmured the more buxom twin, a deep blush on their faces, almost like their secret names were an intimate love spell.

“Lovely names that befit crystal mares,” he whispered back as he met their half-lidded eyes.

He left them for the moment, and this time visited the three cadets he knew the most. Midnight and Lightning scarfed down more food to keep their energy up, while Moonlight picked at her own meal, the three of them dressed in spare Wonderbolt uniforms provided by a Wonderbolt commander. He settled near them, and a cafeteria worker fetched him a breakfast of his own.

Yes, he realized, they'd survived yesterday, as dawn started to break outside.

“Sir!” The trio answered and saluted in unison, prepared to stand at attention.

“At ease.” He brushed aside formal discipline with a hand wave. He'd considered their punishment for disobedience, maybe latrine duty for a couple days, but it seemed unimportant now. They could be dead before the sun rose. “I want you to help defend the civilians here.”

All of them lit up at the idea. “We'd be honored to sir,” said the bat mare.

Midnight cast him another salute. “Leave it to us, sir! We won't let you down!”

Lightning nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, none of those nasty bugs will get past us! Um, sir!” She added a note of respect hastily, as her brother kicked her in the shin under the table.

“I'll hold you all to that,” he teased with a forced chuckle, to hide his compartmentalized dread. While they ate, Lightning and Midnight traded shin kicks below, while Moonlight rolled her eyes, used to their sibling rivalry. The first time he'd heard Snowy was pregnant, and with twins at that, Fiery boiled with fury...but he felt no resentment now, almost like a distant uncle to them.

He swallowed down some soup and topped it off with water. Much as he could use some sleep, he dared not take a wink when the enemy could batter down the sealed doors at any moment.

Unfortunately, his fears were realized all too soon when an explosion rocked the cafeteria.

On his feet in an instant, he took the lead with his men, while the other soldiers flocked to block the other sealed up exit. Civilians screamed and panicked, while the cadets tried to help calm them down. Eventually, more magical explosions caved in the hardened molten metal. Instantly, Fiery swept his flamed-sheathed blade in an arc and torched the first wave of would-be invaders.

A thick wall of hellish fire blocked a path, while drones squealed, cooked, and smoked. “Get back,” he warned his men. “Try not to inhale the smoke! I'll hold off these freaks!” He was torn between this side and the other exit, where the soldiers struck back but looked poised to fall.

“Sir,” cried one while a number of them were trampled over. “We'll be overrun...!”

He dared not turn away, since his flames could run wild and out-of-control without him there to mentally command them, and he'd possibly immolate the very ponies he tried to protect!

Snowy Blizzard stepped up. “Let me try! Watch out!” For a moment Fiery balked, almost torn to the point where he'd abandon his post, when the snow-furred pegasus raised her open palms which danced before her. A crackle sounded, when the temperature suddenly dropped at the other exit.

A cold snap froze over the air, and with it, over a dozen of the closest drones and cultists were instantly frozen over to blood and bone. A wall of ice several feet momentarily shut more out.

“I have you,” said Moonflower, as Snowy swooned, spent with the use of her secret power.

Fiery forced himself to focus on his own task at hand, yet he'd seen yet another pony with a mysterious, unknown power which befitted her namesake. Were there others like them, perhaps all over Equestria? He'd seen possible evidence of that already, with what the twins were capable of.

She'd bought them more time, but he knew they couldn't sustain a siege that long, not with all the forces amassed against them. No matter how he looked at it, this was a losing battle, yet he'd never been the type to throw down his sword in defeat. Part of him was tempted to unleash the full brunt of his flames like never before, and take as many of them as he could with him, hopefully Chrysalis included...but the twins, Snowy, Moonflower, the cadets, and the soldiers and civilians that all trusted and depended on him squashed that selfish, self-destructive act of spite.

A woman's voice boomed from the flame-licked hall. “Throw down your sword and surrender!”

“Chrysalis!” Past the inferno, he saw the dark queen encased in a fresh set of chitinous armor with an emerald sheen. She cradled the nude, voluptuous form of the defeated love queen in her arms, which she wantonly molested in a possessive manner. “Your fellow 'Swords' have surrendered! Say it, Cadance!” One hand cupped the delirious pink mare's cheek, while another mashed a teardrop-shaped titty in another palm. “Order them to stand down and submit too, or see them butchered!”

Glazed over eyes met Fiery when she weakly lifted her head. “St-stand down, Fiery. That's an order.”

Fiery couldn't believe what he heard. For a moment, he was almost seized by madness, ready to fly in at his top speed and cut down the evil queen, his own queen be damned! Yet he'd taken a vow. Still he demanded, “And what? You execute all the stallions, and treat the mares like wombs?”

“I promise they'll live...should you obey without question,” mused Chrysalis.

“P-please,” pleaded Cadance, as the wicked queen continued to roll one of her tits while a nail ran circles around her areola, until she pinched a nipple and distended it. “Sh-she's kept her word-”

“So far,” he snapped back, yet he couldn't say another way out of this where they lived, his queen apparently too weakened to mount an offensive or even teleport away. With a snarl, he finally did the unthinkable, and swept the flames away with his will when he threw down his sword. “All of you, stand down! But I warn you, Chrysalis, if you harm anyone here, I'll burn you alive!”

She snickered at the idea, while the last notable pocket of resistance submitted. However, they both recognized each other as the most dangerous person here, Chrysalis aware that he could indeed torch her and a number of his swarm before he was taken down. A number of cultists watched her back on her approach, a number of unicorn horn wands trained on him in case of any deception.

Within less than a full day, the Crystal Empire had fallen.

*****

A decision between the Amazons and minotaurs was made. Zafire Heart and Moon Hammer shook hands a short time after dawn broke. The chieftain used his telescope to peer far away, into the Crystal Empire, and his shoulders slumped. “We're too late. I hoped they'd be able to hold out for a few days, at least. But from what I can tell, it looks like Chrysalis' forces far outnumber their own.”

“We couldn't have made it anyway,” reminded Redrum. “Takes time to prepare and march.”

“And some of our forces would be dead tired on arrival,” further added Zafira. “But this makes no difference. When we arrive, our combined forces can help the survivors retake their nation.”

“Our numbers are limited,” reminded the chieftain. “And we can't leave our home undefended.” There was no choice but to divide their armies even further, for the planned offensive ahead.

Beatrix and her companions listened in, a short distance away from the leaders, who discussed their plans out in the open of the villa. The witch said, “Shame our benefactor didn't send more help...”

“We'll find a way,” said Cerise, still in her cow bikini costume. “You always have before!”

“Yeah...at a terrible cost,” whispered Bea to herself.

“I'm worth a platoon on my own,” boasted Bellatrix coolly. “We've defeated the Eldritch and a fallen zealot. We will win this and return home, like our bovine princess says.”

“Hey! I'm not a cow! ...I only dress like one sometimes.” Cerise blushed. When Bea started to open her mouth she warned, “Don't say it. I will not stay behind! Bellatrix showed me some new moves!”

“A shame we didn't have far more time to train,” lamented Bella. She narrowed her eyes and hissed, “Wait.” She spotted someone in a hooded robe, who retreated into the woods outside. The she-devil flew off to intercept the intruder, whereupon Beatrix and Cerise dashed after her.

The three of them entered into the misty woods. Three silhouettes waited amidst the miasma.

Bellatrix drifted to a stop, her crimson dagger in hand. “Creamy. Milky. And...?” Gray shrouded the muscular bulk of the third entity ahead, with a scaled snout which released a low chuckle.

“Grayscale Carnifex,” he introduced himself with a theatrical bow. “Pleased to make your acquaintance for another time, Bellatrix Primadonna. And your friends, too!”

Bella brandished the knife at him. “Are you the reason we're here?”

“Got it in one. I wrote you to be a smart one, after all.” He shook with another chortle.

“What do you mean by that? Drop the riddles, my patience is already exhausted!” She moved to meet him face-to-face, when Creamy and Milky stepped between their paths.

Milky cried, “Wait! Hear him out!”

“He's explained quite a lot to us,” admitted Creamy.

Bellatrix lowered her knife. “Fine. I'll listen.” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts.

“...thank you.” With a bemused smile, Grayscale cast back his hood, to reveal a drake below with a color scheme that matched his namesake. “But where to start? Well, I suppose it won't matter, should this world meet its end! Beatrix, I'm sure you too wanted to know who the mysterious author of the Necronomicon was? Well, there have been many...but I was one of them.”

Gasps rose as Bea cried, “You? But why would you write such an evil tome?”

“To help contain the darkness which permeates the multiverse since primordial times. Once, I was a mere executioner in ancient times, and with the heads I lopped off with a sword and the alchemy I studied, I learned the secrets of death. That's when I founded the Order of the Reapers!”

“This is too much,” replied Bea. “Can you prove you're responsible for all that?”

“In time perhaps. Which we may not have much time left. When I wrote my entries into the Necronomicon, I provided evil with physical forms that could potentially be destroyed! A number of those included certain succubi, you included, Bellatrix. A fierce, female huntress and warrior that ensured and overcame whatever fellow demons in the labyrinthine darkness of the book threw at you! You see, each chapter of the Necronomicon is its own world, the possibilities infinite!”

They tried to take all this in, when Bella surmised, “You intend to use us as your pawns.”

“What choice do I have?” He spread out his sleeved arms. “I know not who our enemies are that work behind-the-scenes, but they apparently seek to level the multiverse, with the 'Cult of the Nemesis' as their own chosen pawns, now that you've dealt a fatal blow to the Eldritch race!”

Beatrix shuddered, chilled to the bone.”Th-the cult? They ruined my world! Made me what I am!”

“That means they're indirectly responsible for what happened to my world, too!” Cerise seethed. “Well, that means I want to help out more than ever! We have to stop them!”

Grayscale said, “Normally I'm not supposed to interfere. My doctrine is dedicated to universal order! But since our opponents have bent the rules so utterly, I have little recourse but to do the same! Even the combined armies of the Amazons and minotaurs won't be sufficient, I fear.”

Bellatrix asked, “What do you propose, then? You seem quite powerful...”

He slowly shook his head. “I must evade direct contact with the enemy whenever possible, so I can continue to maintain this universe's stability. But don't think I intend to sit around on my ass while you do all the work! I can provide a few tricks to help even the odds, which I will pass on to you, alchemist.” He smirked at Bea. “And beyond that, an army made from other survivors!”

“We're far from the only ones that survived a universal collapse,” explained Creamy.

Milky's sleepy eyes watered when she asked, “Does that mean we don't have a planet to return to?”

“Not exactly,” explained Grayscale. “I saved pieces of your homeland! Almost a whole continent. I'm sorry, but that's the best I was able to accomplish. The reach of my enemies is beyond my own. How much are you all prepared to sacrifice to save your worlds, and the people here?”

Cerise balled up a fist over her heart. “I...I'll do it. I don't want to lose my family.”

“Me either,” decided Beatrix. “I've seen far too many people die already! So let's do it!”

Bellatrix wavered for a moment. “I don't remotely trust you. Your stories are dubious, and we know not your true aims, merely what you claim. Even so, it seems I have no choice.”

With a clap of his meaty hands the drake answered, “Good! My army will swoop in to support you once the time comes. Beatrix, I share a few secrets of alchemy, lost to time. I've already offered a special brew to Creamy and Milky, which may prove useful to you Cerise, but I'm not certain you'll like the trade-off? They'll explain it in detail. Oh, and dear Bellatrix, I've preserved a few succubi that otherwise would have ended up lost. They sorely need direction, would-be Queen of Hell!”

With this fresh knowledge, the executioner-turned-reaper prepared them for the war to help retake the Crystal Empire, with the faint hope his enemies hadn't accounted for this possibility...