How do you stop an oppo who effortlessly switch between fighting styles, always choosing the ohat best suits the situation? There were ways. The most obvious solution was to shoot them or lure them into a trap and blow them up with explosives. These options were not avaible to Janine in this honorable duel.
What did she know? She hysically stronger. Lacerated Oopped her attad deliberately spoke to her. Like Janine, she was regainirength for the final assault. They were exhausted, almost gassed, their bodies suffering from the vicious battle. If her oppo used the right style in the right situation, all she had to do was create a favorable situation and turn it perilous.
Janine’s forearm rammed into Lacerated Ohroat, hard enough to make her choke. The shoulder tackle khe shaman back, throwing her out of Onyxia’s style, and the ensuing breathing problem disrupted her attempt to slip into Martyshkina’s style. But that wasn’t the end. Cws scraped the crete, creating the iions. The sheer force of the attack moved Lacerated Owo paces away. Right into the ining swing.
“So what if you know some crappy teiques?!” Janine roared and nded a heavy blow on the shaman’s right arm, deeply denting in the flesh. The long-awaited loud crag was the sweetest music to the warlord’s ears. “I’ll overe them all through sheer might!”
“Whose styles are you calling crappy?” Alpha’s snout hardened.
“Let’s bury Jani for it!” Martyshkina eagerly cpped her paws together.
“I won’t die until I’ve tasted an ice cream e!” Janine snapped and struck at the stopped shaman.
Lacerated One raised her paws, using Janine’s own teique to shield herself, fully aware of the damage a well-aimed blow to the jaw could cause. Even Wolfkins, who were naturally resistant to cussion, would find themselves hard-pressed against bone-shattering attacks.
The right teique at the right time. Janine used this rule against the shaman, limiting her options. Her knuckles ected with the shaman’s wrists, damaging the bones. She put every ounce of her strength into the blow, and the air erupted; the wind blew strohan before, fpping the capes of the knight-captains to the amazement of the crowd. Lacerated One was thrown back; the cws of her legs destroyed a vast swath of reinforced crete, and she staggered, trying to inhale.
“An ice cream e?” Predaig asked.
“Is she means… You know, the Ice Fangs’…” Eled’s finger danced in the air.
“I saw her ehe prayer den and shortly after Leonidas left it,” said Ashbringer.
“Wait a sec… Does it mean that Jani and he are…” Martyshkina’s fingers formed a circle, and she slid an index fihrough it. “Way to go, Janie! Not the worst hunk of meat! I always knew you had a taste for the exotiame a cub after me! A white one!”
“Perhaps we should call her a dy now?” Ashbringer ughed.
“Warlords, I believe you are…”
“No, no, don’t interrupt them; I am curious about where this is going.” Zero quickly put a paw over Anissa’s mouth.
“I wasn’t aware that the order’s rules permitted es.” Camelia’s shadow fell on the Summerspring.
“Uncle, if this is true…” Malerata shuddered. “You disgust me.”
“Gossips and rumors! Fairy tales!” Sword Saint Leonidas spilled his wine bato the goblet and turo Martyshkina. “Lady Martyshkina, how could you even imply that I would besmirch the honor of Lady Janine in su uncouth manner?”
“What, is she not good enough in bed for you?”
“I am married, you vulgar dolt! And what did you mean by calli the worst hunk of meat? Who, among this rabble, even approach the physical and spiritual greathat I am?!”
Janine charged ahead, closing the distao the shaman in a step. Shame burned her cheeks, and she embraced it, letting the emotion drive her movements. The teasing was to be expected; all warlords enjoyed having fun at the expense of tenders during official domination matches.
Lacerated Oed as Janine had expected. The most optimal strategy to face her would be Alpha’s stabs, but the previous heavy blow to the upper part of her right arm left the shaman unsure of its mobility; she no longer believed she could jerk it in time to evade a grab if the warlord dodged the initial stab. The shaman used Janine’s own style, flig blindingly fast strikes, hoping to break the warlord’s nose and knock her off course as she tested her right paw.
Janine advahrough the hail of blows, shiftiorso slightly to avoid the worst of the blows and take the fist onto her cheeks. Her sliced ear ached as a gng punch touched it, but the job was done. She closed the distand then immediately stopped, leaning back as the shaman unched an upward thrust with her right paw. It scraped Janine’s belly; her left paw rose to shield her neck. Her leg smmed down on the shaman’s foot; the cw of her big toe sliced through the flesh.
Even though she had expected this move, it still caught her off guard. The shaman did not follow up with a direct stab, knowing full well that she would not pee Janine’s arm pletely. The muscles were too thick, too sturdy for it to happen. What she did was more insidious. Lacerated One’s fingers closed on Janine’s forearm, and the cws’ tips sah the skin, not deeply, but just enough to pinch the errific’s teique—it wasn’t much of an offensive py but rather an attempt to induce a sepulchral shock out of familiarity.
The warlord didn’t flino ugly mug emerged from the darkness; no revenant lurked behind the crowd. Terrific was dead, buried, not fotten, but gone. Her adoptive mother was in the Great Beyond, sent there by Janine’s paw. The very paw she was now swinging, preparing for a wide sweep. Lacerated Oopped her attack; her shoulders slumped as if in acceptance of iable defeat.
Ygrite’s trick. Lacerated One sprang into a as the fist was about to touch her forehead. The blow merely grazed some of her fur as she slipped aaying with the parted foot for her release. As she fled, the shaman ged her style to Martyshkina, weaving around Janine’s arm to get to her bad grab the great ne a lock.
She k was ing. It erfect terstrategy, as Marty had defeated Janine in a simir situation. The unscious girl woke up wiser and received a bottle of beer from her friend. Today, Jaopped her strike and dropped onto her back, using her full weight to ram her elbow into the shaman’s abdomen.
To her credit, Lacerated One barely gasped, whirling underh Janine. But this time the warlord had no iion of letting her named sister flee. She turned and mouhe inning her legs to the ground as she sat on her waist. Their paws locked in the fight and their jaws opened wide, fag each other in a desperate struggle.
Fangs scratched against Janine’s fangs as the two fighters stood still in an ugly parody of a kiss, trying their best to overe their oppo. Both growled; both teheir muscles to the extreme, and Janine experienced a tingling pain in her fangs. Despite the disadvantage, Lacerated One possessed the sharper pers. In a minute, Janine would lose most of her fangs to the bite, along with her gums.
It table. Sometimes, for the sake of the many, an individual had to sacrifiething precious. Eight of Lacerated One’s fingers spasmed when they found themselves in the sembnce of caterpilr tracks grinding them down. Janine’s blows had weakehe bones of the already exhausted shaman. The skin on her fingers swelled; more blood seeped through the opened cuts. She may have the warlord’s jaw. In exge, the shaman would lose her paws, as her fingers would burst like pimples under pressure.
Janine’s fang broke; a louder snap of the shaman’s skin echoed its shattering.
“Enough.” A single word turhem into statues. The bck paws grabbed the two by the napes, yanking them off each other. The shining amber orbs illumihem.
Ravager was here, surrounded by the buzzing, h drones, stantly filmed by the reporters. She was droolihe Blessed Mother kept shaking her head, trying to trol her emotions. Janine se in the great body; she wao bite them; she desired to cw them to instill discipline and prove her superiority.
“No killing each other,” Ravager forced out the words ahem down. “This is a civilized pce. Be the good girls. Peace. Cooperate. Don’t bicker.” She abruptly grabbed herself by both sides.
“Blessed Mother!” Janine and Lacerated One spoke in unison, but a swing er’s paw kept them at bay.
“I… I am fine. Need… o feel gore. Must… rip and tear. Zero. Take these baubles off me, please,” she said weakly, trembling, with her whole body shaking. Janine physically sehe progenitor’s suppressed aggressie, and desperate attempt to maintain trol. It made her own body twitch against her will; the desire to savage and rend sparked in her chest, but evehought of disobeying the and was unthinkable.
Talons showed frer’s fingers, ons of mass murder se and deadly that not even a warlord could hope to withstand their full touch. The great paws closed, hungry for prey, but Zero approached her sister unafraid.
“Ingo called, Big Sis,” Zero said, taking er’s jewelry and bracelets and ruffling her fur. Her fingers massaged the progenitor temples, and something cleared in the gigantic eyes. “There was an act. A patient woke up. They are in a bit of panic…”
“Let them panic.”
“Big Sis, it’ll take a year to grow the needed amount of ed ans and limbs…”
“No, Zerer said sternly. “I will not hear it. They are not to leave the facility. They are not to get used to this metal… filth. Tell Ingo to turn on TVs for them or invite priests or soothsayers or keep them asleep, I don’t care. He is supposed to be smart. It’s disgusting aless to repe’s hot blood and insides with cold and ung metal, to forever lose the ability to experieouch. They deserve a proper life.”
“Of course, Big Sis,” Zero agreed.
“We must stay in Houstad for a month… Two months, maximum. Outsider is bound to return from the west, eventually.” Ravager addressed the officers. “Zero, I am heading to the snow peaks. There have been sightings of unbound bioons. you handle public retions?”
“A loner,” Zero said.
“When will you grow up?” Ravager sighed. “Alpha?”
“I am better suited for military missions, ander.” The warlord bowed.
“Dragena and Cristobo are in charge of our forces until my return. If anything happens to either of them, Alpha is to take over. When First es back, he is to be their equal. Trust the Sunbde as if he were me; is that uood?” Ravager s the Wolfkins, seeking for a hint of disobedien their smells, but they all bared their necks in aowledgement. “Janine. Get healed. You and Camelia are to represent the Third to the mayor.”
“Blessed Mother?” Janine prostrated herself, and Ravager nodded, permitting the question. “I do not uand. Predaig, Alpha, and Dragena are wiser and more petent than I. Surely they deserve this privilege more.”
“And what will we do when they pass? Learn and grow while you have the ce.” Ravager’s eyes shot at Janine’s sons. “The little one… Marco. He is permitted to enjoy Houstad, unhindered. It be a positive experieno Ice Fang or Wolfkin shall harm him. Males are to share the same privileges as females for the duration of our stay, as long as they maintain discipline. If they get mischievous, spank them, but that’s it. I forbid losing body parts or lives in dominations. Lacerated One, you will see to it. If an anti-war demonstrator insults you oreet or throws a fruit at you, I expect you to stick your tongues up your collective assess and take it like a woman or a man of whom I be proud of!”
“ander Ravager.” A priest wearing the garments of the Church of the Pepped out of the crowd. “Are you truly pnning to leave so soon? Have we offended you in any way? Was it because of the demonstration earlier today?”
“No, holy father.” Ravager’s chuckle reached every ear in the crowd. She id a trembling finger on the man’s shoulder. “I bear them no ill will, aher should you. The Dynast has ged his policies in the past. The Houstad you know today is the result of one of those ges. No one is infallible, and we must never bee sant that we close our ears to different opinions.”
“Let us at least treat your wounds!” the priest pleaded.
“Stay in Houstad, ander!” A group of civilians shouted. “We wish to honor the Third and you for your heroic deeds!”
“Hear this, my soldiers?” Ravager asked. She whirled to face the base and spread her arms wide. “Our beliefs differ from those who live in peace. Yet here are humble souls aid to a monster out of the goodness of their hearts. Do you need a further reason to love that which you protect? Do any of you still fear that there is no pce for them in a world devoid of war?”
“No, Blessed Mother!” Janine roared, surprised to hear the Ice Fangs, Normies, New Breeds, and Mutants join in the Wolfkin’s cries.
“It brings me joy to hear you speak true, my soldiers.” Ravager paced before their ranks. There was no hint of growl or bestiality in her voice. She sounded radiant, plete, and pure, and even standing naked, she exuded dignity and a anding presence. Janine experienced a wave of assurance, a promise of a better tomorrow beaming from the Blessed Mother, and she smiled, thanking the Spirits fiving this small grace to a soul who so desperately . “Not always was I a leader worthy of your veion. I lost those whom I could save and murdered those whom I could spare. Yet you chose to bey trusted cws, and for that I thank you from the bottom of my bed heart. For me, peace is unattainable, but for you, the future is open. Choose wisely. Live, my troops. Rest, protect, and serve.”
“Proted serve!” Janine and the others thundered.
“I thank you for yentle offer, holy father,” Ravager addressed the priest. “But it is unneeded. As the first life suffocates in my grasp, my madness will temporarily cease. I will bring ruin if I remain with you. That ho oke true; I am a monster, fully and truly. Recimers. People. I despise delusions. I ot take back what I’ve done, nor I stop fully what I will do iure. But I will tio try to protect you and pave the way to your happiness in the best way a monster . I’ll try to use my wiess food! I am the monster who devours monsters; I am the bane of the oppressors and the end of the nightmares! You desire to honor me? Then don’t leave a single child to be abandoned or abused, no matter their in!”
Saying nothing else, Ravager let her arms fall and jumped, creating a loud boom somewhere high above. She lingered in pce for a sed, as if suspended on ropes, and then vao the gasps of surprised citizens trying to spot her in the air. Even the buzzing news drones looked lost; their cameras whirled, struggling to prehend the disappearance. Janine smiled at hearing suggestions that the Blessed Mother had flown or teleported away. They weren’t far off.
Ravager was gone even before the first boom. eople saw was her afterimage.
Uhe right pressure, an unleashed jet of liquid could cut a steel pte in half. Sm a body against a pool of toxic sludge fast enough and its surface will momentarily solidify, perfectly replig the purpose of the floor. Even a simple drop of blood pee a head if it is flicked at incredible speed. To a lesser extent, the same was true of air; a powerful blow could propel it and cause another person to fall.
Ravager transded these limits. A swing of her cws was capable of unleashing doom, not through physical tact, but by eling a shockwave. A sp could create a vacuum. Her divine muscles bounced off the emptiness above and carried the Blessed Mother over Houstad to a destination of her choosing.
“Cooperate…” Lacerated Oood and stretched herself, ign the pain in her sausage-sized fingers. “Two went in, and two came out whole, spared the wrath. Spirits have spoken. The shamans will support your decision.”
“My thanks.” Janine rose to her feet and helped her sister limp to the base’s entrance as their sisters and soldiers cheered on. “You could’ve gone for the eyes in Onyxia’s style. That way, I’d… Wait.” She turo Lacerated Ohe Blessed Mother’s arrival, her words… Did you…”
“You are unwell, Jahe supreme shaman smiled. “In need of healing. Visit me sometimes, and we’ll talk to ease your burdens.”
Janine frowrying to gauge if her suspis were true. Lacerated One breathed heavily, pushed to the very limits of her endurance; her foot lit in two by the cw, and the edges of her broken bones scratched against each other as she walked. Bruises and cuts covered her, and it was a miracle she was scious. Still, there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that the situation wasn’t as simple as she believed.
It is not a simple thing to surrender political power iribe. Even if the supreme shaman had dema, not everyone would fall in line behind her. But if she interpreted the Blessed Mother’s words correctly…
Oh, sister. You truly know how to py us.
Ja go of her worries and weakness, trating oask. The shamans are with her. Teically, this should already wihe vote, but why stop here? She wasn’t a politi, but strength in numbers was a valid strategy. Who among the warlords could she vio join her?
Eled and Predaig will support her out of friendship alone. Ygrite could be persuaded, or she call in the debt. Alpha? Janine g Alpha’s back. The stro warlord was regarded as the seother by her pack. But the length of her cws led Jao wonder morbidly if she could survive a round if Alpha decided to test her resolve like the shaman. Nah, I am worried about future cubs and the well-being of packs, but I also kind of want to live and see my granddaughters. This is a pointless risk, and… I am scared shitless of Alpha.
Marty was a staunch traditionalist. But it ’t hurt to talk to her. Who else? Ashbringer. If she really was ment Janine, she might join her, but she won’t push the woman. She owes her that muarco’s well-being. Maybe Zero? Onyxia? In their st spar, Onyxia defeated Janine, but occasionally showed a softer side of her, stopping a male’s beating. o no males ever offed themselves iionally in hers or Ashbringer’s packs. She’ll see Janine’s point. Fatima? No, too stubborn.
A rumbling iomach distracted the warlord from her thoughts. She had done everything she could; the rest will have to wait. Janine ignored Maxence’s berating and the needles’ stings. She paid no attention to the fact that her ear was being stitched up and greedily grabbed the frozen cusack carcass that Impatient One had brought her. Jahanked her and sunk her fangs into the meat, sharing it with the supreme shaman. The ice cracked on their bloodied gums; their stomachs were cold, but both ate their fill, fident that a little cold could not possibly harm them.
