Chronicles of Eden - Act X

by Alexander Gordon

  “Stop it!” Mika roared as she ran forward again. “Your fight’s with me! Let her go!”

  Rio dashed forward and struck with her stinger, the hunter dodging it and parrying the monster’s claws with her blade. Mika pushed against the scorpia while darting around her, evading the monster’s stinger again before she raced towards Alice.

  “Let her go!” Mika yelled as she lifted her blade to strike. Almost instantly she halted and was dropped to the ground with a scream, the crowd laughing in amusement while Mika yelled out in pain. Looking back she saw Rio’s stinger piercing her leg from behind, the appendage having struck deep into her muscle with blood dripping from the wound.

  “And your fight is with me,” Rio plainly replied. She yanked her stinger out and started to walk around the hunter, the girl screaming while holding her wound with one hand. Mika clutched her leg as she not only felt pain but a strange sense of euphoria spreading throughout her body. Taking a blind swing with her sword at the scorpia was met with failure as the monster snatched the blade in her claw before breaking it with a loud snap.

  “Tell me,” Rio questioned as she stood next to Mika. “Do you feel more pain or pleasure right now? Our stingers use a powerful venom that drives men into a lustful frenzy, it’s quite a potent aphrodisiac. I do wonder if you’re feeling more pleasure from my sting than pain. Could you please tell me, I’ve never really used it on women before.”

  “You… monster!” Mika yelled as she slowly got up on her feet, her leg wobbling a bit before she then dropped to her knees. Her face was flushed while her body was trembling, the girl feeling her panties having become drenched in excitement that was being forced upon her.

  “Having trouble standing now?” Rio asked. “Are you weak because of your wound or are you so horny now you can’t stand it? Please tell me, I’m genuinely curious.”

  Mika gasped as she rocked her head back, eyes struggling to focus as she felt her burning loins becoming unbearable. She couldn’t even feel her wound anymore, couldn’t feel the rest of her body that well either. Her mind struggled to hold onto her thoughts of killing the monsters that struck down Mae and were tormenting Milly, her breathing becoming ragged as she tried to keep in control of her own body. Looking around her vision was becoming hazy, the sight of all the monsters that were laughing and sneering at her becoming blurred while the sounds were fading in and out. After a moment Rio walked in front of her and held the girl’s chin with her claw, the hunter’s glazed eyes wearily focusing on her as the monster raised an eyebrow in question.

  “Answer me. Do you feel good or bad now? Do you feel pain or pleasure? Can you even hear me?”

  “Y… you… y…” Mika panted while slowly lifting her hands up towards the monster.

  “Bet you wish you were her right now, huh?” Alice taunted as she turned Milly around to see her sister. “She’s feeling so good right now she can’t stand it.”

  Milly gasped and coughed as she saw Mika incapacitated by the scorpia’s venom.

  “Mi… Mika.”

  Rio watched Mika slowly grabbing her claw and weakly trying to pull it away, the girl’s mouth drooling a little now while her body was lurching from the hips a bit as she started to feel too aroused to control. After a moment Rio brought her stinger around her shoulder to aim at the hunter. Mika watched as the blurry image of the scorpia wavered in front of her before seeing something coming closer, and then her vision went black while a muffled scream was heard from Milly.

  “No!” Milly cried out as she saw Rio puncturing Mika’s right eye with her stinger, blood pouring down her face while the human appeared to not even realize she was being mutilated.

  “Well, maybe you don’t want to be her,” Alice giggled before she and the witches started laughing.

  Mika’s vision gradually came back, a strange numbing sensation rolling through her head while she could only see out of her left eye now. She opened her mouth but neither a scream nor moan came out, only a hoarse gasp and exhale were made as the girl seemed out of her senses entirely.

  “Did you even feel that?” Rio flatly asked. “Hello? Are you listening to me? Say something.”

  Mika trembled while struggling to keep her focus, not feeling any pain but rather a blindingly amount of pleasure burning throughout her body. Her thoughts were swimming in a hazy blur, her balance was barely being kept as she wavered on her knees, and her hearing was only picking up muffled laughter from the fiends around her.

  “She looks broken,” Alice giggled. “Is it okay if I break this one now? Pretty please?”

  Rio sighed and glanced to Milly, the girl coughing out blood while wearily watching her sister as her body was limp in the witch’s magical hold.

  “Fine. Looks like that one is about finished anyway. You’ve already deprived me of my fun with her. Go ahead and end it.”

  “Yay! Thank you!” Alice cheered happily. She then started slamming Milly face first into the ground again and again, the surrounding monsters laughing and cheering as the hunter was struck against the bloody cobblestone repeatedly. Milly screamed once then merely grunted from each hard slam against the ground.

  Mika slowly rolled her head around, her senses being clouded by a powerful euphoria that didn’t let her concentrate on anything. Eventually her gaze stopped on Milly as the hunter was lifted up into the air once more. Although her vision was blurry she slowly started to notice her sister, her face being bloodied and bruised while her dress was covered in blood.

  “M… Milly?” Mika weakly asked.

  Milly sputtered out some blood then slowly looked down to her sister, with Mika’s eye locked onto her while her body was trembling.

  “Don’t… hold back,” Milly said before coughing. “Don’t hold… anything back, Mika.”

  Rio walked around behind Mika and watched Milly as she shakily showed a smile at her sister.

  “Pr… protect… Max,” Milly managed to get out before coughing out blood. “Do it… for us.”

  Alice giggled and smirked at Mika before swinging her arm down, throwing Milly to the ground one last time with a hard crack along with a small splatter. Monsters around the court cheered while Rio merely watched with a blank expression, everyone but the dazed hunter having watched as the blonde girl was struck down with lethal force. Slowly Mika’s gaze looked down to see her sister lying on the cobblestone face first, the girl’s body now remaining motionless while in a pool of blood.

  “M… Milly?” Mika breathed out. “Si… sister?”

  “She’s not getting back up,” Alice sneered at her. “Sorry, but it looks like you’re fresh out of sisters. Hahaha!”

  “You don’t even realize it, do you?” Rio plainly asked. “Has any of this gotten through to you?”

  “You killed her sister and she doesn’t even know it!” a witch laughed while holding her sides.

  “I don’t think she even knows who she is anymore!” another called out.

  Mika just stared at Milly’s body, her thoughts still being clouded by the venom. The hunter knew what she was seeing was wrong, yet the image wasn’t connecting fully in her mind. Her loins were still burning heavily, her body having become sensitive to the touch and yearning for pleasure, and the pain that she would normally be feeling from her leg and eye were masked completely.

  “Put her out of her misery,” a troll called out.

  “It’s the decent thing to do,” an arachne chuckled.

  Rio wound back with her tail to strike, a blank expression on her face as she watched Mika trembling on her knees while quietly gasping.

  “A shame,” the scorpia said. “You’re not even going to feel the final blow. Sort of takes the fun out of this for me.”

  From behind on the courtyard floor Mae’s crossbow clicked then fired an arrow, the bolt streaking through the air before whizzing past Mika’s head and quickly striking into Alice’s focuser. The hit sparked a large flash while the witch stumbled back with a scream, her casting base in the court cracklin
g before dissolving while everyone watched the witch staring in shock at seeing the arrow lodged into her mantle.

  “What the hell was that?” Alice whined as her focuser crystal dropped to the ground in pieces. “My focuser! Who just shot my focuser?”

  The witch’s loud screaming echoed in Mika’s ears, the sound jolting her to her senses as she suddenly realized what she was looking at. It was Milly, having been killed by the noisy witch right before her. The sight of her sister lying in a pool of her own blood and having her head cracked open finally clicked in Mika’s mind, the heartbreaking image causing the woman to feel as though a knife had been plunged into her chest.

  “Milly…” Mika breathed out, her hands slowly clenching into fists as she lowered her head.

  “Don’t hold back,” Milly’s words echoed in her head. “Protect Max. Do it for us.”

  “Who the hell shot that?” Alice demanded looking around. The crowd was snickering at the witch’s misfortune while Rio was looking over at the crossbow with a curious eye. The scorpia blinked then noticed Mika no longer moving, the hunter having her hands held on the bloody ground while she was quietly growling.

  “Are you finally awake now?” Rio plainly asked.

  “Do you… know what I’m feeling… now?” Mika slowly replied.

  “Agony? Ecstasy? Sorrow? Lust?”

  “It’s something… I haven’t felt… in a long time.”

  Mika trembled as a wave of emotion struck her. Her pleasure from the scorpia’s venom was gone. Her wounds were masked from her thoughts. She only felt anger. Rage. Fury. Unbridled wrath that she hadn’t felt since the day her parents were killed. The images of her two slain sisters burned into her mind along with their killers. The scorpia, Rio. The witch, Alice. And all the monsters that brought this hell to her people. The Sisterhood, which she vowed to wipe off the face of Eden before she breathed her last breath in the world.

  “I won’t hold back anymore,” Mika quietly said.

  “What was that?” Rio asked tilting her head.

  “Not after… you’ve taken… MY FAMILY FROM ME!” Mika roared, her voice startling the surrounding monsters as it echoed into the air. From the ground below the hunter a flash of crimson and neon black light erupted, spreading out into a tangled mess of a casting diagram that covered the entire courtyard floor while also etching onto the walls of the surrounding buildings. Mika shut her eye tightly as she screamed with all her might, her anger and desire to slay the monsters around her rapidly building as she dropped all restraint with her power. Her hands gripped the ground tightly as she focused on channeling her magic into a very specific spell, one that she never would have dared to use had her sisters been remotely near her. However with them no longer among the living she knew there was no reason to hold anything back, and if she was going to avenge her fallen family then she might as well do so with all the power she possessed.

  “What is-” Rio asked before a spike of crimson light shot up in front of her, the scorpia quickly dodging back as the beam of magical energy ripped through the webbing and cadaver hanging above them while striking high into the sky. All around Mika multiple spikes of bright red light shot up before fizzling away, the casting base on the ground slowly shifting about while another spell base formed below the hunter. Its black and golden light gave off a powerful bloom under the woman, its emblems and crackling ring of energy wavered while letting off a dreadful aura all around it.

  “What is that?” a gremlin asked backing up.

  “Maelstrom,” a witch shakily said pointing to the hunter.

  “What?” another witch exclaimed with a jump.

  “She couldn’t have!”

  “Stop it!” Alice yelled waving her staff at Mika. “Counter it, now!”

  “It’s too late!” a witch cried out as red beams of light started firing up all around Mika, the cobblestone ground being ripped apart while the woman slowly looked up to glare at Alice with sheer hatred. Rio lunged towards Mika with her stinger, only to then quickly dart back and farther away as a black barrier flashed up from the casting base below the hunter to ward away the attacker.

  “Stop her!” a witch yelled aiming her wand at Mika. She fired out a powerful burst of energy, the magical blast rupturing the ground below it all the way to Mika before it collided with the hunter’s magical shield and vanished. A few trolls threw their axes while gremlins tossed their alchemic bags, the spinning hatches being blasted away with sharp flashes while the explosions of fire and noxious gas billowed away from the hunter that remained untouched.

  “What is this?” a gremlin demanded.

  “She cast Maelstrom,” a witch nervously said. “How? She casted it in just a few seconds!”

  “She can’t,” Alice breathed out. “No human can cast that spell. It’s impossible. Only an alpha witch can do that.”

  “What is that she’s doing?” a troll asked.

  “A big… bad… spell…” a witch shakily answered.

  “Run,” Alice said. She shook her head then quickly started dashing away through the crowd with her sisters. “Run for it!”

  “This is gonna be bad,” a goblin nervously said before running as well.

  The other monsters in the court started to flee but only managed to move a few feet at best before Mika held her hands out to either side with a furious scream. The tangled mess of glowing lines around the court flashed brightly, a sudden surge of energy erupting from the hunter before a nightmarish array of glowing beams made of crimson and black magic shot up all around Mika. The energy spikes swarmed outward in erratic yet blindingly fast patterns, tearing apart the court, alleys, buildings, and every monster they sliced through while reaching high up into the air. Arachne were cleaved into pieces while a few mites exploded from all the raw energy spiking into them, trolls and gremlins were mowed down, goblins attempted to sidestep and dodge the beams to no avail. The ogre was quickly decimated into bloody pieces as multiple beams of energy carved through it. Even the scorpias in the crowd failed in avoiding the deadly attacks, their high agility and speed being outmatched no question by the wildly moving energy beams.

  Rio quickly dashed off into the alley behind her, watching from over her shoulder as the array of magical lights sliced through the corridor while ravaging the buildings at her sides. She hopped about up the walls to attempt to get over the barrage of death racing after her, only to see that the energy spikes reached up further into the sky above even the tallest buildings in the city.

  “This is quite unexpected,” she plainly said before the building next to her toppled over. The scorpia dodged under the rubble before it all came crashing down, with the magical onslaught of crimson and black energy cleaving through the debris afterwards.

  Alice screamed while running with the other witches, the frightened monsters looking back to seeing the swarm of magical lights slicing through the buildings and monsters behind them. The little witch tripped over a rock and dropped to the ground, the girl curling up in a ball and shrieking in fright as she heard footsteps, screaming, and magical slashes racing past her.

  “Don’t hurt me!” she cried out before her voice was lost in the chaos.

  The city of Nibelvale erupted with an ominous crimson glow as red and black beams of light shot out from within and wreaked havoc throughout the entire town. Monsters were struck down mercilessly and swiftly, entire blocks of the city were decimated in moments, the screams of the horrendous fiends were barely overpowered by a single furious cry that came from the epicenter of the destruction.

  And from a hilltop overlooking the city further away the magical onslaught was being observed by seven others who took an interest in the sight.

  *****

  The dust finally began to settle, sunlight was able to pierce through the large cloud of haze that loomed over the ruins that were once the city of Nibelvale. The entire town along with a good amount of the land surrounding it was razed to the ground, ripped to pieces and cleaved to rubble while linge
ring trails of crimson and black light could faintly be seen in the air at the farthest reaches of the spell’s wake. A lone breeze blew through the area, a haunting whistle coming from the air as silence remained after the destruction had ended.

  Sitting on her knees amidst a field of charred rubble Mika had her head lowered, her remaining eye aimed at the ground yet wasn’t focusing on anything. Her body ached, her head was sore, her leg was stiff, and her heart felt heavy. The remains of her sisters were nowhere to be seen, not a single body being noticeable anywhere around the hunter as her ferocious attack had wiped out everything without hesitation. There were no bodies of her fallen family to mourn over, only the memories of her sisters kept Mika company as she sat there alone in The Outerlands.

  “Mae… Milly…” she breathed out quietly. “I’m so sorry… I’m sorry.”

  Slowly she stood up, her balance wavering for a moment while she ignored the pain her body was in. She started walking forward, aimlessly making her way through the field of ravaged debris and lingering veils of smoke while stumbling every now and then with her wounded leg.

  “The… Sisterhood…” she softly said to herself. “They all… must die. Every… last one… of them.”

  “You can do it, Mika,” Mae voiced from beside her, the hunter walking alongside Mika with her repeater in hand.

  “Don’t hold back anymore,” Milly agreed from beside Mika, the hunter carrying her large battle-axe over her shoulder with a bold smile.

  Mika slowly walked along with the images of her sisters keeping pace, the eldest sister feeling her heart aching from knowing they weren’t really there but were just a hallucination from her despair.

  “I won’t… fail you… again…” Mika whimpered.

  “You never failed us,” Mae assured her.

  “Yeah, we knew the risks,” Milly agreed.

  “I couldn’t save you…”

  “Our lives weren’t your responsibility,” Mae countered shaking her head.

  “Sorry we couldn’t help you take them down this time,” Milly added with a worried smile.