Aww. . .another glorious day in the kingdom. . . At least it would be if I wasnt just about out of my "magic elixir". You could say I had a small drinking problem . . And I would tell you to shut up!



Sorry! That's just a little joke I like to tell. . . . But seriously. . . It was an ongoing battle between the bottom of the bottle and the distance to the next village. It was a race easily won when I have Marcel with me. Unfortunately I lent him to my brother about a month ago and haven't heard from either of them since. . .

Marcel is a horse by the way. . . I don't say "My horse" because he acts of his own accord most of the time. . . Stubborn bastard. But, none the less. . . I would assess that he is the best friend I have in this vast, vast shithole of a kingdom.

I continued to trudge on towards the next village. Sure, traveling took longer when you avoid the main roads, but that is the price you pay when you are someone like me. . .

Who am I?

The name is Antony. . . Antony Lockwood. Ant for short, though I preferred to be called stranger. It was safer for a man of my race these days.

That race? . . . . Slayer. Short for "giant slayer". If I'm being honest, it always sounded more like a profession than a race, but our true, God given name had been lost to time. Now. . Only slayer. . . And only whispered in the darkest corners at the latest hours.

It didn't used to be that way though. Slayers didn't used to be either direct body guards to the king and the capital, or fugitives from the crown. . . We were heroes. Celebrated throughout the human realm for keeping towns and villages safe. Those were better times.

I suppose you need a brief history lesson to know what I'm talking about, huh?

Alright. . . So in the beginning of time, the gods created 2 races. . Humans and giants. Decidedly similar in every way except for size and strength. Time passed and things were ok, the humans ruled the lands inside the mountain range, and the giants, the expanse beyond.

As you would expect, eventually the giants began to question why they had to deal with the harsher weather and terrain while the humans got to enjoy fertile ground and less severe weather patterns. It wasn't long before they realized how easy it was to ravage a race that barely crests your ankle and soon the world began to swing out of balance as the giants started their invasion.

Humans, given no choice but to flee, were driven out of the valley, past the mountains and into the land we now know as the kingdom. All well and good. . . Except the giants weren't satisfied.

Still they fought the humans. Only this time it wasn't out of necessity. The land the giants had stolen was the most fertile on earth. This time it was out of boredom and sport. Lone giants roaming the human country side for the sake of terrorizing anyone smaller than themselves.

Enter the giant slayers.

As prayer upon prayer about the giant menace reached the gods, they knew they couldn't just stand by and let one half of their creation get wiped out. And so they created a 3rd and final race.

Giant slayers.

Born with the size of man, but with the strength, durability and lifespan of the giants, we were forged as weapons to equalize the world and usher in an era of peace between the races. Every village was under the protection of a slayer, and soon we were loved by the people and feared by the giants.

Long story short, things were good for a time and now they aren't. Under the rule of a new king, all the slayers were forced to go to the capital, leaving the villages unprotected. Any slayer who refused was labeled a traitor to the crown, and had a bounty placed on his or her head.



Finally I saw the next village in the distance. Unexpectedly, it wasn't bustling with villagers like these places normally were. I emerged from the woods, and kept my distance, surveying the area. . . . Not a soul to be seen.

Odd.

Feeling the coast was clear, I walked into the open and into the village. Looking around, it didn't seem like it was deserted, but there was no sign of life anywhere. Although it was unlikely, in the back of my mind I had to entertain the possibility that this was a trap set by a bandit town.


That was. . . . Until I walked to the main entrance of village. What I saw made my stomach drop. It was something I had only seen a number of times before, and every time it had been a message to somebody.

A stone burial.

Giant lore.

A stone burial was one of the cruelest deaths a giant could deal. Basically. . . .a deep hole was dug, either by the giant or in the cruelest cases, the victims. Next, the humans were forced into it. Finally the dirt was placed back in on the live victims and. . .

And the giant proceeds to trample and pack the dirt into place layer by layer. I don't need to tell you what happens to the unfortunate humans, but by the time the giant is done, the ground is packed so hard under the weight, that it becomes like stone.

The result is A: the bodies are a total loss, as even the remains are unrecoverable as they are embedded in the stone, and B: the giants believe that if the ground is packed in hard enough, even the soul can't penetrate the stone and is forever trapped in the grave. . .unable to ascend to the afterlife.


From the look of it, the victims had to dig the grave, as various hand tools littered the ground amongst the hundreds of giant footprints. In the center of the path, the tell tale grey patch of stone, unmissable to anyone traveling through. The footprints then doubled back the way they had came, West up through the forest towards the mountains.


Hundreds of years ago, as a slayer I would have tracked the giant down and ended his life, but today, that wasn't the plan. I didn't stay to mourn, and instead turned and went back into the village. If all the inhabitants of the villagers were gone, they wouldn't mind me gathering my share of traveling provisions.

Lane by lane, I combed the village, picking and choosing supplies and taking whatever money I could find. I had learned long ago that it wasn't worth dwelling on the death. I had been around long enough to see many human lifetimes and knew that their time was short.

As I searched, the second to last lane threw me a curve ball. The soft ground was pounded with giant prints, all centralized around a small stone hut. In front of the hut door, full water barrels had been stacked up against it, sealing it from the outside.

Each barrel weighed at least 500 pounds, and they were placed 2 deep and four high. I wasn't sure what the giant was trying to keep locked inside, but I wasn't sure I even care. I was just about to turn and leave, when I heard a noise come from the hut.

It sounded like crying.

I knew I should just walk away, but against my better judgemen, I made sure I wasn't being observed, before I easily lifted the barrels out of the way. With the swinging door unobstructed, I pulled it open and stepped back.

A moment later, the head of a dirty faced teenaged boy appeared from the darkness. With the mystery solved, I turned to leave but inevitably I was roped back in.

"Hey! Mister! Did you come to rescue us?!" He called after me, stepping fully from the hut now.

"No. I'm just passing through, kid." I said, holding my hand up in a goodbye gesture as I walked.

"Well did you see anyone else here? All of our parents and the other adults were forced to go to the front gate and we were trapped in there!" The boy informed me and as he did, other dirt covered children began to emerge from behind him. A total of 17 in total.

I took a deep breath, stopped and turned around. I knew I had to tell him. Inform him that likely every adult in the whole town was dead and gone now. I had done that type of thing many times, but it never got any easier

"Uhhh, come here kid. . ." I said, solemnly.

He walked to me cautiously, still looking around for any signs of life.

"The truth is. . . . Everyone who lived here. . . Is gone. . . Dead." I told him, not sugar coating it at all.

He looked like he had mentally prepared for that possibility already and put on a brave face, for what it was worth.

"So. . . She DID kill them then. . . " he said, his head hanging.

As curious as his "SHE" was. . . I had no plans on getting involved with these kids and their plight, so I didn't ask him to elaborate.

"Yeah. . . " was the only reply I gave him.

"I guess. . . I'm in charge now. " he said, lifting his head to look me in the eye.

"I don't know where we will go, but we can't stay here. I don't know if that giantess will come back, but we can't afford to be here if she does. I know I have no right to ask. . . But can you help me get us to the next village to the south?"

And there it was! The inevitable arduous task that would no doubt take me away from my own goals and ambitions. In the prominent days of the slayers, it was an everyday occurrence but now. . .it only seemed to happen when I had places to be.

If the situation was any different, I would have politely declined, but I really didn't want to return to the gods when my time was up, and have to explain why I turned my back on a bunch of kids.

"Ok. Get all of you gathered up. . . And load up those 2 wagons over there. . . We leave in a half hour." I dictated, enthusiasm devoid of my voice.

"Mister. . . It looks like all the horses are gone. . . . Those wagons won't be of much use to us. . ."

"I'll. . . Handle it." I sighed, and walked away.

If I was going to deal with this situation, I was going to need more liquid motivation.


45 minutes later, I was heading back to the exact town I had just left, this time with a wagon train in tow. At this point, it was obvious to all involved that I was not just another human as I drunkenly swaggered down the path pulling not one, but two fully loaded ox carts like they were nothing.

Luckily, we didn't pass any other travelers, which seemed odd but worked to our advantage. We were able to make good time, but only made it about halfway before night fell. We weren't in the best part of the kingdom to be traveling at night, so I decided to pull off and set up camp.


"Alright kid, Why don't you and the other older kids get a campfire going. I'll keep a lookout for the night." I instructed staring off into the darkness and taking a sip of liquor.

"My name is Lucas. . . " He said, letting it hang like he was expecting me to tel him my own name.

"Nice to meet you." Was all he got from me.

He seemed unsatisfied but he left and did what I said.


That night there wasn't much happiness around the campfire. Nobody had any illusion that the village was ok, but that was just life in the kingdom. They tried to keep morale up, but I knew eventually the reality would set in. I didn't really want to think about it.

After awhile, everyone was asleep except for Lucas, who only stared into fire, hoping to find answers or peace. I wasn't sure which.

Soon, came the unavoidable conversation.


"So. . . . What did she do to them? He asked, poking the fire with a stick.

I figured he was old enough to hear the truth, so that is what I gave him.

"A stone burial. . . . If you know what that is. . ." I said, quietly.

He nodded, and hung his head.

"Will you go after her?" He asked, a slight amount of hope in his voice.

I only chuckled.

"Do you know what happens when men go chasing giants? They don't come back, kid!" I said, trying to keep my voice down.

"But you're no ordinary man, are you?" He said, pointing a long skinny finger at me. "You're one of them!"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." I said, dismissing him.

"You just pulled two ox carts 15 miles with your bare hands! Plus, you're carrying that sword on your back! I. . . . I know you're a giant slayer. " he whispered.

I let out a low laugh.

"The farmer just kept the cart wheels greased, that's all! And as for the sword. . . It's dangerous around these parts, you know that." I lied, taking a swig.

I knew the kid wasn't stupid, but talking openly about giant slayers was unwise in this day and age.

"Whatever you say. . . " he mumbled, before he turned in and went to sleep, leaving me alone with my thoughts in the night.


The next day I successfully delivered them to the next village, and we parted ways. It was more than a minor inconvenience, but at least I knew I didn't want to go in that particular direction again.

I wasn't actively avoiding giants. . . .but myself and my brother had barely survived the last encounter.

Half the day was shot by the time I finished that quest, but I set out anyway, fully restocked on supplies. That being said, by the time I finally got to the next village, it was pouring rain, and I was more than a little drunk. I stumbled through the streets until I finally found the village's inn.

The inn keeper was an old man and his wife. I took a liking to him immediately, and we drank deep into the night, before I retreated to my room for the night.


I took the sword off my back, placing it beside my bed before I placed another couple logs in the fireplace and layed down for a good night's rest.

That didn't happen.



Sometime in the next few hours, I was jolted awake by the ringing of the town's warning bell. Warning bells were used to signal attacks from either other humans or giants. This was the latter.

In my drunken stupor, I could feel the tremors of something big moving through town and the accompanying screams of humans. I rolled out of my bed, and stumbled to the door of my room. From there I ran as quickly as I could down the short hallway as bits of the walls chipped and crumbled from the seismic activity.

In the pitch black of the night, the onslaught of torrential rain and confusion in the street, I rushed out of the inn to face whatever monster was terrorizing the people. I looked left, then right but I couldn't get an exact fix on where the noise was coming from as I stumbled to stay upright and keep water out of my eyes.


Unfortunately, I didn't have to wait for more than a second before the monster found me. .

From behind, I was hit with the force of 1000 black Smith's hammers. It knocked me to the ground, and pressed me down into the mud. I could do nothing as I sunk deeper and deeper before hitting semi-solid ground. The problem with that was that I was now being crushed.

It wasn't my first time being stepped on by a giant, as it came with the territory but that doesn't mean I liked it. Although, this time I didn't have to endure it for long as I blacked out at the peak of the weight. I only hoped the mud didn't smother me, or the rain water drown me before I could come to.

After playing mind games with Anastasia and Henrietta ultimately killing her, I wasn't sure what to feel. We had technically found who we were looking for, but the death of Anastasia was unexpected. As if Juliette didn't already want to kill me bad enough.


Oh well.


There was no time to think about that now, as I chased Henny through the streets. She lept up and down from rooftops and down alleyways. It was apparent she didn't want to talk to me either but eventually she stopped in a secluded alley, surrounded by walls on all 4 sides.


I looked on the ground behind her and Julius was laying there, bound and unconscious.


"So. . . These are the types of amateurs you're runnin' with now, huh?" Henny said with her raspy voice, motioning with her head towards Julius as she took off the mask. "I caught the little twerp tailing me!" She spat, giving his unconscious body a kick.


"Well. . . We were here to find you, if that makes you feel any better. . " I replied, removing my own mask.


"You know Ant. . . . it really doesn't." She said, her tone bitter. "You le- she began before looking to the roof behind me.


"Malakai. . " She said, unenthusiasticly.

Malakai dropped down beside me, his arms crossed.

"Peter. . "

Peter came walking around the corner from the street.

"Oooh! And even little Jakey!" She commented, feigning happy to see him.

Henny looked around, as if expecting at least one more person.

"What, no Davis?!" She asked, disappointed.

"Not yet. You first." I said, dead serious.

"Ha!" She replied, taking off the cloak and dropping it on Julius. "You can take this whole little reunion and shove it up your ass if you think I'm comin' back!" She spat, glaring at me.

"The end of the world is coming! This was just a taste!" Peter said, passionately.

"That's funny. . . I didn't really think that was much of a challenge, myself! I'm not even entirely sure why you fools were even messin' with that poor girl! You would still be over there playin' hide and seek if I hadn't put her out of her misery!" Henny said, folding her arms and looking away from us.

"Yeah, except now you got us into a whole nother problem!" I said, pointing a finger at her.

"What, because she said she was Jessica's little fuckin' assistant or whatever?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders.

"Her name is Juliette, and she is guaranteed stronger than anyone you have ever met!" I warned her.

"Do you. . . Do you hear yourself talk?! Are you even the same Ant that abandoned us 2 years ago?!" Henny asked me, anger simmering as she squinted at me. "Because the Ant I knew didn't give a shit about how strong anyone was, giant, slayer, or human!"

"We didn't abandon you." Jacob said, speaking up for the first time but no real passion in his voice.

"You got somethin' to say to me, you little runt!?" Henny asked, stepping up to Jacob, pressing her tits into his chest and looking down into his eyes from her 8 inch height advantage.

"Yeah. . . We left for us! Nobody else. It's not something we need to defend." He replied, not backing down.

"There is nothing to defend! You left us completely in the dark! We looked for you two for a fuckin' year! Not knowin' if you were dead, or taken!" She shouted in his face.


"We couldn't force you to feel how we felt!" I butted in.

"You didn't even try." Malakai replied, to my surprise.

His usual grin was gone and I suddenly felt the weight of our decisions hanging on us. All three of our family members stared at us and I knew we were in the wrong. If there was any hope of the family getting fully back together, I needed to apologize.

"You guys. . . . What do you want me to say? " I said, raising my arms.

"How about you start with the truth!" Henrietta spat, stepping to me and poking me in the chest.

I took a deep breath.

"Fine! You want the truth? The truth is. . . We didn't feel like killing anymore! After Fryaer. . . We. . . . I. . Couldn't wash my hands hard enough to get the blood off of them!" I said, looking Henrietta right in the eyes.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, she was unmoved. .

"You think you're the only ones?!" She shouted, spit flying as she was inches from my face. "We all lived and fought together for a human lifetime, and you assumed hearing THAT was more than we could handle?!"


"It wasn't that. . ." I said calmly.

"Well what was it then!?" Malakai demanded now.

"We couldn't ask you to stop doing something you love!" Jacob replied passionately.

"Is taking pride in saving lives something to be ashamed of? Is that not what we are doing right now?" Peter asked, looking between myself and my brother.

I knew what I had to do.

I knlet, bowing on one knee, and my brother did the same.

"I have no excuses and I see now that I was wrong. We tried to be passive and found that it does not work. . . . I'm sorry." I said, without hesitation.

Not surprisingly, Peter and Malakai's expression softened and they nodded their acceptance. I watched Henny carefully and I knew what was coming next. She let out a chuckle and her hands clenched into fists. It seemed my brother felt it too and he cracked his neck and closed his eyes.

Even though I knew it was coming, I saw it coming, and I was ready for it, it still hurt quite a bit as Henrietta proceeded to punch both my brother and I in the face, sending us crashing through the wall behind us. Jacob was the first to stand from the rubble, rubbing his jaw. I followed quickly after and we both emerged from the hole our bodies left.

I looked around, but Henrietta was nowhere to be seen. Peter had begun to untie Julius and Malakai was just leaning up against the wall casually smoking a cigarette.

"So, that went about as well as expected, huh?" He commented, laughing his low laugh.

"She hit us a lot lighter than I thought she would, honestly. . . " I said, dusting myself off.

"Do you think she will join us?" Peter asked, helping a now conscious Julius to his feet.

"There's no telling for sure. I think she just needs time to cool down." I replied.

"And what do you plan to do about the little problem she created?" Malakai asked, motioning back to the area where Juliette's assistant lay dead in the street.

I thought about it for a moment. . . .

"Nothing. We were never even here!" I replied sly, before pulling my mask back on and heading out into the street.



[The royal castle. Throne room. Giant realm. 2 weeks after the battle in Haliday.]


The giant throne hall was a large square room. Along the wall, thrones of different design ranging from the smallest along the sides getting bigger until they reached the king's throne in the very center. Juliette's own seat was along the side along with Leonara and Florence. Between them and their father sat various older siblings and advisors to the king. Beside the king, sat his current queen, their mother.


Although. . . Since the war had begun in the West, the room had been used very little. While every member of the royal family was an accomplished warrior, it was decided that the 3 daughter's role for now would be training more soldiers for the army, making battle strategies and running the day to day operations of the kingdom.

Their activities in the human realm were largely unknown in the kingdom, before Ant's wanted poster and another assassination attempt only got the citizens more riled up. There were calls for all out war on them too, but right now the war effort was 100% focused on their giant enemies.


This day, Juliette and Leonara were both at home, which was rare. They sat in their thrones, in an otherwise empty room. Leo looking over battle plans and making strategies while Juliette played with the human boy Cain that she had taken from the human village. Since she had brought him home, all the women in the castle had since agreed that he was the cutest thing ever created and as such, he was usually the center of attention when he was in the room, constantly being smothered with affection.

As promised, the boy got everything he could ever ask for, and though he sometimes asked about his parents and siblings, Juliette was trying her best to make him see that he was better off with her. The fact that she had annihilated them all in brutal fashion did make it uncomfortable for her though.


Cain was on the left arm of her throne, between her and Leonara. He was practicing with a sword Juliette had given him, though it was dull so he wouldn't hurt himself. She coached him lightly on his footwork and showered him with praise as he was a quick learner.

It was then that Octavius, the head advisor to their father walked in, and knelt before the sister's.

"Your highness. . . . The human spy we sent with lady Anastasia has returned, and requested a word with you. . " he said, his tone humble.

"Is Anastasia too busy to see her own sister?" Juliette asked with a laugh.

Octavius said nothing, but presented the human to Juliette, placing him on the armrest opposite of Cain.


The middle aged man removed his hat and bowed to the princess. He was incredibly nervous and he kept glancing between the sisters. Leonara's steady gaze could give the most battle hardened warriors the chills and she liked it that way.

"So, human. . . .what news have you brought? Have you two found Antony Lockwood?" Juliette asked, leaning in to better hear him.

He gulped.

"Your highness. . . . Anastasia. . . Anastasia is dead." He said quietly, taking a step back in anticipation of her reaction.

The news hit her like a ton of bricks. She appeared to be trapped somewhere between crushing sadness, and boiling rage. In the blink of an eye, her hand shot out and the man found himself trapped in her fist. Instinctively, Leonara reached over and grabbed Cain, lifting him away from the danger of Juliette's movements

"WHAT. . . HAPPENED" She demanded, holding him up to her now, decidedly angry face.

"Julie. . . . Maybe he could better tell us what happened if you were a little more. . . Gentle. . . With him." Leo suggested, giving her sister a stern look.

Holding back the appropriate wave of emotion, Juliette released her grip on the man and he crumbled to his knees on the armrest in a coughing fit. Juliette waited impatiently for him to regain his composer.

"Now human. . . Tell us what happened! And do not test my patience!" Juliette said, grimly.


"It was. . . A spirit!" The man exclaimed, as much in fear of the spirit as of Juliette.


Octavius let out an audible gasp. Leonara's brow furrowed and Juliette's face turned red. Again she lunged for him to wring his little neck.


"That's enough, Juliette!" Leonara shouted, stopping her in mid grab.


Leo leaned over and plucked the human from the armrest too, before placing him on her own armrest as far away from Juliette as possible.


"I know you're upset. You have every right to be Julie, but this man isn't likely the cause of Anastasia's passing, and he isn't much use to us dead!" Leonara scolded.


Juliette just turned away in her seat and tears began to stream down her face as she broke down.


"Julie?. . . Julie, are you alright?" Came Cain's meager voice.


Juliette found it hard to stay angry or sad whenever Cain was around. Everything he did was so adorable. Hearing his voice melted her anger, but left her with the sadness. Her best friend was dead now.


"Why don't you go keep her company while aunty Leo talks to this man, hmm?" Leonara said to the boy before lifting him carefully back to Juliette's throne.



"Ok. . . So. . A spirit you say?" She asked, picking up where he had left off.



The man nodded apprehensively.


"What makes you think it was a spirit that killed her, not something else?" She questioned.



"The way everything happened. . . The way it looked and acted. . . It wasn't natural!" The man said, visibly shaken.


"First. . . . Can you describe to me what the spirit looked like?" Leo asked, grabbing a blank sheet of paper and her pencil.


The man carefully described the figure in a black cloak with a white mask that he had seen in the courtyard. A few moments later, Leonara showed him the sketch.


"Yes. . . That is exactly right!" He said, nodding.


She showed the drawing to both Juliette and Octavius. Both of them looked at it, Octavius with puzzle and Juliette with distain.


"I've. . . Never seen anything like it. . " Leonara commented.


"Neither have I." Octavius agreed.


Juliette responded again with anger.


"You expect me to believe that some. . . Ghost killed Anastasia!?" She demanded. "It's obvious he's lying!" She accused, pointing a finger at the man..


"And what reason would he have for lying Juliette? Clearly he knows the consequences of such an action!" Leonara argued as she focused her one visible eye on the man.


"Please sir. . . Tell us how it happened. . . Overlook no detail." She commanded.

". . . . Julie!" Cain, said, tugging on Juliette's sleeve. "Julie!"

"Not now Cain!" Juliette snapped, pulling her arm away from him.

"But Julie I-

"Cain!" She shouted, pounding her fist on the armrest.

He cowered in fear, retreating as far away from her as he could get on the armrest.


The man looked nervously at Juliette, who was giving him the stink eye from afar. He swallowed his fear and began.



"Well. . . We traveled from the capital as instructed by lady Juliette. . . . The. . The first thing of note we came across a band of giant women in human country. They were on their way back to some giant village to bury someone. . . I didn't hear the name of the person, but I did hear them vow vengeance on Antony Lockwood. They said something about he killed her in cold blood. . . In her sleep . . " the man explained.


At this, Juliette perked up, leaning in.


"We continued on until we came to the city of Haliday. . . Outside the city, she told me to keep my distance and watch her back. . . . She gathered everyone to the city square, and that's where she confronted it. . " The man said, trailing off as Leonara began to scribble on another piece of paper.


"Continue. . . " She said, not looking up.

"She started separating them by. . . By height and looks. . . I think. . .That was when she noticed it. . ."

"The spirit?!" Juliette interuppted.

"Y-yes. . . It was just sitting on a bench. . . Like it was trying not to be noticed. . " the man explained.

"Strange. . . Why would a spirit be trying not to get noticed?" Leo asked, knowingly in Octavius' general direction. "But then again, why would a spirit be just sitting on a bench?"

"I'm. . .not sure. . " he replied, shrugging.

"Unless. . . It wasn't a spirit at all. . " she insinuated.

The man seemed confused by this statement but held his tongue.

"Continue. . . Human!" Juliette growled.

"Ok. . . The giant. ." He began but a raised eyebrow from Leonara made him think twice. "Anastasia. . . She confronted the. . .spirit." the man decided. "And it. . . Just looked at her like it didn't understand what she was saying."

"Then. . . She went to grab it but. . . " the man said, closing his eyes as if trying to remember exactly what happened.

"What happened next?" Leonara prompted, patient as ever.

"She went to grab it, but then looked up to the rooftop. . . . And there it was."

"The spirit was on the roof?!" Juliette questioned in disbelief.

". . . . Yes. I saw it with my own two eyes! The spirit was on the rooftops and when we looked down, it had vanished from the bench! But. . . When she looked back to the roof. . . It was gone from there too!" The man exclaimed.

Octavius stood in disbelief. Leonara showed intrigue and Juliette was not amused. Cain was sitting by himself, on the verge of tears.

The man continued.

"She yelled at the crowd. . . . I don't remember what, but it was a threat. . . . Then she must have seen something because she ran through the crowd and over the courtyard wall. . . . I pushed through the crowd and when I got there. . . . She was bleeding from scratches on her legs and she had her sword drawn."

"What do you mean, scratches?" Juliette demanded, standing and looking over her sister.

"Th-three scratches. . . On each leg." He explained, unconsciously stepping back from her. "Like claw marks!"

Now both Leonara and Octavius seemed puzzled. Juliette continued to glare at him, teary eyed, but otherwise unphased by any aspect of his story thus far.


"It was strange. . . But I don't think she had time to worry about it because she was facing off with the spirit again only. . . . This time it transformed!" He exclaimed.

"Transformed how?" Leonara asked, her eye transfixed on the man.

"It. . . Was taller now. . . More broad." He said, turning to face her.

"Are you sure it wasn't something or someone else?" Juliette asked, planting her arms on her sister's armrests and bending over, getting right in his face now.

He timidly shook his no.

"How can you be sure?" She followed up.

"It. . . Was dressed the exact same. . . The exact same mannerisms. . . " He explained, stepping even further back.

"Julie!. . . Will you please control yourself!?" Leonara snapped, putting two fingers on Juliette's forehead and pushing her out of her lap.

Juliette stood, and began pacing back and forth.

"Please. ." Leo prompted the man.

"Next. . . She tried to crush the spirit with her sword, but she either missed or it dodged by millimeters! Oddly. . .after she attacked, it reached out and grabbed her sword."

"And did it have a three clawed hand?" Leo inquired, her attention fully trained on him.

". . . No. It didn't. . . It had bare hands. . . Regular hands."

The man paused and looked at Juliette. She stopped and looked at him, before throwing her hands up.

"What?! I'm not going to hurt you, just finishing telling the tale!" She shouted, rolling her eyes.

"Ok, so. . . The spirit grabbed her sword, and when she went to pull it away, she couldn't budge it! It was able to completely drag her! Then, when it let go, she went flying back and crushed a bunch of buildings. . . . That was all I saw. Next thing I knew, she was stabbed with her own sword and dead in the street." The man finished, looking between Leo and Juliette.

"Hmm." Was all Leo said.

Juliette was not so calm.

"How did you not see what happened?" Juliette demanded, stomping her foot and earning a startled yelp from Cain.

Leo reached over and gently grabbed Cain again, this time holding him in her cupped hands and stroking his back with her finger.

"She moved too fast! She was 3 streets over in two strides. I couldn't keep up. . " the man said, timidly.

"Pathetic!" Juliette spat at him before turning away.

"Excuse my sister please. . . She has been in a foul mood for weeks now!" Leonara said to the man, but it was aimed at Juliette. "The last question I have is. . . What did they do with her body?"

"The last I saw. . They had every horse in the city trying to pull her. . " he said, thinking back.

"Ok. Well, I think we have all the information we need. Octavius please take him back to his quarters." She commanded.

"Hey! I'm not done with him!" Juliette said, stepping in front of Octavius.

At 92 feet tall, Juliette towered over the man, and he had many unpleasant memories of dealing with her temper tantrums when she was a young girl. She looked down into his eyes, daring him to defy her but to his relief, Leo stood, still cupping Cain and stepped between them.

"Now please, Octavius." She said, and she didn't need to say it twice. He took off with haste, not looking back.

Juliette shot her sister a death glare, before turning and storming out.

"Hmm. . . . Well that sure was interesting wasn't it, Cain?" Leo asked with a chuckle strutting out of the throne room and down the hallway.

"Is. . . Julie mad at me?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Oh, no sweetie! Juliette is just. . . . Stressed. Do you know what stressed is, Cain?" She asked, holding him up to her face.

He shook his head no.

"It means that she has a lot going on right now, and everyone expects great things from her. She is just trying to make everybody happy and do the best she can. It's nothing you did. Ok?" Leo explained, looking him in the eye.

"Ok. . "He replied quietly, looking away.

"Now, what do you say we go to the dinner hall, hmm? I know you haven't eaten all day and I'm so hungry I could just gobble you up!" She exclaimed, playfully nibbling at his feet.

He laughed and began to feel a little better.

"Can I have pie for dinner?" He asked, smiling.

Leo chuckled.

"Maybe AFTER dinner! You'll never grow up as big and strong as we are if you don't eat your meat and vegetables!" She said, winking.

"But you guys are giants!" The boy proclaimed, throwing his arms up to show size.

"Well we weren't always! We all just eat healthy!" She said, pushing open the door to the great dinner hall.

Juliette walked cautiously down what appeared to be the main street of the city. It was one of the only ones that she could fit down without shuffling her feet as well, but it had all the makings of a trap.
Her main disadvantage was her height in this case. It was impossible to see people hiding at ground level under rooftops and awnings. Her sword was drawn, ready to strike or defend in a heartbeat, but she wasn't entirely sure anyone was actually there.


The last city had been completely abandoned, although it was left perfectly intact. To anyone who found the remains of the town she had massacred a few weeks earlier, it would have been painfully obvious why nobody was there. Here though. . . It was unclear.
Juliette had seen a man on a horse pass her at the last city as she searched and cleared it, but it wasn't her mission to chase every human she came across. She knew he came this way, but there was no evidence of him here now. There was evidence of someone else though.
For a brief moment, she felt a little tingle on her soul. It was the presence of a god or goddess she wasn't familiar with. A second later, a human man stepped out of the alley and just stood in her path. She looked him over as she walked and saw that while he had a sword, it wasn't drawn. Other than that, the fact that the man wasn't Antony meant that he was of no concern to her and so she continued on.


Two steps later, there was the unremarkable sound of flesh and bone being compacted into the street and that was the end of it. She never found out what he was doing there or why he had come. It didnt matter. She was on a mission.


Juliette had barely stepped off of the flattened remains of the man, when suddenly the silence was shattered by an attack ripping through the building to her right. She spun on her heel and had to put all of her strength into the swing of her sword to deflect the attack. The energy shot to the right, clipping a nearby building.
To block that attack, Juliette had to leave an opening in her defense, and an unseen slayer took advantage. A horizontal red slash shot from a rooftop, aimed at her chest.


Juliette didn't miss a beat, dropping into the splits as the slash passed just over her head.
Immediately after dodging that, another strike from the building right in front of her burst out, aiming at her face. Her only option was to lay flat on her back, crushing 2 buildings in the process. Even though she was on the defensive, her mind was always working though and she raised her right foot up, smashing it down on what remained of the building where the last attack had just come from.


It exploded in a cloud of dust and brick, so she couldn't be sure if she had crushed the slayer, but it gave her the time she needed to scramble back to her feet and get some distance between them. Juliette utterly hated fighting in human cities with their visibility limitations. The enemy could be anywhere and attack her at the last second.


Again she moved cautiously, only this time she didn't try to avoid any buildings. They didn't offer enough resistance to trip her up, and the flatter the city was, the more even the playing field. She scanned the buildings and out of the corner of her eye she saw movement within the reach of her sword. Without hesitation, she swung it down, obliterating the entire building, but again no confirmation of hitting her target.


Cautiously, Juliette crept up on the ruins of the building and peered inside the crater her sword had made. . .


There was nothing directly in it, but there was man laying several yards away in the street. He looked dazed and was having trouble getting to his feet. Juliette had to double take. . .


It was the leader from that city Haliday . . . . Only. . . He had a sword on him now. . . And the fact that he was still breathing and fairly unscathed meant that he was no human. . . .


He lied to her.


They all had.


As angry as this made her. . . She had other things to worry about at the moment. She would visit that city again later.
Juliette walked over to the man, and was about to snatch him up, when another attack blistered down the street towards her. It was a towering blue beam, and unlike before, Juliette had seen who the attacker was.
Antony.


This time she had plenty of warning though, and she swung her own sword to meet it full strength. A massive explosion of energy and debris bellowed out, clouding over everything in dust.


Juliette stood at the ready, expecting a sneak attack to come out of the chaos, but when it cleared, she was the only one in the street. The man at her feet had made his escape and Antony was gone too.


Even though he was gone, it gave her new energy to know that her hunch was right. To know that he had been the one behind Anastasia's death. Here and now, she was going to make him pay. . .


She began to walk down the rubble filled street, easily crushing the bricks to powder as she stepped on them. She made it to where the attack came from, judging by the gouge in the street that Antony's attacks seemed to make. She looked around, but there was no sign of him now.
Everything was still now.


For the briefest of moments, Juliette was able to appreciate how calm and serene the human realm had the potential to be. She closed her eyes and took a breath. Tuned her senses. It was then that she could hear the movement. . .


Juliette opened her eyes, and lifted her sword high above her head. She locked on to the building she had felt the presence, and was just about to obliterate it, when another attack beamed towards her. This wasn't the usually tall and narrow strikes that she had become accustomed to.

No. . . This was a pin point in comparison. . . And aimed straight for her forehead.
Again she was able to dodge, but just barely and the attack chopped off one of her braids in the process. The slayer whose attack it was ducked behind a wall, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid being seen. In the blink of an eye, the building was in pieces beneath her blade and she followed up with a downward stab, her blade crashing down through the roof of her original target.
Cautiously, Juliette sifted through the debris with her foot, bought ultimately she found nothing. Walking around the corner, she came up empty as well. . .
She was trying to stay calm and think her actions through, but she was beginning to lose patience. It seemed that all these tiny cowards wanted to do was play games.
Juliette continued up the street, only this time, she crushed every building she passed, giving her enemies less and less places to hide. A couple minutes later, the entire street was flattened.


The slayers must have realized what she was doing, because as she began down the next street, one was waiting for her, out in the open. Just standing in the middle of the road. He was noticeably taller than Antony and the others she had seen, and that seemed to line up with the report the human man had given them.


This man had been in direct contact with Anastasia either at the time of her death. . .


Wasting no time, Juliette raised her sword above her head, and smashed it down harder than she felt necessary,hoping to disintegrate the man, but she felt the familiar clang of sword on sword.


She looked down her blade to see the man, blocking it with his own sword. Juliette's eyes got wide. She had crumpled countless giant men with that attack and yet. . . . This slayer had blocked it like it was nothing.
But it wasn't only this that unsettled her.
The man. . . . He was grinning!


He seemed to be enjoying himself.
With a quick push of his sword, Juliette's blade was repelled back toward her. She barely managed to keep it under control, taking a step back and that was when the man struck. He sprinted at the wall of a nearby building and ran up and along it.


He gained altitude as he closed the gap between them, and attacked with a plain old physical attack. Although she blocked it with ease, being off balance already caused her to be shoved back. Dropping to the ground, he immediately launched another attack, this time a prayer.
The jagged horizontal slash rose up from the ground with a scream.


Juliette made a last second decision to withstand it, bracing her shoulder against her sword. The brutal attack smashed into her, forcing her back even though she had planted her feet.


This man's strength was ridiculous.
Before she could recover, he attacked again and again. Juliette was forced to change stances, giving up on straight up absorbing the blows and resorting to swinging to match the strikes but even that seemed to be a losing battle as she was still driven back.


It wasn't that his attacks were hard to defend skill-wise, it was the brutal strength behind them. Something had to give and she knew she couldn't continue to go toe to toe with him on brute force alone. She had to find an opening, but the trouble with fighting prayers were that her direct actions had no effect on the slayer.


As Juliette fought to deflect him, her heel touched something. She quickly glanced back to see that she had been backed up against the outer wall. The slayer continued to advance. She knew it was now or never.
She waited until the next vertical strike, side stepping, and countering with a thrust. Although the man blocked, Juliette noticed that he gave up ground this time, his feet sliding as he held her back. Deciding to follow up, she thrust again and again, gaining ground with every attack. The man must have been exhausting his strength trying push his attack. . .


Putting all of her strength into a final thrust, an opening was earned as she shoved the slayer off balance and to his back on the street. Juliette glared down at him, the tip of her sword poised to end him but what she saw, surprised and infuriated her.
The man still wore his wide grin! Even as she had him bested, ready to deliver the killing blow.
With sword in hand, the man tried scuttling backward to create some distance, but Juliette kept her blade trained on him, taking the one necessary step it took to keep him in check.


"You're beat slayer! Lay down your sword and surrender!" Juliette said, with royal authority in her voice. "If you cooperate, I assure you, your crimes against the crown will be absolved and your death quick and painless!"


"What a. . . Generous offer, YOUR HIGHNESS!" The man replied, sarcastically, as he continued to scramble back. "But I don't think you realize just how deep in over your head you really are, little girl!" He finished, chuckling.


Juliette's face turned instantly red at the man's disrespect. There weren't many things in the world one could say to her to make her upset, but regarding her as a child along with the accompanying condescension was the most surefire way to accomplish it.


She let out a scream of rage before raising her sword, tip down and plunging it down on the man. She could tell by the feel that he had blocked again, but still the energy had been transferred, smashing the street beneath him and leaving him in a sizable crater. Though she would have liked to have finished him off, she knew one or two more blows and he would be at her mercy. . .


She went to strike again, but found that she couldn't withdraw her sword. She gave it a tug but she couldn't budge it. The man with the grin had dropped his sword, and was now clutching her blade with his bare hands. This must have been the same antic he had used on Anastasia, and if so, Juliette had already decided how she would handle such a tactic.


Juliette pulled slightly, giving the illusion of trying to recover her blade, and when she was sure that the man was fully committed to holding on, she made her move.
Quicker than lighting, her foot shot out, and connected with the slayer. Juliette kicked him as hard as she could and the man blasted through every building he contacted, until he collided with the wall, shoving it out and back in a pile of rubble and dust. Cautiously, Juliette walked towards where the slayer had smashed through the buildings.


To her surprise, no one else tried to attack her and she successfully found the man laying partially covered in rubble but otherwise unscathed. He was just climbing out of the pile of brick and dirt when Juliette appeared above him. She took the opportunity before he could react and raised her foot.
She stomped down with what she knew was more than enough force to crush any slayer she had ever fought, burying him beneath her sole but just to be sure, she twisted her foot back and forth before stepping off of him. . .


Expecting to see a dusty, crumpled corpse, her jaw dropped when she saw that not only was the slayer still alive, but he was still conscious even. His body looked worse for wear and a bit flattened but no bones appeared broken. Juliette couldn't believe this man. . . .


Ever since Juliette had crested around 120-125 feet tall, she had been able to crush a fresh slayer with one step (a feat that her older sisters had always bragged about) but here was this man, already well passed fresh, and although it didn't appear he could move, he was still alive. . . .


And that wasn't the most incredible thing about him.
This slayer. . . . Was laughing at her!


Juliette was unsure if this was intentional, or if he had gone mad and this was just some coping mechanism of his body and brain having been crushed well beyond what should have been his breaking point. Either way, she was infinitely intrigued, as this might be actually be the strongest or at least the most resilient slayer on earth. If this had been strictly a one on one battle, she would have loved to have a conversation with him and hear his tales.


Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and she knew out there somewhere, somebody was ready to attack her, so she just lifted her foot and prepared to finish him off, but that is when the inevitable happened.


Juliette reacted just in time, but a light pink, nearly invisible slash cut through the air just where her ankle was supposed to be if she hadn't held back. She had no choice but to step off to the side to avoid having her foot cut off, and she looked in the direction of the attack to see a woman standing on the wall next to the smashed section.


She had a vibe about her. . .

Juliette couldn't explain it. She wasn't sure why but her desire to kill this particular slayer was through the roof. The woman only stared at her with a cocky smirk.


"As much as I'm sure that Malakai here would love to continue to fight. . . . I'm afraid I must insist on you not doing that again!" The woman said, with a raspy voice.


"Malakai" Juliette thought to herself.


"And who might you be?" Juliette asked, raising her sword.


"It doesn't matter. . . . You aren't going to leave here alive! I see you found your friends sword as well. . . Tell me. . . Was that hard for you?" The woman rasped.



Immediately Juliette's face turned red, and she gripped her sword tighter. She knew that fighting with her anger would be a mistake, but this woman was spitting on the memory of Anastasia.

Juliette would make her suffer. . .


Not wasting another moment, Juliette attacked with a powerful sideways downward slash. The woman's eyes got wide and her smirk disappeared as she realized that she couldn't block an attack of that magnitude. She jumped and flipped, narrowly avoiding being wiped from existence as the giant sword passed beneath her.


The force of the shockwave from the blade itself leveled an entire city block and the sword itself crushed another half a block but Juliette wasn't finished. She spun on her toes, keeping the moment up and turning the horizontal motion into a vertical overhead swing that smashed into the ground where the woman had landed.
The resulting damage was catastrophic.


The blast from the impact flattened the city for 2 blocks in every direction. The tip of her sword created a massive crater and completely powdered all the cobblestone in the area, not to mention the deep crack leading away from the hole in the direction she had swung. It took around 5 minutes for the dust to settle and she could actually see what she'd done.


Juliette couldn't actually tell if she had hit the slayer or not. The entire area was in ruins but there was no sign of the woman, although Juliette had completely disintegrated slayers before with similar attacks. Seeing nothing, Juliette was just about to turn and walk away, when she heard something to her right.


She looked down, to see the woman emerging from a pile of rubble. She shoved a large chunk of building aside and stood, dusting herself off.


"Huh. . ." She said, looking around at the carnage.


"You've got quite the swing, don't you?" Henrietta commented with her smirk returning.


Juliette didn't reply, just staring at her.


"I think it's my turn!" She said, lifting her sword.


Henrietta charged Juliette, but without any buildings still standing, she couldn't elevate to attack her but still she launched a prayer, her signature thin, light pink slash.


Juliette was unphased. Although it was difficult for her to see the attack in the light, it's thin, weak nature meant that Juliette would be able to block it easily and likely just over-power this slayer. She raised her sword and just let the attack deflect, but her arrogance allowed her to be caught off guard.


Instead of ricochet, the energy bent around her sword and it was too late to dodge. Juliette winced as the attack lashed her shoulder like a whip, drawing blood. Juliette touched her arm and saw that it had a deep gash now. She was a little shocked by it.


Juliette had never seen an attack like this. To the best of her knowledge, prayer attacks were basically just amplified sword strikes that were scaled up to kill giants, but this. . . This was something completely different. .


"What's the matter? You've never been cut before?" The slayer rasped with a grin.


"I'm fine. . . You should really keep your guard up." Juliette replied, calmly.


"Ha! You may be strongest giant I've ever faced, and definitely more agile, but I wouldn't exactly call you fast, darling!" Henrietta laughed, before she bolted forward.


Juliette focused on her movements as she darted back and forth, closing the gap. The slayer lifted her sword, and snapped her wrist downward as she swung another prayer.
The light glinted off the attack as it twirled through the air. Juliette knew it could curve around her sword if she just blocked but it was coming too fast to counter it. Knowing that she would take damage, Juliette stood tough, and blocked the attack anyway. It hit her sword as expected, but the spin made it unpredictable and as a result, her hands, stomach and thighs were all ripped into.


Although it hurt, Juliette saw the opening she was trying to create and she caught the woman with a kick from her left leg. Henrietta tried to block, having no other choice but the difference in strength was insurmountable. She was sent flying the same as Malakai, smashing through buildings, the wall, and finally stopping as she splintered a tree.


Henrietta fell to her knees, coughing up blood. She was still in the fight, but she was beginning to seriously reconsider going toe to toe with this woman. She was cast into the shadow of her opponent as Juliette stepped up to loom over her.


Henrietta craned her neck to look up at her.


"On your feet! As deplorable an individual as you seem to be, you still deserve to die an honourable death. ." Juliette said, pointing the tip of her sword at Henrietta.
Henrietta only chuckled, spitting out more blood.


"Huh. . . You think a little kick is enough to put me down?. . . Think again!" She replied, shakily standing up.


"Fuck you!" She finished, defiantly.


Juliette gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep her composer. She wanted to scream at this disrespectful little scrub, but killing her would have to be satisfying enough. She didn't wait for her to run her mouth anymore and thrust forward.


Too tired to dodge, Henrietta braced herself to block. She immediately felt Juliette's brute strength as she was smashed backward and pinned up against the tree. She strained, pushing back against the massive blade but it was a losing battle as her own sword was pressed into her skin, causing her to bleed and still Juliette was advancing.


Henrietta didn't know if Juliette possessed the strength, but if she did, soon her sword would bent from the pressure or snap all together. Without some type of intervention, she would die here. .


As if on key, a prayer ripped from Juliette's right and she was forced to withdraw.
Again she spun on her toes and her sword deflected the attack up into the sky. Henrietta saw her opportunity and instead of retreat, she threw a slash of her own but with the limited strength she had left, it only reached Juliette's thigh.


The attack hit and wrapped around her thigh, leaving a bloody ring. Juliette cried out in pain and dropped to her knee. It looked as though they finally had the upper hand but Juliette proved to be tougher than Henrietta thought when she braced her shoulder against her sword and blocked another prayer that looked to be Jacob.
Seeing another opening, Henrietta went to strike again, but Juliette saw it coming.


She reached down and grabbed a large chunk of a building and hurled it at Henrietta. The piece exploded into pieces as Henrietta put her fist through it. Purely out of spite, Henrietta reached down and picked up a tiny remain and heaved it at Juliette's forehead. The piece of brick struck home, doing nothing more than just crumbling and leaving a dirt spot on her face.


This woman was honestly working Juliette's last nerve. It was to the point where Juliette would kill her no matter the cost but first she had to deal with these other slayers that were dead set on continuing their offensive.


With a moment of relief she was able to stand and get sight of one slayer about 250 yards to her right. Another. . Ant. . . Was about 500 yards dead ahead. The woman was still about 30 beside her. Juliette knew to work closest to furthest so she turned her sword broad and took a swing the woman.


With the blade on it's side, there was more area to block, and surprisingly the woman wasn't blown away but instead, deflected it over her head and it continued on its way, but again Juliette spun, picking up speed in a multiple turn pirouette before smashing it to the ground in the next closest slayer.


The swords reach on top of Juliette's raw strength meant that all 3 slayers were in the blast range. She was already standing in the wake of her previous attack and when the dust settled, the carnage was spread out half way across the city. At this point, only about a quarter of the buildings on the far side of the city were still standing and only just.


The two male slayers were nowhere to be found. The initial crater was about 20 feet deep and had a radius of about 300 yards. The first male slayer would definitely have been swallowed up by the blast and as such, there was no trace of him. Ant on the other hand, could have escaped if he had reacted quick enough. The problem was, there would be no place for him to hide now. Anyone in the immediate vicinity would have been buried under the rubble.


Everyone except for Henrietta.


She knew she was in trouble now. That last attack had been so violent that even though she had been yards away from the attack, but the brute force had washed over her and everything else just the same. Now she lay, have covered in bricks and cobblestone 60 yards from Juliette. She tried to stand, but her legs refused.


Her heart sank as she felt the tremors signaling Juliette's approach. She struggled again as the giantess appeared in the sunlight above her head but still, her body wouldn't respond.


Juliette only stood, looking down and studying the slayer. Thoughts of just stomping her flat crossed Juliette's mind but she decided this needed to be done right. Not just any death would be suitable to avenge her sister.


"What? Are you just gonna stand there and stare at me?! Just get it over with already!" Henrietta spat at her.


"I'm afraid I can't let you off that easily. Fortunately, I have the perfect way to send you off. . " Juliette replied solemnly, as she jammed the tip of her sword into the ground, freeing up her hands.


"Fuck you!" Henrietta said, angrily.


Juliette said nothing, but knelt down and reached for her. Henrietta struggled widely against her giant fingers, but between their natural strength difference and her exhaustion, Henrietta was easily overpowered as Juliette wrapped her fingers around her head and lifted her from the debris.


Juliette stood up to her full height and looked the woman in the eye. Henrietta punched at her fingers but failed to get her to release her grip. Henrietta looked around desperately for any possible way she could get out of this, but it seemed everyone from the team had been incapacitated. With no obvious options, she stopped struggling and accepted her fate.


Juliette turned away from her, and began sifting through the wreckage where she had found the slayer.


"What the hell are you waitin' for?! I don't have all day!" Henrietta screamed in frustration.


"Your sword. . . . Where is it?" Juliette asked, eerily calm.


"Ha! Like I'd seriously give you my sword!" Henrietta laughed.


"You don't have a choice in the matter. It just seems as though you are in a hurry to die, so the sooner you tell me, the sooner I can send you to the afterlife." Juliette replied politely, as she continued to search through the rubble.


Henrietta was about to respond, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye.
"H. . . How considerate of you! But to tell you the truth, I don't actually know what happened to it. . . Must have lost it in the blast!. . . "


"Well. . . It's necessary for this, so I guess I'll just keep lo-


Juliette was interuppted mid-sentence as she saw what Henrietta had seen. Peter was sprinting toward her, sword drawn, but there was something unexplainable going on. As he ran and jumped, the very earth and stone was heaving and falling to help him gain altitude.


Every time he lept, another pillar would rise, and the one behind him would crumble. Juliette had never seen this ability before, and she could distinctly feel another presence now, besides the two slayers. This being seemed to have a very similar soul signature to a god, albeit less strong.


Juliette was caught completely off-guard, and didn't have time to grab her sword before Peter had reached her. She swiped at him with her free hand, smashing the pillar and narrowly missing him as he jumped to the next one, circling around her.


She made another grab for him but again he dodged, leaping to another pillar. Getting frustrated, Juliette went to pull her sword, but suddenly the ground came to life, and a giant, sharp pointed pillar jutted up in her face, forcing her to retreat. She narrowly avoided it, but from behind her, Peter closed in and took a swing at her as well. With her superior reflexes, Juliette was able to dodge, but it was sloppy as the cuts all over her body began to make the muscles stiff. For the first time, she was aware of herself slowing down.


To make the situation worse, Peter persisted, continuing to come at her. Juliette used her hand to try to defend herself, smashing at the pillars as she stepped around, careful not to give him an angle she couldn't defend. Juliette was also aware that it seemed that the slayer was herding her away from her sword.


Meanwhile, in Juliette's fist, Henrietta was taken along for the ride. Without the strength to escape, she just had to wait until either Juliette dropped her, or she warded off Peter and returned to killing her. Either seemed just as plausible as the two went back and forth but Henrietta couldn't help but notice that Peter was refusing to use any prayers. Seeing as how this was to this point, the biggest challenge of their lives, it didn't make sense to be holding back. . .


Peter continued to press his attack, jumping around as pillar after pillar jutted up with seemingly no limitation to the power of the one controlling it. Somehow the pillars were able to aid Peter as well as make their own attacks. It seemed as though this would go on forever until finally somebody made a mistake. . . As Peter circled around Juliette, he made an attempt to slash her face but with a sudden burst of speed, Juliette reached out and snatched him out of mid air. It seemed the exchange was over, except for the look on Juliette's face.


She winced in pain and that is when Henrietta noticed the tip of Peter's sword poking cleanly out the backside of Juliette's hand. She gritted her teeth against the pain and poured her strength into squeezing the life out of Peter.


Henrietta could hear Peter's body creaking as the biggest giant she had ever seen crushed her comrade as she herself was stuck in a similar predicament. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she loosened her grip and let Peter's body fall the ground with a heavy thud. To Henrietta's relief, he began to couch as the wind was knocked out of him, but at least he was still alive.


Unfortunately, Juliette immediately went to remedy that. Peter could only look up as Juliette's sandal blocked his view. He closed his eyes as it began its unstoppable decent, but just then he felt the earth beneath him give way and he was engulfed and dragged down just as her foot smashed into the ground where he was laying.


Juliette seemed unphased by the oddity as she returned her attention to the sword currently sticking through the back of her hand. Using the hand currently holding Henrietta, she winced as she pulled the sword out of her hand. There was a brief moment of silence before, without warning, Juliette grasped Peter's sword with her wounded hand and plunged it into Henrietta's chest up to the handle. She watched as Henrietta's eyes got wide and she struggled to speak as blood began to drip from her mouth.

“That is for my sister!” Juliette declared passionately, before tossing the woman's body to the ground. She died on impact.

It was at that time that Juliette noticed the pain in her hand... pain beyond having the equivalent of a 4 inch needle shoved through her palm. She took off her leather gauntlet to examine her hand. The hole where the blade had gone through was bleeding but it was minor. What worried her was the fact that the skin around the wound had begun to discolor and turn purple. The pain was radiating out in burning waves.


Juliette tenderly pulled the gauntlet back on and cautiously grabbed her sword. She pulled it from the ground and was just about to put it away when suddenly an attack came from behind her. Juliette was slow to react, and because of it, while she was able to block the attack she was knocked off her feet and fell onto her back in the ruins of her previous attack.


She quickly recovered but as she stood, she was faced with her attackers. 200 yards in front of her stood 3 men. One was clearly Antony Lockwood. One was the man from the human city, and the last one she didn't recognize. They faced her, swords drawn. She held up her own but for the first time, she could feel it's weight. It pulled her arms down and made her sluggish. Juliette didn’t have time to complain as the slayers made their move.

Antony and the man from the city both began to pray and launched matching blue vertical strikes. As soon as they released them, the 3rd man began to glow with a green light. Before her eyes the prayers began to change. They too began to change. They went from waist height vertical pillars into circular rings of spinning energy. They burned the air as they picked up speed. Juliette gathered her strength to block the attack and it took all she had to hold them back. Unlike normal prayers, these didn’t dissipate with contact and continued to push forward against Juliette's sword, causing sparks to rain down on her. She had to dig her sandals in and still she was moved back. The level of power this magic was generating was beyond anything she had faced so far, but she kept her calm. Knowing that her energy was beginning to fade, Juliette counted to 3 in her head and rolled backward in a reverse summersault. The drop successfully countered the push of the prayers and sent them flying behind her.


Although she had dodged that peril, immediately the slayers were after her again. This time Ant closed the gap and attacked horizontally, his attack again amplified with this mysterious god's magic. With her entire left arm throbbing now and her legs cramping up, she only just managed to deflect it to the side of her, causing her to stumble with the weight of her sword. The other slayer gave her no time to recover and sent his own high speed vertical attack. It gathered speed and height to the point where Juliette opted not to block it at all and just dodged frantically.


It was starting to really sink in. . . She might actually die, here and now. It broke her heart that she wouldn’t be able to avenge Anastasia in full, but she had at least killed the slayer directly responsible. Antony Lockwood and the others would have to wait. . .


Another amplified attack. The jagged green beam fried the air as it slithered low and rose at the last second as though alive. Not having the strength to lift her sword in time, Juliette could only move, but it wasn’t enough and the attack cut deep into her left shoulder. Blood began to flow from the cut, staining her dress and soaking her gauntlet. She let out a cry that echoed through the valley. Clutching her arm, her body aching and the pain from the stab radiating through her chest and out into her other extremities, Juliette knew she had to get out of there if she wanted any hope of survival.


In a moment of inaction, she put her sword back in it's sheathe and drew Anastasia's blade instead. She had made it much lighter than her own to suit the weaker woman, so wielding it while down on strength made sense. With that out of the way, she was faced with the next issue. . . Namely the 3 slayers blocking her escape. With her agility severely limited, she would have to cause a distraction.
Holding Anastasia's sword tip down in her right hand, Juliette took one last deep, ragged breath. By now it was painfully, painfully clear that she had been poisoned as she began to sweat, and her vision went in and out of focus. She said a final prayer to whatever gods might be listening, before she charged ahead.

I opened my eyes to see that I was no longer in the battle.  Juliette was gone.  Peter was gone. . .

Julius. . . . . 


There wasn’t much time to think about that now. . . .
Because where I was now would prove to be a much, much bigger problem. . . .


I had never been here before, but something in my soul told me where I was.  A massive, grand hall with perfectly smooth, polished, blue stone floors.  The walls were lined with thick, white pillars that had torches on them.  The room glowing orange with their flickering light.  Everything was of the finest quality. . . . 


Quality fit for the gods. . . . 


That is when I felt a familiar presence. . . .


I turned slowly and a wave of rage and fear washed over me.
Sitting directly in front of me, no less than 150-200 feet tall . . . Was the goddess of death, Freyja.


Her presence alone was enough to crush a weak spirit, but as a slayer, we were raised not to fear death. . . . At least the act of dying. Truth be told. . . Seeing the physical representation in the form of a massive, dark, imposing being was something else entirely. Yet, here I was, cast in the shadow of her raised sandal as she sat comfortably on her lavish throne with her legs crossed.  I looked up passed her legs and further still passed her black goddess’ gown to her pale, ice cold face.  As beautiful as any woman ever created yet somehow uninviting.  Here she was, very much alive and smirking down on me but she also felt dead as well.  


All things very uncomfortable considering I knew why I was here.  All the hate and anger in the world could not get you to the realm of the gods.  You had to be summoned by them. . . . So here I was, before arguably the most powerful being in existence, after having just refused her advances not 5 minutes ago.  What made me worry even more was her size. . .


But not how big she was. . . No. . . 
But how SMALL she was!


It was said that at their normal size, the gods made giants look like toddlers by comparison.  I didn’t have a measure in feet, but the point is, I would have been more than insignificant to her. . . So the fact that she was presenting herself in a form I was accustomed to, led me to believe she had physical plans for me. .   If not, why not appear to me in my soul or in a vision as she had done before?  None the less, here she was. . . Smirking that infuriating smirk!


“Bring him back!” I roared.  The first words spoken since I arrived.


I drew my sword, holding it with two hands in front of me.
She didn’t move a muscle, just looking at me. . . . Amused by my demands.
The thought of Julius being so heartlessly wiped from the earth as punishment for a spat I had with this goddess fueled my rage and I gathered my strength for a devastating attack.  I lifted my sword and swung it down, looking to cut her, her throne and the entire building in half, but as I swung. . . .

Something went terribly wrong. . . . 


There was no fire. . 


No brimstone. . . 


No anything but the sound of my sword cutting through the air in front of me.  


Her smirk only turned into a wide grin as she gazed down on me with amusement in her eyes.


“Oh. . . Dear Antony!  You couldn’t have honestly thought that would work, could you?” she asked, her voice silky and somewhat quiet for her size. 

 
That was right. . . . I couldn't expect the gods to give me any strength here. . . Attacking one of their own.  No. . . I would have to do this the old fashioned way.   


I charged forward, kicking off the base of her throne and leaping up to her leg.  It worried me that she Ionly laughed as I made my attack.  She took no action to stop me, but I immediately found out why.  As soon as I left the floor, I felt a weight gathering on me.  It seemed to manifest out of nowhere and it got heavier and heavier the higher I got.  It took all my strength just to reach the platform of her armrest and when I finally got there, it was too much.


I could only stand for a moment before the weight forced me to my knees, slumped with my sword at my side. I could hear her laughing above me.


“Tell me, little one. . . Just what. . . Did you hope to accomplish here?” She asked as if she was talking to a small child. 


“Bring Julius back!” I shouted again, struggling to even lift my head to make eye contact. 


“Do you mean your young friend who met an. . . Unfortunate end in the battle for the very existence of the human race?” Because let me tell you Antony, these things tend to happen in the violent little world you live in!  I can't just bring back every soul who meets an unfavorable demise!” She replied, acting coy. 


She just watched me struggle to even move for a moment.


“It's amazing how familiar this feels, isn't it?  You. . . . Helplessly squirming beneath a foe you couldn't hope to beat with your own strength alone!. . . But that's ok. . . It hasn't been the end of the world for you. . . . . Has it, little one?” She asked, lifting my chin with a giant finger.


“Bring. Him. Back!” I demanded once again, through clenched teeth.


“And do you know why that is?” She continued, ignoring me.  “


“Because I'm a fighter!” I answered proudly, straining against the weight.
Again she laughed.


“Hardly!  I think we both know how many times I've had to peel your flattened form from the mud!” She replied, with an arrogant huff.  “But don't get me wrong. . . I don't mind!  Anything I can do for my children. . . I will gratefully and whole heartedly lend my strength to any one who is in need. . . “


I focused my strength, and gritted my teeth as I tried to lift myself from my knees.  She leaned down and just watched me struggle.

  
“Do you. . . Want my help?” She asked, condescension dripping from her voice.


I said nothing and continued to try, but it was too much.  Whatever force she was exerting over me was just too much.  But then. . . Just as it seemed to reach a peak and I thought I would be flattened to my stomach. . . . The pressure was completely gone.


“I'm sorry Antony!  That wasn’t intentional.  It’s just that beings from your realm can't withstand the. . . Gravity. . . Of the gods.  If I was in my true form, even with your high durability you would have been utterly crushed.  That is why we usually only appear to our subjects in dreams or visions.  My apologies.” Freyja explained , politely.


“What is it you want?” I asked, climbing to my feet.”


“You're here. . . Because we need to have a conversation about your servitude to me!” She replied, sternly.


I unintentionally chuckled.


“There is nothing to talk about! I pray when I NEED you, and that's the end of it, considering  we were created to fix your mistakes!” I spat, rudely.
There was a not so subtle hint of irritation or anger on her face as she heard me.  


“That also means. . . That you were created solely to do our bidding, doesn't it?” she growled. “Do not. . .forget your place.  The Urahknahkai were created to be nothing more than servants to the gods!  We even heavily considered not your kind free will at all.” She continued, spitefully.


Urahknahkai. . . . The original name given to slayers when they were first created.  A name that had been long forgotten and replaced.  For good reason.  It harkens back to a time when we were but slaves to the gods. . . Dark times when death, and destruction to everyone and everything was a daily occurrence.  


“Just another mistake in a long line, I suppose!” I commented without thinking. 

I had been purposely trying to get under her skin, but this one wasn’t intentional.  None the less, it was one comment too many.
All of a sudden, an invisible force pulled my sword from my hand and hovered it in front of me. I looked up to see that she was scowling now and before I could say anything, the blade spun and plunged through my throat.  I only stood in shock as I choked and struggled to breath, pulling frantically at my sword, but I didn’t possess the strength.  It was then that I felt it. . . . 
Freyja’s influence. . .


She. . . She was healing me at exactly the same pace as my wound was killing me, keeping me trapped in this excruciating pain.


“Tell me, Antony. . .” She began intimately, as she watched me die.  “Why is it that you view me as an enemy? . . . . I truly do not understand!  I have done nothing but save your life.  Heal your wounds. . . Help you protect the ones you love. . . . And still you distrust me. . “ She finished, disappointment apparent.  


“I'm curious. . . Let's see how you fair. . . .” She started, reaching for me and placing her thumb on the  handle of my sword and her pointer finger on the tip.  “Without me. .” She finished, before squeezing and bending my God given blade like a cheap, big city replica in a U around my neck.  A moment later, her magic left me and immediately I began to fade.  


I really never thought my life would be ended by the goddess of death herself. . . It was. . . Significant somehow.  Like the most powerful force in existence have some type of shit about me.  Then, just like that. . . I was gone.  


Or at least I should have been.  


I did feel the finality of death. . . . An overwhelming, cold, hollow swell.  But, just as suddenly as it took me and my soul was prepared to travel to whatever comes. . . I was brought back!


I gasped as I was brought back from the void.  Looking around, I discovered that I was still in the goddess’ chamber.  This time, I was on the opposite arm of her throne. . . .

While this whole thing was incredible. . . What really shook me was. . . I looked over and saw myself. . . My body. . . . With MY sword still twisted around my neck. . . . Lying dead on her other armrest.  Examining myself, I realized that I was back in perfect health and I also noticed that Freyja’s expression still looked displeased.  


Normally, I would have stood my ground, and continued to fight, but after actually experiencing death. . . .Seeing myself dead. . . .  Something within myself changed. . . . I. . . Truly did not want anything more to do with her.  Humbly I threw myself on my hands and knees before her. I knew this is what she wa-


My heart stopped as her hand reached down for me.  She. . . She was just going to kill me anyway!  I jumped to my feet and caught her fingers in my hands.  I pushed back against her but it was useless.  Her strength was far, far beyond the limits of a normal giant.  I was effortlessly shoved backward and off the edge of the armrest.  I clung to her fingers as she lifted her hand and let me dangle in front of her face.  Knowing I was in trouble, I let go of her fingers but her other hand was waiting for me and I was instantly trapped in her fist.  


I strained my hardest, but still her fingers closed in on me.  Gurgled groans and cries escaped me as she squeezed the life from me.  My bones creaked and crunched and the pressure behind my eyes built up.  My vision went red as blood was forced into parts of me it wasn’t meant to be. My lungs refused to expand and I began to suffocate as well as being completely crushed.. . . . Then. . . 


Just like that. . . I was out of her fist.  My body wasn’t crumpled and I could breathe again. . . . But. . .directly in front of me, was my body. . . . Was it MY body?  It definitely looked like me. . . Other than the thick gravy of blood and other bodily fluids oozing from his every orifice as Freyja overpowered him.  A moment later, she let my corpse slide wetly from her hand to lie next to my original body.  


This time, I didn’t try to appease her.  This time I ran.  I turned and bolted for the edge of the armrest.  It seemed like I might be able to put some distance between us, but before I even got the floor, a shadow was cast over me.  A split second later, my upper body was snagged in her hand.  I squirmed and wiggled like my 3rd life depended on it, and actually managed to break free of her grip for a moment.  A short lived moment.  


Freyja adjusted her grip and caught me again, this time by the leg.  I swung upside down as she heaved me back up from floor level.  Knowing another gruesome death was impending, I decided to use the last weapon I had on me.  Leaning up, I found the 6 inch dagger I kept along my free leg.  With no hesitation, I plunged it into her finger with everything I had.


In the real world, that would have been enough to make anyone drop me, but here and now. . . . The goddess didn’t react at all.  Glaring at me, she simply plucked the knife from my hands and promptly reinserted it through my thigh.  The one trapped in her grasp.  It was nowhere near enough to kill me, but still my screams echoed off the chamber walls.  They seemed to bring her pleasure as her scowl turned ever so slightly into a faint smile.  From there, without warning she extended her arm so that I was dangling over the floor again, and released my leg.


The drop should have been nothing, but with the dagger in my leg, I couldn't control my landing and crumbled to the floor at her feet.  Immediately I pulled at the blade, but it wouldn't budge.  It had to be her influence. Sadly, the knife was the least of my worries as the foot that had been planted on the floor suddenly rose and hovered over me ominously.  As it began to lower on to me, I abandoned pulling the dagger from my leg and began trying to crawl away.  This act of desperation must have amused her, because she spoke with a light chuckle for the first time since torturing me.
“look at you!  Crawling through the dust on your belly like a pathetic little worm.  I think. . . Now would be the appropriate time to discuss our. . . . Relationship. . . Moving forward. . . Wouldn’t you say?” She asked, using a false, cordial tone.  The type of tone that I might have killed a man for mocking me with, in my younger years.  


I continued to crawl, in spite of her insults when suddenly, pain shot through my legs.  I looked back to see a giant, delicate leather sandal where my legs used to be. It stopped me dead in my tracks as my arms couldn’t get traction on the smooth marble floor.  She applied more force, and earned more of those delicious screams she loved so much, accompanied by the sound of bones first creaking, then popping. Then, just when I thought she might crush them completely, she eased up a bit, if not just to stop my screams.


“In sticking with the idea of “free will”, I’m giving you a few options to choose from, Antony.”


“How very generous!” I thought, in the deepest depths of my mind, in hopes that she wouldn’t somehow hear me inside my mind.  


“Option A. . . And I do think this is the best option for everyone, although I truthfully don't care which you choose.  But option A: You fully submit to me.  Meaning your soul belongs to me now.  I will allow you to go back to your realm, live your life, and being the merciful goddess I am, I will even give you your friend Julius back, alive and unharmed.  The only difference from our current agreement, is that when I ask for it, you let me in. . . With no hesitation!” She said, applying more pressure to my legs as she said that.  “And when I say in. . . I MEAN IN!  No reservations, no holding anything back from me.  I stay for as long as I like.” She finished, letting up on me a little bit.


The thought of her taking over my body indefinitely was unthinkable.  My family could already tell something was wrong with me. . . True, I had no idea how they would react to the situation she was describing, but I knew for sure that Jacob and Abby would likely turn their backs on me.  The other slayers knew of the temptation of using the death goddess’ power.  They had seen the strength she had to offer, and I had saved our lives more than a few times with it.  The thing was, we accepted each other even with our inherent flaws.  Simply put. . . We just happened to be a rag tag assembly of the toughest bastards in the human realm.  How that strength was acquired really was of no consequence.  I think they understand.  That being said, I really didn't know what the goddess was fully capable of.  


“I can see it in your eyes. . . . You’re trying to come up with a way to get out of this.  Well. . . There isn’t one, I assure you.  If you even THINK about defying me well. . . . There is no guarantee that more of your loved ones don't decide to step out in front of your enemies so carelessly!  Hmm. . . . You never know. . . . You might just wake up one day and decide that you yourself have the insatiable desire to kill every last one of them. . . .”  Freyja finished, finally lifting her foot of my legs and placing it beside me so she could see me clearly.  


I took the opportunity to stand, shakily.  Beyond the pain in my legs, nothing else felt right either.  My balance felt off and my vision struggled to focus.  I was really in no condition to even stand, let alone fight her anymore.  This seemed to please her.


“ Right now, you're feeling the effects of having died twice.  The soul isn’t designed to be brought back from the afterlife.  Granted. . .Most never get the chance.  Which brings me to option 2.  The option where you choose to continue fighting me here and now.  As unwise as that would be for you, the fact that you’re standing now, instead of groveling at my feet means that it isn't completely out of the question, is it? “ She questioned, looking down on me like I was garbage, just daring me to say a word.


I just swayed back and forth, neither challenging her, nor kneeling.  Truth be told, my mind was too fuzzy to really decide one way or another.


“If you so choose to fight,  then you’ll stay forever trapped here with me and we'll continue to play one million ways to die for the next one thousand years!” She threatened, and I noticed her crossed leg was once again dangling over my head.  “You're body on earth will eventually just die without it's soul and that will be the end of that!” She finished, dusting her hands like she had finished some satisfying job.


“th. . . There is no need for that!” I stammered.   “I yield.” 
With that, I got down on my knees and bowed before the feet of the all powerful goddess. 


“Good.” She seemed to spit at me.


I heard motion above me, but I didn't dare lift my height.  I jumped as something touched my back and covered me in shadow.  The familiar smell of leather washed over me and I knew it was the sole of her sandal.  It pressed down, first pushing my stomach into my knees.  It continued down, and out of instinct I pushed back, but again it did nothing.  


She was going to crush me again. . . . Just for fun.


My body released all kinds of uncontrolled grunts and noises as the air was squeezed out of me and I closed my eyes and just accepted my fate.  The pain rose and rose until finally I died again.


Or so I thought.


With a gasp, I opened my eyes and found that I was back in the human realm .  Looking around in a panic, I realized that A: Juliette was nowhere to be seen.  I wasn’t even in the city anymore.  Instead, I was wrapped in a heavy bear skin blanket and was laying in a row of makeshift beds in front of a large campfire.  I recognized the outline of Cassius tending to one of the other people in the beds and that was when I remembered.
Julius! 


I tore off the covers and was about to stand when I felt it. . .


The death goddess.


My soul burned as she demanded access to my body.  I. . . . I had only been back for two seconds!  But. . . I had no choice.  


Closing my eyes, I let her in.


I felt her enter me, and along with her, the incredible increase in strength.  My body, which had been somehow bruised and cut up, healed itself immediately.  From outside of my body, I watched her stand and look over the camp.  The movement caught Cassius’ attention and he looked to my body.


“Ant!  You’re finally awake!” He exclaimed, as he approached me.


I watched Freyja reach slowly for my sword. . . And thoughts of Julius flashed in my mind.  I held my breath as the death goddess tormented me, knowing I shouldn’t step in, but it seemed that slaughtering everyone around me was her idea of a good time. 

I had to do something.


But then . . . Just as I was going to fight her influence. . She was gone, just as suddenly as she had come. . .


It was. . . Just a test. 

Juliette slowly opened her eyes, moaning in pain as she tried to move.

“Keep still, Juliette. . “ came a familiar voice.

She looked up to see Leonara's face illuminated by the glow of a campfire.  A confused look came to her face but she didn’t speak.

“I know you’re wondering what I'm doing here. . . Well I'm saving your life.” Leonara said, as she gently dabbed her sister's forehead with a damp cloth.  “I knew I shouldn't have let you face them alone, but I also wanted to see you grow up and handle things on your own.” 

“what. . . What happened?” Juliette asked, weakly.

“Those little cowards!” Leonara snarled, clutching the cloth tightly in her fist.  “You were poisoned, Juliette!  You were poisoned, and they cut you up and destroyed your clothes! I found you laying passed out, half drowned, after trying to cross this lake!” She fumed.

“I. . . I can barely move my  body. . . “ was all Juliette replied.

“That poison did a number on you. . . You're lucky to be alive.   I had to pray to the gods for the power to heal you.  It isn't in your blood anymore, but you are still feeling the effects it had on you.  Not to mention your battle wounds. . . . I'm so disgusted with myself for letting this happen to you, sister.” Leo said, gently stroking Juliette's hair.

Juliette only moaned in response.

“First thing tomorrow, you're going home.” Leonara informed her, before standing up turning to tend to the fire and turn some meat she was cooking.

“I'm. . . Not done here. . . An. . . . Ant. . . “  Juliette mumbled.

“Yes you are! This is not a debate.” Leonara snapped.  “This childish spat you have going on is over!  Those slayers. . . . No. . . The entire human realm!. . . Is dealing with ME now.”

Juliette knew what that meant for the humans.  While Leonara was truly compassionate and caring for her loved ones and the kingdom's people, she had another side.  A cruel, sadistic side.  And the crime of nearly killing her sister was an unforgivable one.  She would make them pay dearly.

“Do you have the strength to tell me exactly what happened?” Leo asked after a while of sitting in silence just nursing her sister.

“It felt. . . . Like the gods themselves were fighting me.” was all Juliette said, quietly.

Leonara's visible eye got wide.

“Did the earth move on it's own?!  Was there an older looking human man?” She asked, trying to shake Juliette more awake.  

She nodded.

“He controlled the elements. . . But he also controlled the slayer’s prayers.”  She explained, groaning as she rolled and turned away from her sister. 

Leonara just stared blankly in disbelief.  She had felt that the man had to be something like a god, but she had no idea that he would be able to interact with slayers in any way.  

“Juliette. . . . I. . . I killed that man. . . . I made sure of it. . . Unless. . . . There is more than one. . . That is the only way!. . . I. . I even burned the body!” Leonara stammered, half apologizing to her sister.  

Juliette didn’t respond, trying to get back to sleep.

“Is it possible that he can make illusions of living things?” Leo asked, more to herself than to her sister. 

This was more serious than she thought.  It would seem that she would have to thoroughly plan her encounter with these slayers.  Just finding them where ever they were would not cut it this time.  

Leonara was deep in thought, visualizing every pre-battle detail, when suddenly she heard a noise from the darkness outside the fire.  She just stared into the darkness in the direction she had heard the sound.

After about 10 minutes of just listening, she decided it was just an animal and that was when it happened.

Out of the darkness, she heard a whistle and through the firelight she barely managed to see a projectile flying through the air towards Juliette's head.   In the blink of an eye, Leo jumped into action, reaching out and snatching it from the air.  In the same motion, she spun on her toes, increasing her force as she hurled the projectile [which seemed to be a tree that had been carved into a point] back in the exact trajectory it had come.

A moment later, she heard the expected gasp of the assassin as he was impaled by his own weapon . . . Or so she thought.

To her disbelief, the groan and gasped morphed into a deep, deep laugh! Whoever was out in the darkness was just messing with her. Never one to fight with her heart instead of her head, Leonara calmly drew her sword, placing herself between the darkness and her sister. 

Thinking ahead, she had placed anti-slayer prayers surrounding a wide perimeter outside the camp.  Whoever had attacked her was well within the boundaries which would explain why they had used a tree instead of a prayer to try to assassinate Juliette.  Leonara knew she didn’t have the full advantage though, as the darkness was working against her.

Instantly she came up with a plan.

She grabbed the oil lamp she had burning above Juliette's makeshift bed, and smashed it into the fire.  The flames flared as the fire grew, illuminating twice as much area as before.  In the moment it took her eyes to adjust, another tree came whizzing from the darkness but again she caught and threw it back.

Whether they knew it or not, it was helping Leonara pinpoint their location.  They were closer now than they had been.  She took a deep breath, slowing her heart rate as she just listened. 

No sounds.

No movements.

Leonara stayed this way until the sun came up the next morning.  There was never any other attack on her sister.  In the light, she could see where both stakes had landed on the ground.  Both had deflection marks where they had been blocked.  She also saw footsteps leading to and away from her camp.  

Leo wanted to follow them immediately, but she had a responsibility to wait until the guards came from the capital to escort Juliette back home. Finally they did show up, late in the afternoon.  

After sending her sister off, with a very real threat of what would befall the guards should anything happen to Juliette, Leonara was finally able to follow the tracks.  What she found odd, was that there was a trail of blood, along with the footprints, which turned to horse tracks.  Leo could also tell that this person was far larger than a normal human or even an average sized slayer.  She stalked slowly along, her mind and body tired from being awake for the past 36 hours.  True, she could have asked the guards to stay while she napped, but Juliette needed more help than she could provide in the middle of nowhere.

Walking through the trees, she was simultaneously following the slayers prints, as well as Juliette's.  Her sisters were sloppy and wild, and a trail of her own blood was present as well.  The further Leo went, the smoother Juliette's tracks became, first reverting to her normal paced walk, then as she kept going, Juliette must have been running as fast as she could.

Finally, after 3 hours of walking, Leonara crested a hill and saw what she was searching for.  But it was. . . Not what she was expecting at all.

She knew how Juliette fought, and her capacity for destruction, but this was above and beyond her normal chaos.  

Walking down the hill, the first thing she saw was the wall around the city.  It was 100% smashed the whole way around.  Leo stepped quietly over the rubble and into the perimeter of what used to be the city.  Now. . .. nothing stood.  No buildings anyway.

What she did she a few blocks away, where earth pillars still standing.   She began heading that way when suddenly she noticed a group of humans, who appeared to be looting the remains of the city. The group was all men, and they froze when they saw her, but they didn’t seem afraid.

A man with long, black shaggy hair stepped out in front of the group. He folded his armed and just gazed up at her as if she wasn’t many many times his size.

“Leave whore!” The man said to her, his confidence brimming.  “This town and everything in it belongs to us now!  My friend here is a giant slayer, and if you don't want your head on a pike, I suggest you get lost!” 

Leonara's gaze turned to the slayer in question.  He was certainly taller than the others.  7 feet by the look of him, but Leo knew humans on rare occasions could grow to be that height.  He did have a sword, but only closer inspection would determine if it was a slayers blade.  His face also didn’t seem to betray any dishonesty on the black haired man's part.

“Did you not hear me!?  I said be gone!” The man shouted at her.

Her fists clenched at her sides and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  Visions of decimating these annoying little worms played in her head, but she was much too tired to chase them, let alone think clearly if this slayer would prove to be formidable.

Leonara opened her eyes and looked the men over.  The leader had a look of irritation and disbelief that she wasn’t listening to him.  His intimidation tactics must have worked on some giant before to warrant this behavior.

To his left, another human man. He appeared incredibly uneasy with her presence.  Almost as if he recognized her from somewhere.  He kept glancing around as if looking for a way out of the situation.

To the left of him, another oblivious looking human.  He also seemed to have enough faith in the slayers ability that there was no need to fear her.  Or perhaps her or her sister's reputations hadn’t spread this far into the human realm yet.

. . . . Although Leo didn’t really tend to leave anyone alive to tell her tales.

Regardless, here these men were.  The only thing she knew for sure was that she was too tired to deal with it.

So she walked away.

Or rather. . . She walked through them.

Her sudden movement made the humans jump, and while it wasn’t really intentional, her first step was aimed directly at the slayer.  The black haired leader dove out of the way as Leo's boot came close, and collided with the slayer.  As she had come to expect, he put his hands up to try and stop her, but it was useless.

Leonara felt a minor resistance, before her boot pushed him off his feet and continued down to the ground, where the loud, crisp sound of bones let his allies know that he was gone as Leo's unfathomable weight embedded him into the street.

The oh so familiar look of sheer terror was on the leaders face now as he just curled up and began to shake as the giantess stepped over him.  The next unfortunate soul was the man on the far left of the row.  The one who hadn't shown any fear.  

Well. . . Fear was present now, but so much so that he foolishly turned and ran straight down the street Leo was travelling.  She honestly didn’t plan it, but her right foot just happened to fall right where he was currently running.  It knocked into his back, shoving him down, before overtaking him.  

There was noticeably less noise from his demise, as slayer bones were many times stronger than a humans.  A juicy squelch could faintly be heard under the usual thunder and shake of a giants step, and that was all.  Leonara continued towards the center of the city as if nothing had happened.

The leader rushed to the fallen slayer, but the mangled mess in the footprint told him he was gone. The sight brought him to tears and thoughts of vengeance overtook him.  He reached down and pulled his comrade’s sword from the crater.  

Leo walked on, her mind racing at what she had seen from the top of the hill.  With her size, she reached the city center in only 3 strides and she had trouble believing her eyes.  From the hill, she'd seen a hole. . . Or rather a pit . A massive pit.

Leo stepped to the edge, which was raised to form a rim about 25 feet high, and carefully peered over.  Her eyes widened.  

The hole was at least 350 feet deep. . 

Leonara didn’t know what to make of it.  She had seen the types of craters Juliette made when she was fighting all out. . . But this was nothing like that.  It made sense now how the ridge had formed.  Some of the earth had to be displaced to create this.  

What was notable about the ridge, was that it appeared like something had flattened out a section.  It was also stained with blood.  It was definitely Juliette.  This was where she must have escaped from the pit.  

Leo continued to stare. . .

The amount of power that this mystery man possessed. . . . It seemed off the charts.  To be able to create a pit big enough to swallow Juliette or herself completely, if they weren’t careful.  Although she had seemingly bested him in combat previously. . . How could she ever really be sure he was even dead?

She. . . She had crushed him. .  Severed his spine. . . . And burned his body. . . And still he showed up here and nearly killed Juliette. . . Not to mention. . . He is working with the slayers now. . .

It was all too much for her.  Leonara was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice that the leader of the bandits had crept up behind her wielding the slayer’s sword.

He held it in both hands, sneaking ever closer, before he stabbed the tip into her leg, just above her ankle.  To his utter shock. . . The attack did nothing.  Her leather leggings were too thick for a human to penetrate, even with a slayers blade.  All he managed to do was earn Leonara's stone cold gaze.

Her look froze him in place, snuffing out any emotion he might have been harbouring in an instant and the blade fell from his hand.  Leonara looked down at her leg, and then back at him.  The man nearly pissed himself as the giantess reached down for him.

All of a sudden, the other man who had looked fearful before ran from the shadows and got between Leo qqand his boss.  He dropped to his knees with his hands together in the traditional sign of respect in the presence of royalty.

“Please!. . “ He shouted, not daring to look up and make eye contact. “Please. . . . I beg you to spare his life, your highness!” 

Leo paused, her open palm waiting to engulf the man.

“How do you know who I am?” She questioned, withdrawing her hand and folding her arms, intent on hearing what the man had to say.

“S-Stories of a raven-haired giant, leagues taller than any other giant ever seen. A brutal woman of unmatched beauty and a piercing blue eye. . . . Annihilating city after city. . . L. . Leaving no survivors or resources in her wake!  Rumors that she was the spawn of the late giant king himself!”

Leonara just huffed and looked away.  She didn’t like the idea of every little human knowing her business. 

“So. . . . If you are aware of my reputation, why are you still here?  You know that I could kill you without a second thought, don't you?” Leo threatened,  returning her gaze to him.

“I. . . Don't believe you are evil!. . . You were just avenging your father's death.  Who would blame you?” the man said shakily, as he stood. 

“You know nothing about me!” Leonara shouted, causing both men to begin trembling. “Move.” She commanded the man, flatly.

The man held his ground, staying between Leo and his boss.

“I cannot let you harm him!” He exclaimed, holding his arms out wide.

“I said. . .MOVE!” She repeated, stomping her foot, causing both of them to nearly topple over.  

“Your highness!. . . I beg you! He is my brother!  All I have!  He. . . He will not bother you again!  I swear it!” The man shouted, dropping to his knees and clasping his hands.  

Leonara glared down at him, thoughts of her own reason for being in the city on her mind.  If she had lost Juliette, the lives of every human and slayer on earth would not have been fair enough payment for that crime.   Her heart felt heavy seeing this human ready to die an inevitable death, to protect his family.  

She sighed.

“Fine! But if I see you, or your brother again. . . . Both of you are dead!” Leonara threatened, before turning and walking away.

She left the city, heading back towards the giant realm.  Going and finding the slayers responsible for Juliette's condition right now would be a mistake.  Any group of fighters who could very well kill a healthy Juliette on the right day, were not to be taken lightly.  That was not Leo's way.

She would research, learn, and plan every detail of her revenge. .

For now, she would go to talk to. . . 

Him.  

I sat back down, my heart pounding. . . It had just been some type of fucked up joke, I guess. I didn’t know how much more of that I could handle. I also didn’t know just how far Freyja would go to punish me.

I didn't think that she would kill an innocent man to get even with me either, but I had been wrong before.

That reminds me. . .

Julius. . .

“Julius. . . Is he?” I began, speaking to Cassius.

“He is out collecting firewood. . . What do you need with him?” Cassius asked, tossing a piece of wood in the fire.

I looked around for him, but saw nothing.

“Does he seem. . . ?” I began, quietly.

“Do I seem what?” Julius asked, walking out of the trees with an armfull of wood.

I stood and walked over to him, looking him over carefully. He shied away from me, uncomfortably.

“What do you want, Ant?! Is this some type of stupid joke or something?” he asked, irritated.

“I'm just. . . Glad you are ok. . .” I answered hollowly, turning and walking over to the row of beds.

“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like you ever let me help you in battle!” He said spitefully, as he set the wood down by the fire.

“Believe me. . . You don't want anything to do with these battles, Julius.” I replied as I walked down the row.

A wild mass of blonde hair sticking out from under a blanket. .

Henrietta.

A massive lump under a pile of animal skins. .

Malakai.

Next was Peter, his head just clearly in view, although he was sleeping .

Finally on the end, Jacob, then Monte.

Everyone was still alive. . . A relief. But it raised a question. . . What happened to Juliette?

It was a question I needed to know, but fully admitting that I had no recollection of events would probably send up red flags. Not that the two humans before me would be able to tell when I was under the Influence of a God anyway. They didn’t tend to be sensitive to that type of thing.

“You should eat something Ant. It’s been 3 days. I got a us a deer yesterday and the meat has been grilled.” Cassius said, staring into the fire.

Looking out into the dark, I had an uneasy feeling. It didn’t seem like we should just be sitting here so casually. There were still more fights to be fought.

“I think we should pack camp. Move out in the morning.” I said, as I stuffed a piece of meat in my mouth.

“Ant. . . I don't know everything there is to know about slayers but. . . Before you woke up. . None of you guys moved in the last 3 days. You all have broken bones. It’s a miracle Malakai is even still breathing with the amount of blood he's lost. . . “ Cassius said, basically letting me know it wasn’t an option.

“Monte didn’t even seem to have more than some scratches on him, but he has been in some type of sleep as well. Short of an immediate threat, I think it would be wise to stay here and build our strength.”

“We are sitting ducks here!” I said, a little annoyed that he had a point.

“It’s been 3 days Ant. If anyone was going to seek vengeance, it would have happened already.” Julius added to the conversation.

“Where are we?” I asked, taking a drink from a bottle Cassius handed me.

“After we collected all of you from that destroyed city, we continued heading northeast. We rode for a day but had to stop. . . It still doesn’t feel far enough away from that monster of a woman.” Cassius replied, shivering.

Did that mean she survived?

Probably.

While we were some of the strongest slayer in the world, she was also one of the strongest giant warriors in the world. Her size didn’t hurt either but it couldn't be taken away from her that she had skills with a sword. To walk away alive from an encounter with us, was no small feat.

That being said. . . . We were still one short. And the retaliation that was no doubt waiting for us. . . Either by Juliette's sister’s or Zahra's gang. . .

We definitely couldn’t afford to sit around waiting for retribution to come to us.

“I'm leaving. .” I said, flatly as I began to pack my things.

“Are you out of your mind?” Julius demanded, moving to block me. “If Juliette isn’t dead, and she comes back. . . She'll flatten us all, without you!”

“If she appears. . . Wake the others. Malakai will fight to the last, no matter what .” I replied as I stuffed my bed into my leather pack.

“Malakai is in the worst condition! He left after the fight to finish her off and barely made it back! Julius found him unconscious and we had to use horses to drag him back into camp!” Cassius said, getting worked up.

“I know you want to be some loaner or something, but you are the one who gathered all of us here! 2 or 3 more days won’t lose the war!” Julius added.

“. . . I don't think you guys realize how urgent this is. Without help. . . We don't win the next fight. . . “

I continued to pack, and was done in a minute.

“I’ll be back in three days. I’m just going to ride to the next 2 cities and see if I can find our last guy. With him, we will be back at full strength. By the time we get back, the others should be rested and ready to go.” I finished, before unteathering Marcel and jumping on his back.

Both men just glared at me but said nothing. I didn’t stick around to bask in that feeling, kicking Marcel and bolting into the darkness.

When the sun came up, I finally got my bearings but it was still a full days ride to the inhabited city. I was now further east and further north than I had been in a long, long time. The reason was apparent, as the king's men were around in droves. I had to keep my hood up as I walked up to the cities massive gate, leading Marcel .

I looked up, up, up to the top of the wall. It had to be at least 300 feet tall and constructed from massive stone blocks. It was most impressive I had to admit. I had heard rumors of humans somehow forcing giants into slave labor roles, and here was my proof. It was the first time I had ever seen a city so fortified against giant attack.

“It's incredible isn’t it?” a guard said as I approached him in his wooden guards hut just outside the wall.

“Has a giant ever gotten through?” I asked, as I stopped in front of him. Not that I really cared.

“Never. But, truth be told, we have never faced an actual giant attack. We did have the slaves try to breach, but with the height of the wall, a long with the spikes and hot oil. . . The city was untouched.” He informed me proudly.

“Interesting” I replied, and went to walk passed him.

“Hold on, stranger!” he began, putting a hand on my shoulder.

Marcel let out an angry grunt from behind me.

“Easy boy!” I said, patting him on the head. “This man doesn’t want any trouble. . . Do you?” I asked, looking down into his eyes.

“I'm sorry to bother you, but this is a kingdom checkpoint. It means that we have to inspect everyone who comes in to see if they are fugitives from the crown.” The man told me as he grabbed a stack of wanted posters off of a desk inside the hut.

Shit.

The man began thumbing through them, occasionally glancing up at me. As expected, he stopped on a certain poster, looking back and forth a few times. I saw recognition in his eyes, and he was just about to ring a warning bell, when a wagon train emerged from over the hill.

The horses thundered down the road and the guard dropped what he was doing and ran to open the gate. This was the distraction I needed to get into the city.

I waited until the middle of the train, and jumped aboard a wagon. Likewise, Marcel fell in line and galloped at pace as we passed through the gate unnoticed. We followed it along until we were deep enough in, before splitting off from the group.

“What is with that wagon train?” I asked an older woman, who was sweeping the step outside her home.

“It's likely from down south. They have been rolling in every few days for the past few weeks.” She said, not looking up from her broom.

“Who are they?”

With this she stopped sweeping, propping her broom up against the wall. “Have you been living under a rock or something, child?” She demanded angrily.

I shrugged sheepishly.

“They are survivors of another rampage!” She shouted at me.

“Rampage?”

“Yes. . . They say a gang of giantess are going city to city, flattening everything and killing most everyone! Slaughtering the livestock, burning all the crops. Leaving anyone who does survive to starve.” A man who was brushing a horse chimed in.

I knew exactly who he was referring to, but I played the fool in order to gain more information.

“Does anyone know why they are doing it?” I asked, leaning on Marcel casually.

“Yeah! Because some cowardly slayer killed their leader in her sleep!” The woman spat.

“Did you ever notice how slayers are causing all of the problems around here lately?” another man across the street asked.

“I sort of hope that the three daughters wipe them all out!” The man with the horse commented.

I only laughed.

“You think that's funny? The king estimates that more than half of all slayers have been killed so far!” He exclaimed.

“Not funny, no. But do you really think that they will stop at just the slayers? With them gone, humans really wouldn’t put up much of a fight, would they?” I asked, turning to walk away.

The woman fumbled to respond, but I was out of earshot by the time she found her words. Arguing with villagers really wasn’t my thing, but I couldn’t help but take what they said to heart. Ever since the three daughters had shown up, everyone's life had pretty much gone to shit.

I had to wonder if maybe turning myself over to them could change anything. . . Although. . . I wasn’t sure I was prepared to make that type of sacrifice. I could only imagine the punishment that awaits me at this point at the hands of the giant realm. . .

Maybe I had it coming.

I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I moved deeper into the bowels of the city. As I walked down the street, I couldn’t help but notice that the wagon train from earlier had been parked next a camp full of tents.

As I walked by, I saw that every person looked filthy and gaunt. This must be the starvation that they were talking about.

“What the hell are you looking at, slayer?” a man demanded, breaking my trance.

I looked up, and saw a man with a grey goatee glaring at me from one of the bigger tents.

“I'm not a slayer. . You must have the wrong person.” I said, waving him off.

“Yeah right! I recognize you from Ellenworth! You are the slayer who killed Emelia!” He accused, pointing a finger at me.

“I think “thank you” might be the phrase you’re looking for.” I replied as I kept moving.

“Ha! Unfortunately that story doesn't end well for me!”

I paused and looked at him.

“After you left. . . . Another giantess appeared. That. . . Cruel bitch! She wiped Ellenworth off the map like it was nothing! And where were you, huh?!” He shouted at me, garnering attention from some other people in the camp.

“hmm.” Was all I said.

“Of course! Why would I think that you would give a shit about that? “ he asked, spitting in my direction.

“Look, I'm sorry that happened to you. . But I was only there on a mission.” I apologized, half heartedly.

“And that would have been understandable, except for what you did next!”

“Enlighten me. I've been busy lately!. . “ I replied, sarcastically.

This time his face turned beet red.

“After Ellenworth, you challenged a giant woman in another city. You lost, but in the ensuing events, incurred her wrath. She returned later and. . . And. . . Completely decimated the entire city. No survivors.” He explained, angrily.

“I walked into the massacre of my home town, after being held captive in that hell for years!” He screamed at me.

I was quiet for a moment before. . .

“hmm.”

This infuriated him, but I walked away as he erupted in a flurry of insults and curses. The truth was, coming face to face with the repercussions of my actions wasn’t something I was particularly fond of.

Behind me, Marcel began to drag on me.

“And just what's your problem?” I asked, turning to look at him.

He gave me a look I recognized as a guilt trip.

“Don't give me that look! I had no control over the actions of those women. I don't owe him or anyone else anything!” I said, getting in his face and looking him dead in the eyes.

Marcel responded with a massive headbutt that would have crumpled a normal human. I saw stars for a second, before firing back with an 1/8th strength headbutt of my own. Marcel let out a cry of pain and a snort as he began to get angry.

“I'm not going to fight you in the street. We don't have time for this!” I said, poking a finger into his forehead.

He responded by planting his ass on the street and refusing to move. I had to admit, it was a smart move. Marcel knew I possessed the strength to effortlessly lift him, but doing so would expose my identity.

Clever bastard.

“Fine! . . .You can just sit there like an asshole. I really don't care.” I said, shrugging as I turned to walk away.

What Marcel did next was slightly unexpected. As I walked away, he began to run amuck in the street, bucking and knocking over everything in his path. The villagers and people in the camp began to panic as Marcel wrecked the place. Two men got in front of him, trying to grab his reins, but he twisted and kicked them both in the chest with his hind legs. They flew back and crashed through a vendor cart on the opposite side of the street.

“Someone get that Damned horse under control” another man shouted.

I glanced over my shoulder as 7 men surrounded him. Some with rope, others with sticks and pitchforks. Knowing he could handle himself, I rounded the corner, leaving him there.

I thought that would be the end of it. Marcel would either get caught, and put in the stables where I would collect him later, or he would escape and run, where he would find me eventually. It’s how it always worked. . .

Not this time.

A block or two down the way, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to come face to face with 6 kingdom slayers, one of which had Marcel by his reins.

It was strange. . .

This group of kingdom slayers. . . Could this really be a squad?

My surprise came from the fact that 3 out of the 6 of these slayers were mere children! Or as much children as a young slayer could be.

That is to say that the first boy looked to be about 16 in human years. The next boy, who appeared to be his brother was slightly younger, and the girl appeared to be 12 or 13.

It reminded me of the dire situation that the slayer race was in. Outside of the capital, the slayers had been almost entirely wiped out. At the rate that the 3 daughters had been defeating us. . . It wasn’t out of reason to say that we as a whole probably wouldn’t make it to the end of the year.

A women, who looked like she was in her 40s, and appeared to be the leader, spoke to me.

“Excuse me. . . Is this by chance. . Your horse?” She asked, her voice possessing a certain authority about it?

I looked Marcel up and down before I answered.

“No. I have never seen this horse in my life. . “ I said flatly, before turning to walk away.

As one would expect, a second later I felt a firm hand on my shoulder and I was spun forcefully around to face them again. This immediately pissed me off and my hand was unconsciously on the handle of my sword now.

The man who had spun me, a solid built, 7 and a half footer, only had a smirk on his face as he sized me up.

“The thing is, everyone in that refugee camp said that he belonged to you, and that you were with him not 5 minutes ago.” The woman continued, outright calling my bullshit.

“And what would any of them know about me?” I asked, my voice turning serious now.

“Look. . Let's cut to the chase here.” She began. “We know you are Antony Lockwood and you are under arrest for failing to report to the capital under declaration of the king, and conspiracy to start war with the giant realm.”

This definitely wasn't good.

Not that I I couldn't beat this rag tag group of kingdom slayers, but slayers fighting were often just as destructive as a giant was. For a fight to break out here and now would be catastrophic.

“Don't you people have more pressing matters to attend to? Say the fact that all the citizens of the kingdom are being wiped out, city by city?” I asked, looking them all over.

“That's true. . .but it isn't every day you get the chance to catch the man responsible for that happening, is it?” the 3rd man, matching my stature, replied.

“Do you really think you are properly equipped to apprehend the most dangerous man in the world?” I asked, gesturing to the group.

The taller man let out a genuine laugh at this.

“Most wanted and most dangerous are two completely different things.” He chuckled.

A twang of emotion went through me, and I tightened my grip on my sword.

“That's enough!” The woman snapped. “I think we can all agree that this is neither the time, nor the place for a fight. We stick to the mission. Where mister Lockwood fits into the plan, remains to be seen. “

“That's right boys, dogs stay on the leash!” I taunted, with a grin.

Now it was their turn to get upset, and I could see in their eyes they wanted a piece of me.

“I suggest we just go our separate ways. . . You never saw me here and you go about your business.” I said, removing my hand from my sword and grabbing for Marcel’s reins.

“I'm afraid we can't do that. . . Even with everything going on, you are far too valuable to let go. Unfortunately, you’ll just have to accompany us on our quest.” The woman said, trying to sound sympathetic.

“I really don't think you want to go down this road with me. . . “ I warned, my hand again finding my sword, and pulling it slightly from the sheathe.

“I think we should just kill this guy! The bounty says dead or alive.” The shorter man said, just staring me down. “Think about it. . . We just bring his corpse to those gypsies. Maybe we won't even have to fight them!”

“. . . You guys are going to face Zahra's gypsies?” I asked, skeptical.

“We are going to KILL Zahra's gypsies.” The older boy said, confidently.

“Ha! Do you really think 3 kingdom slayers and a few infants are enough to go up against 10 plus giants?” I laughed.

“You shut your mouth, you war mongering piece of garbage!” came a voice I hadn't heard yet.

It was the little girl.

It was then that I actually stopped to get a good look at her.

She looked to be much less than 6 feet tall. Probably 5’6 or 5’7 Not impressive but definitely much bigger than a normal human girl of her equivalent age.

She had sandy blonde hair in a neat ponytail and her kingdom slayer’s uniform was perfectly white with not a wrinkle in it. It looked like she had never even been outside of the capital walls. Her face reminded me of a younger Henrietta. Thin eyebrows and lips. Her face sporting a scowl.

“You've got some fire in your gut, kid. I respect that.” I said, smirking at her. “But that isn’t enough to go face down that gang, and make it out alive.”

The girl's face immediately turned red and it took both of the boys to hold her back as she lunged to throttle me.

“No offense, but have you three ever even been in battle? Or even beyond the training grounds just outside the capital walls? I only ask because it appears that your uniforms have never been ground into the dirt, or kicked through a building!” I poked, knowing it would get her all riled up.

She didn’t disappoint.

“Do you want to find out exactly how I fight ?!” She shouted from behind the boys. A second later she drew her weapon. . .

Odd. .

I wasn't expecting that at all. My view of her had always been slightly obscured, but here was this little girl. . . Wielding a beautiful dual edged battle axe with a tree engraved on the head as her slayer’s weapon. .

While it wasn't unheard of for a slayer to be given a weapon other than a sword at birth, it was very very rare. It was said that those who were chosen, were capable of great things. Beyond what a normal slayer could accomplish .

And here was this kid. . . Axe that was only a head shorter than she was. I watched intently as the two boys struggled to hold her and a second later, she did break free. Unfortunately for her, her attack left a huge opening and as she swung down on me, I slipped behind her and had a knife on her throat in an instant.

She gasped, waiting for whatever I had planned.

Now all of her kingdom comrades drew their swords and faced off with me. We stared at each other for a moment, tension high, before I simply let her go and shoved her back over to her side of the confrontation.

“This is exactly what I mean! If this group goes down to face them. . . You'll all just end up dead.” I said, not even sugar coating it. “This may not be about standing our ground anymore. We might have to start figuring out how we are going to survive when everything is gone!”

All of them were silent as my words sunk in. I thought maybe I had gotten through to them, but it was all part of their plan. Focusing on them, I didn't notice their final member sneaking up behind me.

A moment later I was knocked unconscious.

Dirty trick.


I woke up sometime later from a huge jolt. I had to blink a few times before peeling my face off of the wooden floor of a covered kart. The first thing I noticed was my hands were bound. I looked down at my wrists to see that they had steel cuffs on them.

Instinctually I tried to pull them apart, but they didn't budge.

“You won't be able to get out of those. They're slayer steel.” Came a voice above me.

I struggled to sit up, and looked over to see the girl sitting on a bench on the side of the kart. Her face showed no emotion as she studied me on the floor.

“Are they really necessary?” I asked, sitting down on a bench on the other side of the kart.

“Do you really think that we would let the most wanted man in the world just be free during transport? We were told that you would try to escape the first chance you got and so you are cuffed.” She explained, calmly.

I didn’t respond, but surveyed my surroundings. I couldn’t see outside the roof of the kart, but I could hear what sounded like a lot of horses riding together. Far more than the 5 or 6 other slayers that I knew to make up this team.

“Where are you guys taking me?” I asked, casually looking around.

“It was decided that you will be delivered to Zahra's sisters to avoid the possible destruction of the last form of civilization in the southern half of the human realm, Cyblee.” The girl stated, in this annoying “kid trying to act like an adult” type of way that seemed to be her style.

“The last form of civilization?” I questioned?, confused.

“Yes! After you murdered their leader, they began to rampage city after city, killing most and starving the rest! They said they wouldn't stop until you were in their hands, but coincidently. . . No one could find you until yesterday when your horse happened to cause trouble in the city and we were asked to calm it.” She replied, calmly.

I couldn't hold back a laugh.

“And you truly believe that handing me over to them is going to stop them from destroying anything and everyone?” I asked, between laughs.

Her face turned red and she fidgeted slightly in her seat as she struggled against thoughts of killing me.

“There is no reason to believe they won't stop! They didn't go around blindly rampaging before you killed their leader. Believe it or not, unlike you. . . Some people actually follow through with the things they say!” She spat, defensively. “Besides, if we can stop anymore destruction, it's worth a try. If the life of one slayer is enough to do that, then you are still fulfilling your life's purpose!”

I sat quiet for a moment, just mulling over what she had said. I had to admit that she had a point. . But that fact admittedly passed me off.

“Child. . . You know nothing about me, or the things I’ve done!” I said, more angrily than I intended.

“We know more than you think. . . Lady Lockwood made sure we would be prepared if we ever came face to face with you.” The girl said ominously.

I was just about to reply, when the wagon came to a stop, along with all the other people outside. A second later, the head of the older woman poked through the canvas of the wagon.

“Bring him to the cities prison for the time being. Then report to the west courtyard.” She commanded, before pulling her head out before the girl could reply.

“You heard her. Get out!” She snapped at me.

Before I knew what was going on, she grabbed me by the back of my cloak and dragged me to the back of the wagon. Embarrassingly, she shoved me through the back flap, and dangled me there for a second before dropping me to my feet. I scowled at her as she followed me out of the wagon. The first thing that caught my eye is that she had my sword in her hand.

“Move.” was all she said.

She kept me in front of her as we walked through the streets. All around, men worked on fortifying the city. I looked to the top of the 150 foot walls, where men were carefully aiming giant crossbows out across the field between the wall and the forest. They were lined up end to end and they had 10 on each wall.

Scattered between them, were boiling caudrons of hot tar mounted so they could be quickly dumped over the edge if need be. Some areas had rows of spikes over the edge to stop a giant from being able to grab the wall.

Truthfully, if it has been humans they were going to face, this effort would have been more than enough. . . But the force they were preparing for now. . . Sure they may kill a few but. . . Inevitably once they pushed past the wall, it would be a slaughter as everyone would be trapped inside.

Speaking of everyone. . .

I realized as I looked around, that the city was made up entirely of men. There was not a woman to be found except for my young prison guard. And to say that most of the men looked starving and downtrodden would be an understatement.

I quickly gathered that this was a makeshift army of every capable man from the southern half of the map. Some were fighting to defend their homes. Some were fighting to avenge their losses. Either way , it was the first time in a long time that I had seen men put their difference aside for the common goal of just surviving.

We continued through the streets until we came to a building whose back wall was actually the south wall of the city. It was of fairly decent size and the sign read [prison].

I stopped at the front door, and was promptly met with a shove from behind that made me stumble inside. Inside looked like exactly like every other human prison I had had the pleasure of visiting. Prison bars. . . . Cells. . . . Vagabonds. . . Insects. . . Horrible smells.

And a prison guard.

A large. . . Man? I think. . . I'm not sure but if it was a woman. . . .

Either way, their boots were up on the desk, partially obscuring their face and they wore a large, circular hat that blocked the rest as their head was down. As we stood in silence I could hear a faint snoring.

Quality help.

“Hello?” The girl asked, sounding annoyed as she looked around the dump of a prison in disgust.

“huh. . . Hmm?” The man? said, startled awake.

“Yes. . . .My name is Lady Harken. I'm from the capital. I'm here to deliver this prisoner for holding, until further notice.” She said, trying her best to sound official.

“hmm. . “ He replied, motioning with his head towards the cells.

“Move.” “Lady Harken” commanded, pointing at the cells.

I trudged forward, passing mostly empty cells until I found the one that was both empty and had the fewest rats. I stepped inside, and closed the cell door on myself.

The girl just stared me down through the bars.

“You realize these bars won't hold me, don't you?” I asked, flatly.

“If I find out you escaped, and we have to hunt you down. . . I WILL kill you. I'm sure those gypsies would love to get their hands on you alive, but dead has to be worth something.” she stated coldly, before turning and walking away.

Just then I felt it. . .

I felt her.

The death goddess.

The most subtle burning in the back of my soul. Just enough to amplify my desire to kill. The same feeling that ultimately pushed me into assassinating Zahra and got me into my current situation. .

Only this time, I had no choice to resist.

I took a deep breath and prepared to let her take control, but again. . .

Just as I opened myself, her presence faded just as quickly as it had arrived.

This damned woman and her tests!

I fumed silently, as I sat back on a filthy bench against the wall.

“I need the key to those handcuffs. . .” The guard mumbled as Lady Harken walked by.

She stopped and glared at him.

“That prisoner is not to be released under absolutely any circumstance!” She hissed at him.

“It's prison protocol, little girl. . . I don't make the rules, I just follow them.” He said lazily, never even lifting his face or even opening his eyes. “I'm guessing it's safe to assume that you will kill me if anything goes wrong, so with that promise, you know you can trust me.”

Her eyes narrowed. . . .

A moment later, she produced the key and slapped it down on desk. “Remember. . . . It's his life, or yours!” She threatened, before walking away.

“What a little ball of sunshine she is!” The man two cells down from me said, when he was sure she was gone.

All of us shared a good laugh as we settled in “until further notice”.

The next day I was awoken by the sound of an alarm bell being rung like crazy and men outside the prison scrambling everywhere.  I stood and looked through the tiny barred window.

Men with rusty swords and battered shields, some looking starved or half dead, All looking ill equipped to handle the approaching enemy, ran this way and that. Chaos.  From what I could gather, the sisters of Zahra had been spotted heading this way and that not everyone was in on the plan to hand me over to them.

Right on cue, an older man entered the prison door, and demanded me.  The guard acknowledged him, and actually stood from his seemingly permanent position with his feet up to walk down and unlock my cell.
Seeing the guard now made me realize how big this guard actually was.  His face was still not visible in the dimly lit prison, but I could see that he was every bit of 8 feet tall.  He dwarfed the other man as they stood in front of the cell and he opened the door.  

Without being asked, I stood and walked out of the cell. I could tell that the man who had come to fetch me had something he wanted to say. . . Likely accusatory in nature, but my stature, combined with the guards, must have made him rethink it.  Instead he just followed me outside the prison.

There, the 7 kingdom slayers were waiting for us.  The 4 older ones had calm, unphased looks.  The two boys seemed to be worried and harken wore a scowl.  There was also another human, already on his horse.
Just then, we all felt it. . . The ground begin to rumble under our feet.  On the wall, men began to shout to each other in panic and get into battle positions.  It was the same quake I had felt after I had killed Zahra, but this time it wasn’t as rapid or frantic.

The sisterhood was moving at a leisurely pace, and what we felt was just the tremors of massive beings simply existing. . .

“The time is now!  You need to go, NOW!” The older slayer woman commanded.

Immediately, I was lifted, and tossed on to the back of a horse on my stomach.  The man who had retrieved me from the prison mounted it, sitting in front of me.  Another human man pulled along side him, and together they rode out through the main gate to the city, before the heavy steel gate was slammed shut and locked down.

I couldn't see anything but the ground from my position, but I could tell we had gone about 300 yards when suddenly both the rumble and the horses stopped abruptly.

“Gods help us. . .” I heard the man riding my horse say under his breath as he beheld the small army of giant women.

He was slow to get off of his horse, most likely unsure of exactly what he was going to say to these behemoths that would spare his city their wrath.  

“He-. . . Hello!” began, his voice meek.  “We. . We know why you've come. . . And. . “

He froze in place as one of the women merely shifted her weight from one foot to another to get more comfortable.

“And. . . We have brought you what you have been searching for.” He finished, pathetically.

“And what might that be?” I heard one of the women ask, confidently.

A second later I was being dragged off of the horse and I was roughly tossed on the ground. I stood up, but was slightly confused as there was nobody in front of me.

Just then I heard someone clear their throat to my left.  I turned slowly and my vision was then filled with the all encompassing force that was Zahra's sisterhood.  My sight stopped on the nearest pair of feet in front of me, about 10 feet out.

My eyes travel up from the brown calf height boots, to the common trousers, then up to the long sleeve shirt. . . From the stomach down,  this could have been mistaken for a man. . . But from the chest up. . . Large breasts straining her shirt, cleavage bountiful.  Face as beautiful as any woman you would ever see, complete with her ever present look of disinterest.  Freckles sprinkled upon that face, and topped by her thick, shoulder length, scarlet hair at 115 feet tall and armed with the most tried and true giant weapon of all time.  The club.

Giselle.

One of two women that make up Zahra's leadership and the unquestioned enforcer of the sisterhood.  She was known for her uncanny ability to find payment dodging deadbeats when they were at their most drunk and when they had the most money on them.  She was feared and respected by not only slayers, but human and giant men as well.

More than once I had stumbled out of a pub and down a dark alley, just to find myself snatched up into the darkness and carried out into some dark corner of the woods were Giselle would proceed to beat me to within an inch of my life and take every penny I had.  Somehow it always seemed like nobody who could stop her was ever present during these abduction either.

Funny.

There was a quiet murmur as the woman got a good look at my face. Some chuckled, others fidgeted slightly. 

This wasn't looking good for me.

To my left, Giselle’s right, was the other half of the leadership of the sisterhood in Zahra's stead. 

Silvia.

She was the same height as Giselle, but unlike Giselle, there was no mistaking Silvia for a man.  From her bare feet and wooden ball anklets, up to her long skirt and wide pocketed sash, bare midriff to her frilly blue sleeveless top, necklaces and trinkets, equally as beautiful face, albeit an infinitely softer expression, up to her long blonde hair, twisted into one long braid that reached all the way down her back.  Her personality was also much more laid back then Giselle, and she hardly ever raised her voice or her fists in anger.  It was easier to let the other more aggressive women handle it.

Silvia was one of the dancers in the sisterhood, and widely agreed upon to be the best lay they had, although most men weren't picky.  I can without shame say that Silvia had shown me a good time more than a few times when I was in good standing with the sisterhood.

Beyond them, I counted 13 other women, to the left and right of the main path, as it wasn’t wide enough to fit them all.  They stood among the short trees that made up the edge of the forest .  

“Here he is!  The man that killed your leader in her sleep!  Antony Lockwood.” The man said, loud and clear.  

I looked back to the two women in front of me.

“Hello ladies!” I said, smoothly.  “Giselle. . . You're looking. . .dapper?. . This fine morning!” I finished, sticking a knife in the sore spot that was her style.  It was usually only giant men that gave her shit about her masculine attire, but even they couldn’t always get away with it.

I watched her face scrunch in embarrassment and anger as she lifted her boot up above my head to stomp me into silence.  It was obvious. . . That wasn’t what she had in mind for my first words to her after they finally caught me.

She was just about to level me when Silvia put her hand up to stop her.

“Not here!. . .You will have more than enough time to make your feelings known later. . . . We all will.” Silvia said, staring down at me, coldly.

“thank you, Sil-“ was all I got out before Silvia lunged forward, her foot landing right next to the men with the horses as she bent over.  I didn’t expect it, and so I couldn't dodge as her fist pounded me into the ground as she knelt on one knee.

“That doesn't mean you get to speak!” She said, calmly as she ever did.

Her sudden movement caused the horses to panic, and pull away from their riders, but they got them under control before the dust settled on me.  When it did, I was struggling to breathe under Silvia’s knuckles.  My hands were still cuffed, so I couldn't lift her fist or do anything besides lay there.

I groaned as I felt Silvia dig her fingers into the earth as she effortlessly wrapped me in her fist.  I was squeezed painfully with the rocks and gravel that she had picked up as she lifted me up to her chest.

“Does. . . The payment suffice to avoid bloody battle today?” the city leader asked, obviously afraid.

Both Silvia and Giselle were quiet for a moment, before Silvia spoke.

“Yes, we will take him and go. . .” she decided finally.

I heard the man give a sigh of relief.

“I. . . We have his sword as well. . And the keys to those handcuffs.” He said, taking the items from his horse and approaching the women's feet.

Silvia bent at her knees, using her hand to hold down her skirt in modesty, before she took the items from the man.  No more words were spoken and the two giants turned to leave.  For a moment it appeared that the plan to give them the slayer was a complete success until. . . 

Silvia stopped as she heard a whistle and a split second later, one of the giant arrows from the city wall whizzed past her shoulder.  It was followed by a loud THWACK and then came the blood curdling scream as the sister in front of her caught said arrow to her chest.

From what I could see from my view swallowed up in Silvia’s fist, the woman stumbled back and collapsed into the trees. From there everything went silent for a moment, before chaos erupted from the situation.

Four women rushed to the aid of their fallen sister.  Silvia’s grip tightened on me.  She wasn’t strong enough to flat out crush me when I was fully rested, but I really couldn't breathe either.  Behind her, the two men had realized that they were in the worst possible place to be and so turned their horses and tried to ride as hard as they could back to the castle, but it was too late.

Giselle lifted her club above her head and smashed it down on the men.  Horses and humans were obliterated in a single muddy smash, as the ground shook with her strength.  As a reaction, the rest of the people on the wall let fly with their arrows.

The battle that was to be avoided with my capture, had begun all the same.
“Surround the city, and kill them all!” Giselle roared, narrowly dodging an arrow.

Without warning, Silvia lifted me to her chest, and stuffed me down her shirt, between her big breasts.   I was jostled as she began to move to engage the humans and as much as I would have loved to stay in there, I had other things I needed to attend to.

With my hands I fished under my tongue and produced the actual key to my cuffs. It only took me a second to get them off, and from there, I had to figure out how I was going to both escape, and get my sword back, so I could go on offense here.

As gently as I could, I climbed up the vines of chain and necklace that Silvia kept around her neck.  When I popped to the surface, I saw that she was leaning over the fallen sister, but It was obvious she was already gone. That left only 14 more enemies to go. I knew it was risky to escape now with these 5 women huddled around, but the thing about giants is. . . They can be clumsy when a group is trying to deal with a single small target.
I waited until it seemed that they were all focused on removing the arrow and that is when I dropped out of her shirt, and down between her legs.  To my left, Silvia had my sword between her fingers, as she used her hand to keep balance on the ground.

Here was my chance.

I sprinted over to her hand, reared back, and punched her wrist as hard as I could. I felt my fist connect with her bone and it was confirmed with the brief yelp of shock and pain, emitted from her mouth as she dropped my sword and clutched her hand to her chest. 

The other women looked up at her, confused but by the time any of them noticed me, it was too late for them.  I let a prayer rip and the woman directly across from Silvia was cut clean in two, her blood spraying the two women to her sides as her halves fell to the ground. 

My actions were immediately met with the appropriate response.
Screams of terror from the fact that their friend no longer existed. 

It was progress, but I had zero time to recover, as Silvia nearly managed to stab me with a dagger she produced from her thigh.  I had no choice but to run away at that point but that definitely wasn’t ideal.  All slayers knew that fighting giants out in the open was certain death.  

With nothing to hinder or cramp their movements, giants could be incredibly agile.  Not to mention, their ability to cover ground.  As fast as a slayer was for short distances, out in the open, we were easily run down and trampled flat.  That was the case now, as I had to immediately dodge a booted foot that landed right beside me, the impact throwing me off balance.

I stumbled, nearly falling to the ground, but managed to stay up, just in time to avoid another stomp aimed where I was going to be. I was able to slash at the ankle, drawing blood from an owner I didn’t know as I desperately tried to make it back to the city.

Meanwhile, in the cities wall, all of the giant bows had been fired, and now humans struggled immensely to reload them.  The weight and length of an arrow large enough to kill a giant took 8 human men to handle and even position in the bow.  Not to mention the one or two horses it took to draw it back. The whole process would take about 20 minutes at best to reload  Slayers could do the job fairly easily, but with total number of us limited, ultimately the bows went empty and stayed empty.

Especially once Giselle went on the attack.  She waited until she was sure that the humans didn't have any arrows loaded, then she charged the wall. It only took her three steps to get up to full speed and from there, the wall had no chance.  The wise humans who saw her coming got as far out of the way as they could.

The rumble of footsteps was already overwhelming, and hers could be felt above them as she approached moving faster than anything in the human realm traveled.  She was pathetically peppered by human arrows, which, while they were sharp enough to pierce her skin, they were also much too small to feel like anything more than a mosquito bite. Everyone who chose to stay and try to hold her back paid the price.

At the last second, Giselle turned and used her hip and shoulder to check the wall.  Being 150 feet tall, it rose a little ways above her head, but it still wasn't designed to withstand that amount of force.  What happened to it was catastrophic.

In a cloud of dust, dirt and bricks, both the movement of the wall, and the pressure wave tossed the men like ragdolls.  The unfortunate ones fell off of the back side, plunging 150 feet to their deaths.  Everyone else was disoriented and dazed as they lay amongst the rubble.

They could do nothing as a giant hand pierced through the dust, feeling for anything and ultimately finding a bow, before grabbing and tearing it from the top of the wall and casting it down to the ground, taking the poor horse that was tethered to it, with it. 

From the other side of the veil of dust, a prayer nearly clipped Giselle’s head.  Likely just a blind attack.  She was unwavering and as the smoke cleared, she was finally able to see what her body slam had done to the wall.  

Not only was the area of direct contact cracked and caving in, now possible to be breached, but it was abundantly clear that the entire wall was now out of square.  Looking down the line at it, it was visually waved and buckled around the entire city. 

With that, Giselle stepped back, and lifted her club. Now the shorter slayer from before was standing to face her, sword drawn.  If Giselle was intimidated, she didn’t show it in the least, swinging the heavy, blunt instrument down with all of her strength.  

The man managed to block her attack, but still he was buckled, crumbling to his knees.  Giselle removed her club, but before the man could recover, he was snatched up in her hand.  He was able to resist being crushed outright in her fist, but she had other ways of taking him out.

Giselle really wasn’t into fancy moves and believed that straight forward and direct was the best way about everything.  This was no different as instead of trying to crush the man in her hand as a show of strength, she merely tossed him forcefully to the ground, some 100 feet below.  While slayers were very durable, a completely unbroken fall from 100 plus feet was enough to put anyone down for a while.

This was no exception, as the man hit the ground and never recovered.  He didn’t even try to stand, and seemed to just accept his fate.  With a quick and efficient stomp, Giselle ended his life, before pushing forward and completing her breach in the wall, smashing clear through and scattering all of the humans on the wall. 

Meanwhile I was having issues of my own.  As was the problem with short legs, it only took about 3 strides for the sisters to surround me.  They said nothing.  There were no taunting grins.  This was just business for them.  Subduing me so that they could avenge their fallen sisters slowly and intimately.

Not surprisingly, they were apprehensive of me.  I had just cut one of their own in half and the same could easily happen to them if they weren't careful. The woman directly in front of me, a tan skinned dark haired 100 footer had a large spear pointed at me.  To her right, Silvia still shakily held the dagger.  

Behind me, a scantily clad black skinned women with a short sword. And finally a pale, Buzz cut 80 foot younger giantess with a run of the mill broad sword.  I had to admit that this situation wasn’t looking good for me.  I turned around slowly, keeping an eye on all of them at once. 

They feint stepped in and out, trying to draw my attention one way or another to create an opening, so I did the most simple technique.  I let them think it worked.  I lunged at the tan skinned one, knowing the one with short sword would see an opening.  My plan worked perfectly .

As soon as I committed in one direction, I felt the tremors behind me, and quickly spun while charging a prayer.  The woman barely saw it coming and had no choice but to half dodge, half block the attack, knocking her off balance and taking a chip out of her sword.  As she stumbled I saw an opening of my own, and rushed to get a cut in her, but out of nowhere I was blindsided.

The force sent me sprawling 80 feet to my right and I just caught a glimpse of Silvia retracting her foot from kicking me.  I regained my balance mid tumble, skidding to a stop, before I immediately retaliated with a prayer straight from the death goddess.  Both Silvia and the tanned skin woman got wide eyed and had to physically dive out of the way as the monster, 150 foot tall blade of energy ripped up the ground and tore off through the field.
With this, I saw an opportunity to try to escape again.  I sprinted through the gap left by the two women, heading desperately back toward the city walls.  Unfortunately, as I passed by, the tan skinned woman, who was laying on her side, made an ill conceived grab for me.  

I easily pinned her hand down with mine, and out of spite, I plunged my sword down through the top of mine.  She let out a scream as it sunk through and out her palm.  Her other hand rushed in out of instinct, not to grab me, but just to hold her other.  I quickly pulled my sword and stepped out of range of that hand.

I could have left it at that.  I don't believe she would have continued to fight after such a wound, but I had a duty to all the men fighting in the city, and to all the families who lost everything “because of me.”   

With a prayer and a flick of my sword, she too was gone in a splash of blood.  Immediately I turned and continued trying to get to the wall, but I could tell that behind me, spirits were beginning to be broken as weeping was heard from her sisters.  These casualties would either break them all together, or strengthen their resolve to completely flatten the final town in the whole south of the human realm.

At this point it seemed like even Silvia was having second thoughts about this battle.  She didn’t make a move to grab me as I ran by, perhaps for fear of what I had just done.  As soon as I was passed her, she stood and regrouped with her sisters . 

I was able to make it around the back side of the city and a guard let me in.  I sprinted back towards the main entrance, where I could tell the kingdom slayers were fighting with Giselle. It didn’t take much consideration for me to leave her to them.  Instead I headed to the opposite side of the gate and began the long climb to the top of the wall via a wooden ladder.

I had just about reached the top when suddenly something heavy impacted the wall, partially caving it in a few feet to the left of where I was climbing.  It took everything I had to not be thrown from the ladder as it swayed back and forth.  Unfortunately, men on top of the wall were not so lucky, and I watched a handful fall to the ground below.

I was able to save one man from death as he fell passed me.  Reaching out, I managed to snag him by his shirt and easily hauled him up with me, before letting him go.  He thanked me graciously, before returning to his post.
Running to the outer edge of the wall, I saw who had caused the impact.  A brown haired, eastern coast giantess had shoulder charged the wall, but lacking 30 feet on Giselle, she wasn't able to pound her way completely through, and that would be her undoing.

Without being tall enough to see the top of the wall, she didn't see the cauldron of hot tar above her. A second later, two humans poured it down on her.  It splashed most of her face and down her chest.  Instantly her screams of pain nearly deafened us.  First she tried to claw it off of her, but her skin only peeled.  She stumbled around briefly, before running into the wall and knocking herself over but also toppling all the men who weren't prepared for it.  There she writhed in pain.

While I, and most of the men on the wall seemed perfectly fine to let her lay there and suffer to the fullest, I guess the leader of the kingdom slayers had more mercy than I, because she lifted one of the giant arrows.  In swift, flawless form, she threw it like a spear from overhead, piercing the giantess through the chest, pinning her to the ground and silencing her screams.  

The men cheered for her, but she didn’t celebrate.  That is because she had seen me and was now walking in my direction, sword drawn.  By this point, I was done talking and sparing lives.  People said that slayers had a certain bloodlust and once it was triggered, it was possible for it to become uncontrollable.  

I was feeling it now.  

It was unwise for this woman to be standing in front of me. .
She must have felt the same way, because she didn’t try to say anything either.  She only covered the distance between us in one sprinting step, before our swords collided. 

We furiously traded and blocked blows.  I had to admit that her swordsmanship was exceptional.  Most times, even though slayers used swords, they didn’t actually have very good swordsmanship because fighting a giant was nothing like fighting someone else with a sword.
Fortunately, my parents pounded sword training into us from the day we could hold a sword until the day we left home .  That is why my sister was the one who was responsible for training young slayers at the capital now.  
This woman was using standard kingdom style.  An effective, but predictable style that relied on overpowering your opponent to cover your own openings.  The trouble with this style, which I have argued with my sister countless times about, is that if your opponent doesn’t fight as brutal or directly as you, then you can be easily tipped off balance and create large openings. 

I just needed to wait for that opening.

By now, the humans had turned to watch us, worried looks on their faces.  The intensity of every strike caused a blossom of sparks and high pitch ringing and the wall beneath our feet began to crack as the energy of the blows had to be transferred somewhere. 
We fought, moving slowly around the wall, closer to the edge and that is where I saw an opening.  Not big enough to kill her, but I pushed in close, grabbed the front of her shirt, and threw her off the front side of the wall, forcefully. 

Her eyes got wide as she fell, but lucky for her, I hit my target.  The woman fell and struck the next approaching giant.  That was the last I saw of her, turning my attention to the next threat.  To my left, Silvia was approaching the wall.

The men were struggling to get an arrow loaded, and the horse was struggling to pull on the slippery stone wall.  I ran over, grabbed the draw string and easily pulled it back.  Next I took and aimed it but by then, she had gotten too close.  With a quick adjustment, I fired it anyway and the arrow launched, screaming passed Silvia and hitting another woman in the shoulder. 

I lost sight of Silvia below the wall, and for a solid 2 minutes we all just held our breath, no man daring to look over the edge.  What happened next was completely unexpected.  

It happened so fast that my eyes almost didn’t catch it, but I know it happened.  Over the wall and quick as lighting, 9 leather whips with knots tied in them obliterated every human in a 25 foot section of the wall.  They were simply turned to a bloody mist before my eyes.
I was barely able to defend myself, swatting at one of the whips, although it was too thick to cut at all.  The vicious attack completely splintered the bow as well, showering everything in wood shards. 

This was something new I had not gone up against, but whatever it was. . . . It was deadly. 

As the leather tentacles were drug back over the edge of the wall, I knew I had to come up with a plan.  Avoidance would be the easiest, but at the same time, time was of the essence.  We had taken a solid chunk out of the sisterhood, but there were still more than enough to wipe us out.
Going back over the wall was an option and I would have the element of surprise but while I might kill Silvia, I would still be trapped between that wall and all the women closing in on the city.  

My thoughts were interrupted by the whips returning.  There were no more humans to take care of, and I was more or less expecting them this time.  The problem with this weapon was it was perfectly designed for fighting slayers.  The many tails were meant to give the wielder the best chance at hitting a very small target.

So basically, short of jumping completely clear, there was no avoiding it. .
Again I managed to block the attack, but this time I decided to try something else.  Instead of letting her pull it back, I grabbed one of the whips and began to pull.  A second later Silvia began to pull against me.  With both hands I knew I was likely stronger than her, but I was still holding my sword in my other hand and as such, I was drug slowly to the edge, even though I dug my feet in.

Making a split second decision, I put my sword away and grabbed the whip with both hands.  Immediately, she was unable to pull and I began to back up, until Silvia’s hand appeared above the edge of the wall holding the handle.

There was a pause as she put all of her weight into stopping me from pulling and it worked.  Following up, her other hand suddenly gripped the edge and in a swift movement, I felt her kick off the wall and her face appeared in front of me as she tried to climb over.  
It happened so fast that I couldn’t react as this massive being moved above me.  I was knocked back by her, but that wasn’t the major problem.  The wall couldn’t support her weight and began to collapse as she crossed over.  It crumbled in an avalanche of stones at dirt down on to the city below, burying it and me in rubble. 

It took me a second to get my bearings and I heard Silvia get up, and begin walking around. I climbed out of the ruins of the wall to see that another giantess was climbing through the wall.  I drew my sword and launched a good size prayer but she was too close and it didn't have enough time to grow.   

She used her own sword to block the attack.  It worked, but as was typical, it took a large chip out of her blade and knocked her off balance.  Normally made steel weapons human or giant, weren’t durable enough to hold up to prayers.  That is what made the three daughters capable of fighting on level ground with us.

Their swords were made of the same material as ours.
The woman caught herself and tried an attack of her own with a fast downward smash. I took the brunt of it, blocking overhead.  She followed up with the standard slayer fighting move of a kick while their sword pinned the slayer down, but I was expecting it.  

I wasn’t able to completely dodge it, but I took most of the force off of it which still resulted in being kicked through 3 buildings in a row.  Recovering quickly , I was just about to throw another prayer at her head, when I was hit by blunt pain from my left.

I was thrown 50 yards, before recovering and landing on my feet.  Looking up, I saw that Silvia had thrown a large chunk of debris at me.  Now her, the woman from a second ago, and another who had just entered through the hole were all standing above me. 

Silvia had another chunk of building in one hand, and her whip in the other.  The other woman still clutched her sword, and the final woman had a club.  We squared off with me standing in the middle of the street.  Silvia reared back, and hurled the piece at me, perfect in her aim.  
I easily punched through it, causing a cloud of dust, which must have been what the woman with the sword was planning on because as soon as she thought I couldn't see, she attempted to stomp on me. Unfortunately for her, I saw it, only moving far enough back to avoid getting trampled.
With her defenses down, my sword plunged its way down through the top of her foot. Pulling it back out, I had just enough time to dodge as she took a desperate swipe at me before she clutched her foot.  It was the perfect time to finish her off, but Silvia intervened.
Her arm raised, and she cracked her whip in my direction. I was barely able to scramble behind a crumbled brick wall to avoid being pulverized.  Still they struck the wall and disintegrated it, leaving me nowhere to hide.  I bolted from the rubble in her direction and was just about to counterstrike when a sharp, bowed, horizontal orange prayer ripped from my left.
It soared to its mark, the woman whose foot I had stabbed, clipping her left side.  She spun around in a fountain of blood and crashed into the wall, dead.

I looked in the direction it had come, to see Harken standing on a rooftop, axe drawn. As much as I disliked her uptight attitude . . . I had to admit that she looked like a proper slayer now.  Her uniform was caked with dirt and blood and her hair was a mess as well. Her scowl was no longer one of contempt for me, but the standard face of an awoken slayer. . . 

She didn’t waste any time, disappearing below the roof of the building.  I wasn’t really sure if she was going to help me or not.  What I did know is that didn’t sound like Giselle was battling slayers anymore.  I could still hear the screams of men, and the thunder of her footsteps, but at this point she may just be exterminating them. 

The woman whom harken had cut down must have been important to the woman with the club, because she flew into a rage. She narrowly missed me with a savage smash that send chunks of earth and buildings everywhere. Before I could gain my footing, she kicked, catching me in the chest and throwing me against and through the wall of a building across the street.

I knew immediately what was coming next and dove through the last part of the wall on my own just as the club obliterated the entire building.
“Hey!  Calm down!  Getting aggressive is how you make mistakes!” Silvia urged, putting her hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“I don't care!  I'm so sick of slayers even existing!” She cried, passionately as she stomped on another building and decimated one more with the club.
I sprinted down the street to flank them but suddenly I was dodging another club strike that hit right behind me, throwing me to the ground.  A second later, I was on my back, struggling to hold up a boot sole. We struggled back and forth but the fact is, without interference, this was a battle that slayers lost 95 percent of the time. 

Imagine it like trying to hold up someone your own size who has their entire body weight above you and on one foot. 

Inevitably, my arms gave out and a split second later I was smashed under her foot.  All of the unpleasant sensations of being crushed flooded in as she just stood on me for a moment fullweight, as if expecting me to somehow push her back up. 

Eventually she did step off of me, but as the light flooded back to me, I saw that her boot was still poised above me, and immediately I was the victim of a brutal stomp, followed by a savage twisting.  Again her foot rose.
I’m sure I looked ragged by now, as one gets when being hammered by indescribable weight.  Just from previous experience, I knew I could take at most, 3 more stomps before my body would cease to move and then I would be flattened.

Seeing her foot descend again, I made a desperate attempt to roll out of the way, and luckily her foot print wasn’t deep enough yet that I couldn’t get out.  I was able to narrowly avoid it, the air from beneath her foot blowing in my face. 
Looking up, I saw Silvia, the club lady, and a new , orange skinned, white haired giantess, standing above me.  For the first time today, I began to seriously doubt my chances of survival. . 

“Stand up, you scum.” Silvia commanded, coldly.
Wobbly, I stood, still brandishing my blade.  None of them were on their guard, so apparently I didn't look like I was capable of fighting anymore and maybe they were right.  My vision came and went, and I was finding it hard to stand up straight.

That being said, I couldn’t follow Silvia’s movement as one minute she was standing straight and tall, and the next she was bent at the waist.  The next was her open palm next to me before I was spitefully slapped and slammed into a wall before stumbling back to my knees in the center of the street with my arms at my side, sword in hand.

“Why don't you call her here?” Silvia asked, crouching over me, and lifting my chin with her finger. 

“Who?  Your mother?” I asked, with a bloody grin, even though right now I probably couldn’t back up that bravado.

I didn’t have the focus to even evade as Silvia’s palm lowered over my head and crushed me back into the dirt. She let the pressure rest on me for what felt like an eternity. I was pushed well past the point of being able to breathe.  Though I struggled as much as my worn out body would allow, I was still brought to the brink of passing out. 

I’ll admit. . . . In that moment I was a little curious as to where the death goddess was. . .  I mean, against Juliette. . . She was more than adamant about not only lending me her strength, but taking over my body entirely.  Now, I was getting pummeled, and she was nowhere to be found.

 Just as I was about to fade out, Silvia released the press, and her hand scrunched and formed a tight fist around my head, dragging me up from the dirt. My screams were muffled as her fingers pushed my shoulders down, effectively stretching my neck as she lifted me off of my feet, dangling me.

“You know who I'm talking about!” Silvia snapped, showing the first bit of anger I had seen from her. “We all felt it that night.  And everyone knows of your tendencies.” She finished, giving me a painful shake that might have snapped my neck of her grip wasn’t so firm. 

“Summon her here. . . NOW!” Silvia demanded, tossing me roughly to the ground, before wiping my blood from her palm. 

To her surprise, I was laughing.  Not my normal laugh, but an unstable laugh of a man creeping ever closer to death as he coughed up blood from having his head nearly squeezed off of his body. 

“You honestly don’t know what you're asking for. .” I laughed. “Look how many of your sisters are already dead!. . . I. . I haven't even begun to get started!” 

With that, using all my strength, I slowly struggled to stand, using my sword as a crutch.

Silvia looked like she was on the verge of tears now.  Her look told me the entire story.

(How could someone so small generate this much heartbreak and devastation?)

What she did next actually managed to surprise me. . . 

“GISELLE!” she hollered, as tears ran down her cheek through her glare of hatred.  

The rumble that has been a constant since Giselle had breached the wall was suddenly silent. . . Then footsteps heading in our direction, before Giselle appeared in the clear sky above me.

What I saw was troubling. . . 

Dangling from her fist by their uniforms, were the bodies of the male kingdom slayers, minus the one she had crushed on the outside of the city. Their bodies were in less than mint condition.

Giselle said nothing, as she just looked over the situation with an all encompassing scowl.  Silvia stood, and embraced her, burying her face in her shoulder and wrapping her arms around her.  I could hear her beginning to cry. Giselle really wasn't the touchy feely type, but she put up with this.
I was honestly so taken with the impending pounding that Giselle was planning, that I didn’t notice Harken was standing beside me, holding her axe in both hands.

“Can I. . . Help you?” I asked, trying to sound clever, but my voice was too ragged and weak to really convey any whit. 
“Just shut up!” She snapped.  

 
I glanced over at her.  Her eyes were glued on her fallen comrades and I couldn’t tell if it was rage or crushing despair she was feeling.
“I'm only doing this because Lady Lockwood made me promise I would.” She stated coldly. “If it came down to us or them. . . I promised I would save your life.”

“Huh. . . “ I said, thoughtfully.  “Big sis always looking out for me, I guess.” I said, before collapsed to my knees.

“Stand back up!  I can’t do this alone.” Harken urged, panic in her voice as she faced down the looming threat.

“Listen. . . Harken. . . “ I began, although it was becoming hard to even form a coherent thought by now.

“I’m going to need you to forgive me for whatever happens next. . . “ I mumbled before. . . . 

I asked for help. 

Hmmm. . . .

This was odd. .

With my eyes closed, and giving her full permission to take me, I expected Freyja to jump at the chance. . . But no.

While my body did start to repair itself, it was as though she wasn’t there. Like I was just feeding off the residual energy that just came with having my soul owned by the death goddess. She wasn’t actually putting any effort into it, and wasn’t giving me any strength

A moment later, I opened my eyes. My body felt as good as it ever did on it’s own I guess, but that wasn't going to be enough in this particular situation. I looked to my side to see Harken staring at me with a queer look.

“What?” I asked, as I straightened up

“Nothing. . . It’s just. . Is that it?” She asked, seemingly disappointed.

I knew what she was getting at, but I wasn’t about to discuss my issues with some kid.

“Am I not healed?” I asked, holding my hands up.

“Yes. . . I was just. . . Expecting more. . “ she answered, shrugging her shoulders. “I thought I might be able to feel. . .”

“Can we please just focus on this fight?” I asked, interrupting her harshly.

With that, her scowl returned, and she turned to faced our opponents. By this point, Giselle had managed to peel Silvia off of her, and had tucked the slayer’s corpses into a pouch on her hip. Silvia stepped behind her, like a small child behind a parent.

Giselle stepped forward, strutting confidently toward us. Before I knew what was happening, Harken was sending a prayer down the street to meet her. As expected, Giselle casually side stepped it, before countering with a club smash.

Harken managed to block it, but the blow threw her back and she smashed against the city wall. She recovered instantly and just as quickly another prayer was screaming towards Giselle. Again she evaded, and countered. This time there was no space between herself and the wall and I knew that Harken would be smashed if she tried to block again.

To my surprise, she didn't try to out muscle Giselle and instead ran to her left, avoiding the club. This time, she unleashed a counter of her own, another prayer with medium velocity. Giselle barely managed to dodge, but she may not have been the intended target. The attack passed her, but it was aimed directly at the woman with the club who had been intent on stomping me into the ground.

Her eyes got wide and she dove out of the way at the last second. I saw an opening and was about to cut her down, when Silvia interfered. Her whip lashed out and cracked a few feet from me but it was enough of a distraction to save the woman’s life.

I went then to attack Silvia, but just as I about to, the orange skinned giantess stepped in, swinging her sword at me. I managed to block it dead, but again my counter was ineffective. It was obvious now that none of them were going to let us have a clean shot at each other .

Meanwhile, Harken had dodged Giselle and after avoiding a stomp in quick succession, had ducked behind a building. Unfortunately, Giselle wasn’t trying to avoid buildings, and the house was demolished in a single step as Giselle pursued her. Left exposed, Harken tried another prayer.

Giselle couldn't dodge at such a close range, and had to use her club to parry. The attack took a good sized notch out of it, as it was the equivalent of an axe chop. It may have been progress, but a brutal counter smash sent Harken sprawling. She tumbled to a stop after smacking into the corner of another building.

To her credit, although she was slow to get up, she did stand and face her opponent. By this time I had fled the confrontation with Silvia and company and was on my way to Harken. I got there just in time, grabbing her by the arm at a dead sprint and whisking her away just as Giselle smashed again.

She looked upset to see me, and tried to dig her feet into the ground to stop me, but I continued to put distance between us and them, although I could feel Giselle behind me.

“What are you doing?!” She demanded, trying to pull away from me. “Slayers never retreat!” She declared pridefully.

“I don’t know who told you that, but they are full of shit!” I replied, bolting to the right as Giselle’s club smashed down, just missing us. “We are going to have to work as a team if you want to survive this.”

A moment later, we were out flanked by the orange skinned giantess and another from the eastern coast with a broad sword. We stopped running, and Harken immediately reared back for a prayer, but I stopped her.

“What's wrong with you?!” She shouted at me.

“Brute force isn’t going to win a battle with any giant worth their salt! Especially not these women! There is a reason all of your comrades are gone, and if you are going to survive, you need to learn from them!” I said, probably more coldly then I should have, but now wasn’t the time for sensitivity.

“What. . . What would you have me do?” She asked, humbling herself.

“When I attack, you get ready to defend counters. They use numbers to make sure we can never strike openings.” I explained, just as the orange skinned giantess attacked.

She swung her sword at a sideways angle, smashing through a building and creating a cloud of dust and making it hard to defend. Harken swung her axe to meet it, stopping it dead and I used the opening. I jumped on the blade of her sword and ran skyward, as she went to kick Harken.

Anywhere but on the ground it was difficult to find the footing to launch prayers, so instead I would just attack by conventional means. I made it to her hands and let my blade drag up the back side. Blood began to run out as she flinched. She predictably let go with one hand to try to grab me, but Harken was right on cue.

Below me, the woman’s sword clanged to the ground, crushing another building as Harken struck it, disarming her. The woman's face was shocked, as she knew she was wide open to Harken, but Harken didn't get the chance, as Giselle caught up with us, and she had to dodge another club smash.

Fortunately, while the orange skinned woman was waiting for a prayer, she forgot about me, and by then I was up her arm. She saw me at the last second and my sword only managed to cut her above the eye, before her hand swatted me, but it was just in time, as an orange prayer tore from below. It was obvious it wasn't aimed the greatest, but it hit it’s mark, and the woman's arm fell to the ground. She let out a scream that could be heard for miles, and collapsed. The easterner rushed to her aid.

Luckily, there was a tall building nearby and I landed unharmed. From there, I jumped down, just in time to block Silvia’s whip from Harken’s blind spot as she fought off Giselle.

“Let’s focus on her!” I said, pointing to the woman trying to stop her sisters bleeding arm. “I'll defend, you find the opening.”

Harken nodded, and we began to close the distance. Silvia saw where we were headed, and went to block us. I planted my feet, and sent a sweeping blue prayer, up towards her head. She stopped dead, barely managing to stop in time for it to pass inches in front if her face, taking some strands of her hair with it. From the other side of the gauntlet, Giselle tried to stomp on Harken, but miraculously, she rolled and avoided it, while barely breaking pace.

I punished Giselle with a prayer in her direction, if nothing more than just to let her know I was there. She blocked it with her club, but another chunk was taken from it, and a crack formed down the center. It must have cut her hands as well, as they began to drip blood. Knowing it was garbage, she hurled it at me, and the unpredictability of it caught me out. The bottom end of it hit me and sent me flying.

I was dazed as I tumbled down the street, landing on my stomach. My eyes were still rolling when a shadow shrouded me. Before I could react, I heard the crack before I felt it. Silvia’s whip final caught it's prey. . .

White hot pain, as my body felt like it might explode. It honestly felt like it might. . . Have you ever been in so much pain, that you just feel cold?

I contemplated not standing up again as blood soaked the back of my cloak. The tails of the whip just were lifted, and my body along with it, before I plopped back to the ground. The back of my neck down to my thighs, were raw and bloody now, but still I stood again, knowing that another lash was probably on its way.

I was correct.

I turned around to see that Silvia was looking down on me with contempt, her arm raised and ready to whip me again. To my right, my sword lay on the ground, out of reach. Without it, I knew there was no defending myself.

I saw her next move in time to react if I had a weapon, but that didn’t matter. With a twitch of her eye, Silvia went to lash me aga. . .

To the east, the most powerful prayer I had seen all day exploded toward the fallen giantess and her aid. The sheer energy of it froze myself, Silvia, and Giselle in our tracks. I could personally rip the faces off of buildings with a prayer, but this example of dark orange heat completely tore buildings from their foundation, disintegrating them in its wake.

A moment later, the two women were gone, for lack of a better description. Incinerated by this awesome destructive force. The shock on Silvia’s face spoke volumes. Her expression screwed into an awkward mix of bewilderment and fear. With her attention off of me, I quickly grabbed my sword, and limp ran in Harken’s direction.

Snapping out of the initial shock, Giselle spotted me although she didn’t attack. It appeared she didn’t have a weapon, so she did what someone of tremendous size does best. . . She ran.

She ran back the way she had come, scrambling for one of her sister's weapons. I let her go, in favor of regrouping with Harken, who was just standing in the middle of the street a block ahead.

Her axe was blade end down at her side, and she was breathing heavily. She barely seemed to notice me as she stared off in the direction of where two souls had just been wiped from existence.

“Are you alright?” I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning her to face me.

“I'm. . . Fine. . “ She said, somewhat distantly. “It just. . .got away from me.”

This was something that was common when slayers are young. Our bodies are very durable, but they aren’t designed to withstand all the power that a god has to offer. If you aren't careful, you can release too much energy and effectively “snuff your own fire” so to speak.

Essentially, your body overloads and shuts down for a time. The risk of that is you are left vulnerable to anyone and everyone. The flow of power is something we learn to control. You want to get as close to the max without going too far. The fact that this child could unleash that amount of power without snuffing herself said a lot about the strength of her soul. . .

“Come on. This fight is far from over.” I said, as I turned to face Silvia. Behind her, Giselle had picked up a long sword. The woman with the club also walked around to flank us. It seemed that this was all that was left of Zahra's sisterhood. I don’t know what happened to the other two giants that we didn’t account for, but hey, kingdom slayers weren't completely incompetent I guess.

“Do you have a plan?” She asked, a little worry in her tired voice.

“Giselle is the strongest. . . Silvia’s spirit can't take much more and this one isn’t really a joy either.” I replied, pointing my sword at the woman with the club.

“So we take her first?” Harken asked, like she honestly valued my opinion.

“We scramble until an opening appears. . . . Just remember this. . . Prayers aren't the only weapon you have, ok? Contrary to what my sister preaches, sometimes you have to close the distance and scrap with your body.” I said, looking her in the eye.

“I'll. . . Follow your lead.” She answered, humbly.

I nodded, and with that, we faced our enemy. We were out of range of straightforward prayers doing the trick, so I decided to try something my team had developed in our travels. . .

I began to run the ground between myself and the club woman. She remained in a defensive stance, club at the ready. As soon as I broke into the run, Giselle made her move, going to strike me with a powerful downward strike from the long sword. Harken saw it coming and met it with an upward slash from her axe. While she did block the attack, the strength difference between them was only becoming more apparent.

Harken stumbled forward, getting knocked out of her stance on pure strength alone. Giselle followed up, with a sideways smack with the side of the blade, more or less just trying to swat the tiny girl out of the way. Harken quickly pushed her axe out with both hands, meeting the blade with force and planted feet but ultimately getting pushed back anyway.

The woman in front of me focused , trying to predict my movements but I had a move she hadn't seen yet. First I launched a straight vertical prayer to set it in motion. Just as I wanted, she began to move to my right.

Another prayer just behind her to keep her going. . . And finally, the finisher.

Closing my eyes, I dialed up a prayer from the god of chaos and misfortune. Shitty things to be the god of, but when called upon, he was reliable for the most part. He was exactly what you needed for this type of attack.

With a flick of my wrist and a special twist of my sword, the relatively small prayer left me traveling upward and on a nasty left hook at high speed. To be honest, I don’t think she even saw it coming. . .

My left hook met her left run and collided to create a headless corpse that continued to run for a few steps before crashing brutally to the ground. I didn’t even wait for her response, sending another curve at the dumbfounded Silvia.

She snapped out of her stupor as the attack turned in her direction. She barely escaped it, dashing a few steps to the side and forward, out running the arc of it. With the odds even now, I finally felt like I could push without being blindsided.

That being said, I wasn’t completely comfortable leaving Harken to handle Giselle alone. I continued to press my attack with two more prayers in quick succession, making Silvia scramble to keep from getting caught, but as I looked over, I could see that Harken was beginning to lose her battle.

Giselle was very experienced at fighting slayers, and as such, she made sure that there was never a sufficient gap between herself and Harken that the girl could use to set up an attack. Giselle’s sword seemed to be everywhere at once as she battered Harken’s defense just waiting for her strength to wear out. She was smashed this way and that as the bigger, stronger woman had her way with her, culminating in a swat that sent Harken through a wall, collapsing the building in on her.

Giselle punctuated this with a heavy stomp, before grinding her foot on the rubble. I knew I had to act. While I figured that wouldn't be enough to finish Harken off, you could never overestimate how much a slayer had left.

By now, Silvia had regained her composer, and decided to charge me. She accurately predicted a defensive prayer, before trying to demolish me with a heavy kick. It narrowly missed me, but she was into close quarters now. I was made to avoid a flurry of stomps, all while getting bashed side to side by near misses. While I didn't get crushed, it did make me dizzy, and vulnerable.

I couldn't get myself together before Silvia whipped me again. The weight of the tails crumpling me into the street. This time getting up wasn’t an option. The thought of it never crossed my mind. The sword felt from my hand and I just lay still, enjoying the view of rubble, destruction, and flames that my swollen eyes afforded me from my place in the street.

Harken. . . . The humans. . . My family. . . They would all have to make due without me, I guess.

Oh well.

Silvia stepped over me, and I felt the edge of her sandal in my ribs as she used her foot to move me from my side to my back. I offered no resistance, just laying spread eagle and limp. Her face was covered in dirt aside for the river system of tears flooding down it.

I flinched as she dropped down heavily to her knees over me, and began to sob.

“This. . . This day went too far!” She bawled, covering her face.

As much as I wanted to argue the fact that she and her sisters had literally wiped out all civilization on the southern half of the realm, I held my tongue. It didn’t seem to matter now.

“Why!?” She screamed to no one in particular with a pound of her fists that smashed into my prone body.

I responded, coughing up blood. I noticed Giselle was standing over me as well. As far as I knew, she had finished off Harken and now it finally my turn. She placed a hand supportively on Silvia’s shoulder.

“It's over now, sister. . . “ Giselle said, solemnly. “It came at a high price in the final act, but we avenged Zahra now. “ she finished, throwing down the sword she had been using.

“Everyone is. . . . Dead. . How could this have happened?. . . . Zahra never would have let this happen!” Silvia wailed.

By now her tears were beginning to soak into my already blood soaked cloak.

“Don't you dare blame yourself!” Giselle said, tightening her grip on Silvia’s shoulder. “Zahra. . . . “ she began but trailed off as her eyes got glossy and then teared up.

She let out a frustrated holler and I found myself hammered with her heavy boot. Lucky for me I guess, she didn’t twist or grind. I wouldn't have survived it. . . I barely survived this. Up to this point I had just been opting to stay down, but now I officially couldn’t move my limbs.

“I have to blame myself! If I was stronger, I could have saved them!” Silvia cried, her head in her hands.

“That's enough, Silvia!” Giselle snapped. “You are beautiful because you aren't a fighting piece of garbage like the rest of us!” She declared, her voice cracking with emotion as she failed to hold it together and began to cry hard.

This was honestly too much emotion for me, and I would rather have taken another whipping then continue to have to experience it.

“Giselle!” Silvia wailed with an almost reprimanding tone. “It's all my fau-

I gazed up to see that Silvia had a look I knew all too well on her face. It was the look of getting ran through with a sword when you weren't expecting it. Her face scrunched as her mind grappled with the situation.

A moment later, blood began to run out of her mouth, covering me as I confirmed the sword tip protruding from her chest.

It must have taken Giselle a bit to realize what had happened, because only after Silvia fell forward, right on top of me, did she look back to see Harken. She was looking worse for the wear, and appeared to barely be able to stand.

I could only watch as Silvia slumped down on to me, breasts first. I craned my neck back, trying to avoid being smothered by massive tits that rolled up my body, straining my bones and finally coming to a rest at my chin. Although my face wasn’t covered, I still really couldn't breathe under her weight.

“H. . .Harken!. . . “ I groaned. “Get her off of me!”

*

Giselle went from teary to furious in the blink of an eye. She pulled the sword from Silvia’s back, and immediately began her revenge, looking to smash the tiny girl to pieces. Harken narrowly dodged to her left as Giselle swung down, splitting the street and sending chunks of rock flying.

Harken sprinted around her, avoiding being trampled and made it to me. There was no time to do anything more than pull me free and lean me sitting with my back against a wall before Giselle was all over her. Harken was forced on the defensive as Giselle hammered her with blow after blow, tossing the girl this way and that.

Inevitably she was smashed to the ground by an especially vicious blow, followed by an earth shaking stomp that was sure to put her down for the count in her current condition. That should have been the end of it, but it was clear that Giselle had snapped and the frustrations of the day were being worked through now. She reached down, scooping Harken from the dust, before slamming her right back down, embedding her in the street, face first.

I closed my eyes with the impact. It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen slayers brutally killed, but I was just starting to. . . Not. .like her, so much. . . But definitely respect her as a fighter. Now she was going to die the same shitty death as me. . . Albeit probably less painful if I didn’t manage to pass away before Giselle could finish with her. In my current state, all I could do is sit and watch her demolish Harken.

Again Giselle peeled her from the dirt, this time tossing her up, before punching her down. Harken flew, before skipping across the ground and colliding back first with a wall. She stayed there, slumped in a seated position the same as me. A second later, her axe fell from her hand, clanging to the ground.

Giselle just stood over her, waiting to see if she would stand again, but she didn’t move at all. I couldn't tell from as far away as I was if she was even still breathing, but I could see a trickle of blood running out of her mouth.

After a few seconds Giselle must have been satisfied, because she turned and faced me. In two steps she was above me, her eyes burning with hatred. It was honestly the most emotion I had ever seen from her. Usually her expression was neutral when she was beating the tar out of me in the woods and taking every penny I had.

I think she was of a rare variety who truly didn’t care one way or the other about fighting. She was supremely skilled at it, but it didn’t make her happy or anything. She was always just serving her sisters. But now though. . . This was Giselle pushed as far as she could be pushed and I was the outlet for whatever she was feeling.

I had been near death plenty of times, and you do honestly get used to it. I wasn’t really fearful of what she would do to me at this point. Maybe it was the fact that the death goddess had killed my friend, tortured me, and then just flat out abandoned me out of spite, but right now, I was just longing for the days when Jacob and I roamed around, drunk off our asses, not fighting anyone.

Days long gone I guess.

After another moment, Giselle finally decided to break the tension. I closed my eyes as she knelt and reached for me. I could feel the warmth of her skin on my face and that is when it happened.

I felt it.

We felt it. .

We felt. . . Her.

Giselle froze in place as a cold chill went through both her and I. She withdrew her hand and looked over her shoulder.

Standing there, apparently unconscious and with an ominous green glow, was Harken.

I knew immediately what she had done. That Damned fool! In her desperation to survive, she prayed to the goddess of death. And yes, I had made the same mistake. . . But I fully understood the consequences of my actions. For her to be so young, and to throw her life away like this. . .

Giselle’s head snapped back to me and impossibly her hatred doubled as she glared at me like I had something to do with it. I'll admit, it was a bit strange to see it from the outside. Harken had a slight twitch and rock to her and her face was twisted in agony as she burned as the payment for such power. Her beaten and mangled body began to straighten and a second later, her face was just blank.

Giselle let out a scream of rage, raising her sword high above her head before swinging it with all the force of a giant woman scorned. Harken took only a small step to her left, and used her axe to only slightly deflect the attack, but it was enough to throw Giselle off balance.

What happened next seemed to unravel in slow motion. Harken charged a prayer, but instead of just letting it go, instead she charged Giselle. Unexpectedly, she threw her axe, charged with green and orange prayer. It arced off to the side, flying end over end.

Harken continued straight forward, using the rubble of buildings to elevate herself to around Giselle’s waist. Giselle removed one hand from the sword, and with lightening fast reflexes, she caught Harken with a right cross but it was too late.

A second later, Harken’s prayer charged axe found its mark. Simultaneously, I heard Giselle hit Harken, a sickening crack, and Harken’s axe hit Giselle. Harken was brutally smashed into the street, but she got the better of the exchange as the axe burst out of the left side of Giselle’s back. Right where her heart should have been.

There was a column of blood and other body matter that was completely pulverized that blasted from the exit wound as the axe barely slowed down, flipping off into the distance. Giselle was dead before she hit the ground, falling backward and to the side before coming to a rest in a cloud of dust and shaking the entire city.

For a moment, everything was silent. A desolate sea of death and destruction. From afar, it would have been impossible to tell who actually won the battle. While the human toll was obvious, with bodies smashed into red grease all over everything and two thirds of the city completely leveled. . . There were equally as many giant bodies, with limbs missing, heads gone. . . Completely vaporized.

As I stayed seated against the wall, just staring up at the blue sky, but with storm clouds in the distance, against all odds I heard a noise. It drew my attention downward to see a filthy figure struggling to rise from the street. Outwardly, I showed no emotion, but inside I applauded her, as Harken peeled herself from the ground and stood tall.

By this point, I was sure that she was merely riding the adrenaline wave that dealings with the death goddess sometimes provided, because her movements weren’t smooth as she stumbled toward me. She had made it to within 10 paces of me now, and I could see that the green in her eyes had begun to fade.

She took another 2 steps, and stopped. Her eyes were fixed on me, but it looked like she was having trouble focusing. I don’t know how, but even after all that abuse her face still managed to look smug and satisfied beneath all the dirt, cuts and swelling.

Harken opened her mouth, and I thought she was going to speak. To rightfully gloat about her victory, but as soon as any sound escaped her mouth, the weight of the day caught up with her. I watched with amusement as her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed face first into the dirt at my feet.

With that, I sat alone, unable to move for the next hour, just thinking. . . Should I confront Freyja again to see what her problem with me actually was, or would it just end up the same as the last time. All I knew was that this dependability issue was going to get me killed. . . .

Not to mention. . .

Harken had apparently decided to sell her soul. . . Unfortunate, but it's not like I could say a single word about it seeing as how I made the exact same decision.

Just before the storm hit, the remaining human men finally came out of hiding. I was honestly surprised how many had survived. I found out later that there was an emergency escape tunnel under the city that led to the sea. Once the giants had penetrated the wall and us slayers began to fight, the humans evacuated so that even if the city was crushed, they could live on and start over.

Both myself and Harken were taken into one of the few undamaged buildings where the cities doctor worked on us. He managed to stop my bleeding which was the major concern. The typical crush wounds healed after a day or two. Harken on the other hand had less of a tolerance for damage, being young and inexperienced.

Despite the death goddess aiding her, she still had broken bones that needed to be set. For slayers, bones usually took a few days to fully heal under the right conditions. That being said, I wasn’t actually waiting on her, so after a day of rest, I left her to the doctor and went to handle one more bit of business.

That business being the story of what actually happened in the battle. I really didn’t need word getting around that I was here, regardless of the outcome of the fight. The last time the news told of me, the city I saved for leveled anyway in retaliation. Instead, I convinced the writer to paint Harken as the hero of the battle. She deserved the glory. My sister would be proud of her.

Apart from that, I saw to Marcel, who had made his way in with the other horses somehow and was unscathed. Getting all the supplies to travel took longer than I would have liked but finally the next day I was ready to leave. I woke up early and made my way to the front gate, and that was when I saw her.

Harken. . . Fully healed, cleaned up, and perfectly dressed in a fresh kingdom uniform. . . . She had just finished loading a wagon with supplies. . . . My supplies and then some. . . . What's more. . . . She had Marcel and a white horse that must have been hers hitched to said wagon. . .

I don't know if she was doing all this just to irritate me, but she was even brushing Marcel. His horse face looked pleased with himself as she gave him attention and affection. . . . Disgusting.

“What's all this then?” I asked, apprehensively as I scratched the back of my neck.

“I'm just brushing him! He was filthy you know!” She replied, in a scolding tone.

“I don't mean the brushing! I mean why are my supplies and my horse attached to that wagon? “ I asked, trying not to yell at her.

“Because I'm going with you?” She replied matter of factly like it was something I should have already known.

“Umm. . . No.” I answered without hesitation. “I'm not babysitting you and I don’t associate with kingdom slayers.” I said, walking up to her and taking the brush from her hand to get her attention.

“You don't have a choice!” She said, confidently staring up into my eyes. “Either you let me travel with you, or I'm taking you back to the capital. Those are your options.”

I had to genuinely stifle a laugh as I heard her offer.

“You're forgetting the option where I just kill you and throw your body in a ditch!” I replied, putting my hand on my sword as I tried to menace the much shorter girl.

“Ha! So now you’re out here threatening little girls eh, Lockwood?” a dark, silky voice asked from behind me with a chuckle.

We both turned to see the guard from the jail approaching us. Now he had a broad sword on his hip and a large round shield on his back. His face was now visible under the brim of his straw gardeners hat, complete with a large grin.

“Darius! You beautiful, ebony man!” I said, embracing him. “I'm glad to see you made it through! I had my doubts with the . . . . Condition. . . You described that night, but you always were a survivor!” I exclaimed, happily.

“You two know each other!?” Harken exclaimed, somewhat angrily.

“Yes, this man is like a brother to me!” Darius informed her, putting a big hand on my shoulder.

“So. . . . This whole thing was what. . . Part of some big plan?” She asked, clenching her fists.

We both laughed at this.

“You give us too much credit, girl! This was just fate.” He replied and with that he walked passed us, to the back of the wagon. Harken watched with clenched teeth as he tossed his back in, before climbing inside, making the whole wagon creak with his massive size.

“He. . . He's not coming with us!” She said, keeping her voice down as she spoke to me.

“There is no us!” I shouted, throwing my arms in the air. “There is we” I began motion to myself and Darius “ and you! Two separate parties here!

She was fuming pissed now. There was only silence for a moment before she spoke.

“Fine then. . . . I’M TAKING YOU IN!” She shouted up at me with all the annoyance of a bratty child.

Without warning, I drew my sword in the blink of an eye, and swung. I only intended to make her flinch but to my own surprise, her axe was right there to meet my sword. Impressive.

“Don't forget that I'm stronger than you, Ant!” She warned, with no doubt in her voice.

I admired her spunk. . . I really did, but she needed to be taught a lesson. Fortunately, now wasn't the time to teach her how the world actually works. I was nothing if not cunning and manipulative, so I would use it.

Just as suddenly as I had drawn my sword, I slid it back into its sheathe and was calm. Harken looked slightly confused but mostly suspicious. As such, she kept her axe drawn and her eye on me.

“You want to come with us. . . . Fine.” I said flatly, turning and walking to the wagon before climbing into the seat of the wagon.

Now her mostly suspicious face was completely suspicious. She did put her axe away but I could tell she was still on her guard as she walked up to the wagon, glaring at me as she put her hand on the step to climb up.

“Whoa. . . What are you doing?” I asked, stopping her.

She said nothing, but her nostrils flared and she inhaled sharply.

“You can come with us. . . But there are rules. . . “ I said, trying to sound my most sincere.

“Such as?” She asked through clenched teeth.

“Well. . . Most important to this situation. . . The newest member of the team helps the humans clean up after a battle.” I said, trying to keep a straight face.

Harken’s eyes narrowed as she tried to decipher if I was telling the truth or just messing with her. She turned around to see human men everywhere, some sifting through rubble while others tried to use teams of horses to pull the corpses of giant women to no avail.

She turned back to me, and I could see that she was struggling with wanting to get away, and the natural honor she felt to do the right thing. . . An admirable trait that she would likely lose if she followed me and my path.

“Fine!” She said finally, stepping down from the wagon. “but don't think you're getting rid of me that easily!” She finished, pointing a finger at me.

“Help clear the bodies. Cut them in to pieces with that axe of yours, if you have to. Be the slayer people need you to be. Give your fellow slayers a proper burial. If you complete that task and feel like you still want to join me, we are heading due north following the path. We have a 5 day ride, so you should be able to catch up if you make haste here.” I said, trying to sound reasonable.

She only nodded, before turning and walking back through the gate and with that, we set off back to our family.

“Are you really going to let her join us, or are you just messing with her?” Darius asked, from his place in the back of the wagon.

“I haven't honestly decided. . . Her personality clashes with mine about as hard as two personalities can. . . . But she has a good heart. I think we could all use a bit more of that. The potential in her to learn, and become a legend is there as well. With a little real world experience, she could be a force to be reckoned with. Time will tell I guess.”