At his silently insistent urging, the kitchen staff finally darted out of hiding and past Nameless, going down the stairs as quickly and quietly as they could.
Once they were clear the Empath drew in a breath and moved out into the cafeteria, using the tables and support pillars for cover as he picked his way through the bodies.
He knew how important his life was, but he valued Milly’s more.
No way was he leaving without her.
“I’m going to pull your lungs out and eat them while you die gasping!” Evadne roared from nearby as she drew back an arm and surged forwards to launch another powerful swipe at Milly.
But once again the canny Minotaur was too quick, ducking beneath the attack and lashing out with her spear, cracking against the Chimera’s armoured thigh as she swept past, flowing around her opponent as water would, or as a Saenga warrior would.
Her blow did no damage, yet it was an infuriating insult to her already-infuriated opponent nonetheless.
The snake lunged towards her again, coming in sideways now to sweep Milly’s legs out from under her, but she dove over it into an expert roll across the top of one of the tables.
The Chimera hissed and her eyes narrowed at the elusive cow.
“Someone has been practicing. Fine.” She drew herself up, seeking to take control of her rage as she reached out one hand to grasp at oblivion.
Milly’s eyes widened at the sudden threat as the Chimera launched a broad wave of darkness at her.
But Nina threw trees with less wind up.
She took cover behind the one of the thick support pillars in the otherwise open room, and though the wave unmade much of it, it wasn’t enough to make it all the way through.
Once it ended the proud Minotaur rolled out from behind cover and stood tall as she shook her head slowly.
“That’s cheating. But then I guess when you aren’t good at something, you have to cheat huh? Also your hair is dumb.”
It was the closest the gentle creature could come to proper trash-talk.
But the Chimera was not alone, she was never alone.
She is toying with you Evadne. Get a grip and end her or I will.
The demon inside of her was old, but it was not known for its patience. It allowed its host to control her own body only because she was more familiar with its workings, but if the Chimera couldn’t concentrate...
Evadne took the warning to heart.
A cruel smile split her features as she considered their surroundings.
She’d only been in the mess hall for a few minutes before they arrived, but in that time she had killed a dozen humans and half that many monsters.
And she wasn’t stupid; she’d heard the people fleeing down the stairs.
“You’re trying to keep me occupied. It won’t work. I will kill you, and then everyone in this wretched building. Dodge this, if you can.”
Suddenly her entire upper body was suffused with darkness as she cast her arms out to either side, both of her clenched fists gripping cold nothingness.
She laughed at the wide-eyed look on Milly’s face as she instinctively backed away, seeking a means of escape when she realized the scope of the attack.
“Bye bye, little cow, it’s been fun.”
With an aggressive cry the Chimera swung both arms forwards and a massive wave of darkness many times larger than the previous one launching forth, unmaking tables, benches and everything else in its path.
But just as Evadne released the attack she caught a flash of gold out of the corner of her eye as Nameless made his move, his Valkyrie’s shield in hand.
A hollow gong sounded as the might of entropy collided with the light of creation for the second time that day.
And for the second time, the light won.
Blazing gold lit up the ruined chamber, causing Evadne to hiss and flinch back as she looked upon the source of the dreaded radiance.
She was expecting the Valkyrie, but was surprised to see Nameless standing between her and the accursed Minotaur.
With the dark attack over, he straightened from his bracing posture, though he kept the shield pointed at the evil monster.
Five feet tall at best, hardly as intimidating as an armoured Valkyrie, though his eyes were glowing with her golden radiance.
Evadne smiled when she recognized him.
“There you are little meat! Didn’t I throw you out a window once?” She mocked.
It was a challenge for him to keep his breathing even, but with Milly’s courage bolstering him, he managed.
“Can’t recall. Guess you’re just not that memorable. Eva-dine, wasn’t it?”
Cordelia had called her that once, the memory of that night at Paul’s flashing through his mind absurdly.
The Chimera laughed at the obvious farce, seeing him trembling even as he gripped the troublesome shield tight.
“You know, I only really came here to ensure my pet Amazon killed the council. Finding you here was just a bonus.”
Nameless glared at her as he fought to maintain his composure, even with Milly at his back: outside of his nightmares it was the first time he had seen the Chimera since the battle in Divinity Square.
If anything, she was more terrifying now than on the day he had watched her kill Kar.
“Lucky us.” He muttered.
His heart nearly stopped then when Evadne took three rapid steps forwards to close the distance, reaching down and throwing a broken table out of her path before her tail flashed towards him.
As it struck the middle of the barrier though it was forcefully rebounded by the Valkyrie’s magic imbued within it, hissing indignantly.
“A protection charm? How quaint. But where is the caster? Oooh, did I force her back into her shield when I wrecked your dining room?”
Nameless’s blazing gold eyes had yet to look away from her black orbs, struggling to stay focused when he felt all of his other bond-mates become aware of what he and Milly had gotten themselves into.
“We only bring her out when things are serious.” He quipped shakily; “Guess you’re not that important.”
“Master...” Milly said warningly as she gripped his shirt tighter.
Her heart was screaming at her to switch places with him, to be the one shielding him from danger.
But only he could wield Volka’s shield.
Any nerves he had were forgotten in that moment when he remembered what he was protecting.
“Stay behind me baby. I’m on defense. For once we’re doing this shit together.”
The Minotaur shifted her hand up to his shoulder to keep herself in position as she bent into a crouch, her spear held up with one arm, hovering over them both like a scorpion’s tail.
An aggressive fighting stance used by the unyielding Brael Amazons.
“Together.” She echoed as their bond burned fiercely with mutual and unconditional love.
He swallowed back a lump in his throat in the face of her devotion, but remained focused.
“We’re going to be okay.” He turned his head slightly as he spoke, still not daring to take his eyes off of the circling Chimera as he addressed his bond-mate.
“You really aren’t.” Evadne hissed as she stared daggers at him; “Unless you actually believe that your cute little charm will keep you safe from me forever?”
“Yup. Though nothing will save us from your breath. Seriously, when was the last time you brushed your teeth?”
Her rage mounted and her upper lip curled up as she bared her fangs at him, dripping with black venom.
With his right hand Nameless popped one of his canisters off of his belt, keeping it behind the shield so she couldn’t see it.
But his preparations did nothing to dissuade Evadne; and after recovering her temper again she simply laughed when she recognized that his courage wouldn’t be broken by her words alone.
“How like your father you are!”
“Thanks, I’m told he had a pretty big dick too.” Nameless replie
d immediately, having no interest in hearing anything the Chimera was saying, only that she was still saying it.
Stall for time.
Milly wasn’t the only one who understood her role.
Evadne lunged again, with deadly purpose this time, her tail darting around in wide sweeps to get around the shield’s edge while she swiped at the barrier with her claws.
But each time she attacked her claws were repelled by the charm Volka had put on her shield and her snake tail was likewise parried by Milly’s spear.
Finally she had to retreat back a couple paces when the Minotaur’s weapon nearly poked out one of her eyes.
An opening.
“Here catch!” Nameless snapped.
Evadne let out another mocking laugh as she bent at the waist to duck beneath the canister he threw at her chest, her reflexes far beyond his meager skill.
But he hadn’t activated that one.
Her laughter abruptly ended when the strobe he’d kicked her way with one foot ricocheted off of the metal legs of one of the benches and went off to one side of her stooped face.
“Volka fell for that too.” Nameless said almost sympathetically over her screams of rage and pain.
His Minotaur spun around from behind him and struck at the distracted Chimera, her black spear catching her in the scalp and glancing off to leave a shallow cut in her shoulder, drawing more of her black blood to stain it forevermore.
“Milly get back!”
With one eye temporarily blinded, Evadne recklessly drew both of her hands through shadow again and Nameless had to lunge forwards to protect his exposed cow from another assault of entropic magic.
And this time the light in the shield didn’t repel it, the power of the charm expended so that he and Milly had to absorb the blow with their own strength.
When the darkness again faded from the room, the Chimera unexpectedly retreated as her face went slack, her tearful eyes closing as calm flooded her body.
When they opened again, it wasn’t Evadne looking at them.
The demon was out of patience.
“Ah, the last Empath. And a... I’m sorry I’ve forgotten what you are, some manner of animal given the power of speech?”
Milly and Nameless both felt the change in the other monster girl: her feral edge faded away like mist in the wind and was replaced with a gnawing coldness that sank into their very bones.
The Minotaur was the first to truly realize just what they now faced.
“You... aren’t Evadne.”
“I am not.” The demon confirmed as it stretched out the Chimera’s arms, enjoying the sensation of occupying her form so utterly once more; “I am inevitable.”
“Inevitable? Cool name. Wish I had one.” Nameless muttered, but the demon wasn’t listening to him.
It was too busy massaging Evadne’s breasts with her black-clawed fingers.
“I must say, I do enjoy these meat sacks that the females all have.” Its hands fell away again as the Chimera’s black eyes looked to Nameless’s golds; “But despite the pleasure that such diversions bring me, my purpose is the same as ever it has been. All will be dust that we may return to the eternal quiet we knew before. Life is noisome. Life is flawed. Life ends.”
Milly let out a derisive snort from behind her bond-mate, the hope that Volka had helped to encourage in her surging forth and causing her heart to beat strongly in her chest, a beacon that refuted everything the demon was saying.
“Yeah of course! But then it begins again!” She challenged boldly; “And again, and again after that! Even if you kill us here, others will take up the fight! You will never get what you want!”
The hollow voice that used to belong to Evadne chuckled, an unpleasant sound, like shale rubbing together.
“Brazen little creature. I think it is about time for you to end, don’t you?”
Nameless’s jaw tightened at the threat to his beloved cow, but he kept his cool.
“Not really. We have plans later.”
Again that horrid laughter greeted his words as the Chimera made a broad gesture with one clawed hand.
“As we speak my precious Evadne’s Ogres are rampaging through this city! Even if you escaped me somehow, there is no way you can stop all of my slaves from reaping countless lives!”
Nameless drew in a steadying breath as he received the signal he had been waiting on in his mind, his shoulders almost sagging with relief.
“That’s the difference between us. You have slaves. I have friends.”
The demon tilted Evadne’s head down and hissed at his words, drawing back for another assault.
Then the wall beside it suddenly exploded outwards under the force of Nina’s hammer.
Having felt it coming, Nameless and Milly ducked behind Volka’s shield and were spared from the flying debris, while one of Evadne’s bat-like wings came up instinctively to do the same.
“FOUND YOU!” The Gigas roared as she charged through the sudden opening.
The next swing of her hammer collided with the Chimera’s arms, held up in a guard, flinging her whole body backwards into one of the few undamaged parts of the walls.
The little red powerhouse put herself between Evadne and Nameless, her red eyes blazing with rage.
“This ass-kicking has been coming for way too long!” Nina rumbled as she stalked forwards.
The dark monster was a bit unsteady on her feet as she picked herself up off the damaged floor, even needing to shake her head side to side to clear the stars from her vision.
The demon ceded control once more in the face of the new threat, and once Evadne was back in charge of her body she saw something Nina didn’t: all of the magical attacks she had been flinging around in trying to kill Nameless and Milly had taken a toll on the structure surrounding them.
There was a long crack in the floor, which now had a noticeable slope in it towards the wall she had just collided with.
The wall abutting open air outside the Bastion.
“Nice knowing you.” The Gigas said firmly as she brought up her hammer to finally finish things.
But before she could swing, Evadne let out a wide fan of darkness from her hands, aimed at the floor.
Nina’s eyes went wide when the entire building shook, her swing disrupted as she struggled to keep her balance.
“Likewise.” The Chimera sneered as her feet came off the floor with one lazy flap of her wings.
Realizing what was about to happen, Nameless cried out in warning.
But it was too late.
The weakened floor and wall gave out, the slab that Nina was standing on lurching once before sliding away from the rest of the structure, the Gigas forced to ride it down like snow off a roof.
“This is bullshit!” She roared out in complaint as she gave one hapless swipe of her hammer at Evadne’s feet.
It was in vain, and she was dragged from view by the avalanche of rubble as a large portion of the room broke away from the Bastion and fell to the training grounds three stories below.
Nameless and Milly scrambled backwards to avoid following the Gigas as Evadne landed back inside, the pair of them now feeling distinctly cornered in the ruined mess hall.
“She seemed fun.” Evadne gloated at the shock and fear on their faces.
Though she was massaging at her forearms, the armour visibly cracked from the powerful blow Nina had landed.
“She- she’ll be back.” Nameless promised.
“Good. Someone will need to clean up your blood.”
Evadne winked and stuck her tongue out at him, again dripping with venom.
“Leave us alone!”
The broken metal leg of a table hit her square in the mouth, cast by a desperate and pissed off Minotaur.
“Mother-fucker!” The Chimera cursed as she rubbed at her bleeding lips and chin before glaring at Milly; “Everybody dies!”
But as she stalked forwards, golden light erupted from Volka’s shield and it began to vibrate in Nameles
s’s hands, to the point that he was having trouble holding on to it.
The Chimera paused, startled into caution by the sight.
“Master! What is it?!”
“I-I don’t know! Stay behind me!”
Before he could give in to panic, all three of them heard heavy wing-beats in the air.
There was blood matting Volka’s hair to her head and she had lost her helmet under the rubble of their apartment, but nonetheless her bearing was as fierce and proud as the morning dawn when she flew through the ruined wall where Nina had inadvertently made her ignominious exit.
Her knees bent to absorb the impact as she landed between her bond-mates and Evadne.
Her eyes blazed with divine wrath as she glared at the Chimera.
“Dick move dropping someone’s house on them.” She remarked coldly.
Nameless and Milly’s relief at her presence was palpable.
A chill ran down the Chimera’s spine as she felt the weight of the higher-angel’s gaze.
Something was different, she was different, and Evadne could feel the demon within trying to hide from her, something that had never happened before.
Volka extended her arm back towards Nameless, and a moment later her shield flew out of his hands and was returned to her.
“Go, Husband. And you Milly.” She said calmly as she strapped it to her arm with practiced ease; “Your part in this is done. I will finish this.”
“Be careful.” Nameless murmured as Milly pulled him away.
But even intimidated by the angel as she was, the Chimera would have none of it.
Whip-like, she cast her hand forth again, sending a narrow beam of darkness to strike at the exposed Empath before Volka could intercept it.
Her reflexes on a hair trigger from the earlier fight, Milly tackled him to the floor at the last moment, the blast of entropic magic passing a hairsbreadth from his neck and her face.
Neither of them would soon forget the numbness of non-being felt so close to their skin.
Quickly adjusting her position to better cover them, the Valkyrie all but tore her glowing sword from its ethereal sheath as the air around her crackled with the might of her people.
“Foolish child! You would have been better off aiming that at me, for I am your undoing!”
The Heartstone Saga Page 33
