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Chapter Text

The skies above Axel City were black with smog and choked with flying vehicles of a hundred makes and models, each of them spewing forth more pollution. The gleaming metal of the buildings was tarnished by the corrosive air, save at the highest levels where they had to be pressurized. In Axel, even the rich lived in dwellings that would have been considered run down and shabby, as it was a town far from the center of Corporate Power, often called the “Last Chance” town. It was a place of endings, not beginnings. 

Still, the urban sprawl lasted for miles and miles, both vertically and horizontally. Under the layers of buildings was the rotting underbelly, close to the surface that had long been abandoned. Some said that it was where Monsters yet dwelled, mythical creatures that had once terrorized the human and demi-human alike with magic and claw. But the corporations had long since put them down in past centuries. 

Neon lights lit the underbelly of the city, where succubi plied their trade, hoping to lure hapless fools in with promises of drugs and pleasure, to escape their reality in dreams of a better world for a few hours for some crypto or chits. The real monsters did live there, but they were the gangs of thugs who preyed on the weak. Save for one small corner of the undercity, where the dying ShopWiz Corporation still held sway, it was they who ruled the slums. 

Even further, beneath the artificial wood, rotting plastic, and rusting metal, down into the long polluted and tainted soil, ran the ancient sewers. This far down, there was little of the effluent and toxic chemicals left. Most of the sewers up above were clogged or rerouted, and below the undercity, life bloomed. 

Unlike the mutated and bio-engineered life up above, here, strangely, native plants long extinct elsewhere bloomed in caverns that had once been buildings in the pre-industrial era. Caverns that once had been called dungeons glowed with life, and oddly enough, clean water still flowed. Fish and other aquatic wildlife were abundant, free of disease and pollution, unlike the few species that clung to this side of extinction above them. 

For five hundred years and more, this little enclave of life had existed, sealed off from the outside world. Only a rusting suit of blue armor, and a great sword inscribed with “GRAM” at the edge of a clear blue underwater lake showed any signs of human activity, the bones of the nameless hero who had borne the armor long ago turned to dust. 

This lost world, a capsule of what Axel, and in turn the entire world of Belzerg, had once been, had lived in peace and isolation since the fall of the old world and the triumph of the Corporations over the days of magic and monsters. 

At least, until two little girls got hungry. 

And a part timer got greedy. But more on him later. 

For now, let us focus on the two young girls sitting at the edge of a ancient canal, filled with sludge and far beneath where sunlight penetrated even at the edge of town. Despite the darkness, they could see well enough, their eyes glowing with a dim red light, one that had been made illegal ages ago, but few remembered or cared why. 

Their makeshift fishing pole, made from stripped wire and a long plastic pole, dangled in the liquid, but failed to catch anything. There were creatures that lived in such filth, but not ones that most sane people would consider edible. Of course, the red eyes would have told anyone that these two were far from sane, but it was hunger that drove them to fish in the swill.

The smaller of the pair shifted, her stomach rumbling. “Big sis…we’re gonna catch a fish soon, right?” 

“Of course we are. Your big sister would never let you starve,” the other said. 

They were both filthy, dressed in cast off plastic rags, with matted hair and scrawny frames. For those the corporations had deemed outcasts, not worthy even of the implants that would let you get chits for performing basic maintenance tasks, food was hard to come by. 

The two sat for a little longer, until the bigger one tossed down her pole in disgust. “I give up! There has to be fish in there, right!?”

“Big, juicy ones!” the smaller agreed, wiping her dirty sleeve across her drooling mouth. 

“Well, if they won’t bite…then I’ll MAKE them come up!” the older one drew out a makeshift device, and turned a dial on it. “This is one of my specialities! I’ve been saving it for just such an occasion! Fear not, Komekko; we eat like CEOs tonight!” 

“Won’t that blow up all the fish, Megumin?” Komekko asked, frowning at the improvised bomb. 

“At this point, I don’t care! I’ve been sitting here for a shift and a half, and we haven’t had anything to eat since Yunyun managed to get that job with Wiz Corp a week ago!” Megumin ranted, and tossed the bomb into the canal. “WITNESS THE FURY OF A CRIMSON DEMON, AXEL!” 

“EXPLOSION!” Komekko cheered, jumping up on her tiptoes and raising her hands in the air as if she were casting a spell. 

The bomb, however, just sank beneath the surface, vanishing with a few bubbles. 

“Um, did it work?” Komekko asked, peering at the black surface of the canal. “Where are the fish?”

“Damn, I thought I had good fuses that time,” Megumin muttered. “Well, if we scavenge some parts, I should be able to make-”

There was a massive fireball, and the surface of the canal caught fire. For a moment, both sisters cackled with glee, dancing about on the edge of the narrow walkway they’d been on. 

And then, as the surface of the canal burned, there was a secondary explosion, one even bigger than the first, this one cracking the ancient floor of the canal. Both girls screamed in terror this time, and Megumin tried to pick her sister up and fling Komekko to safety. Before she could, however, the walkway collapsed, and both girls fell through fire and fumes, down into the void. 

Their brief fall, however, was interrupted by a plunge into a foul smelling pool only about seven meters below them. They both struggled to the surface, dodging the burning cascade from above them. They swam through effluent and worse to a raised spillway, scrambling up it against a flow of liquid into the lake. 

For a moment, both could only cough and sputter, trying to get their breath back. The fire was spreading out on the surface of the pool though, and they scrambled up the spillway into a pipe barely large enough for Megumin to get through. They had to stick their faces up to the top to breath, but after only about two dozen meters, they came out into a larger pipeway that came up to Megumin’s knees, and Komekko’s waist. 

“W-where are we?” Komekko gasped, smearing gunk and sewage across her face in an attempt to clean her eyes. 

“I don’t know,” Megumin admitted, glancing up and down the stream. She blinked a bit, then frowned. At the top of the water, almost like a slick of oil was…she trailed a hand in, and brought the water up, sniffing. It was foul, but…not as much as the rest of the muck. She wiped away the gunk from her little sister’s eyes, then her own. 

“Let’s go…that way,” Megumin said, nodding upstream. 

“OK,” Komekko agreed. 

They ended up trudging through the muck for hours. They couldn’t pause to rest, with Megumin not having the strength to carry Komekko, and Komekko unable to sit down without the water covering her face. 

Only…it was water. Not sewage, not polluted, not toxic…water. The further they went, the cleaner the water was, until they at last came to the source: a crack in the pipe, a large one, big enough for them to crawl through, with the pure, clean water trickling in. Here, the water glowed, a bright blue that lit up the inside of the pipe so brightly that even a normal human with unmodded eyes could have seen clearly. 

“What is it?” Komekko asked. She dipped her fingers into the crack and washed them, then took a sip of it. “It’s good!”

Megumin drank as well, too tired to think about what blue glowing water might be. It could have been irradiated or worse, but this water tasted…sweet. Clean. Wonderful. Full of life, and strength. After only a sip, she felt better, and after a swallow, she felt as though she’d had a better night’s sleep than she’d had in ages. 

“Let’s find out. I bet there’s fish in there,” Megumin said, and lifted Komekko up. The little girl was able to scramble up the crack, then hold out her hand. She wasn’t much help, but she did give Megumin enough of a boost that she was able to scramble up the crack as well. 

They found themselves in a verdant cavern, lit by bioluminescent fungi, as well as the bright blue water. For a moment, both girls gaped in awe. Then, they heard a flutter of wings, and both ducked on instinct. Vampiric Moths or Lamprey Bats were not uncommon up on the surface, corporate bioengineering gone wrong, or the scavengers that sucked electricity off the failing Axel power grid.

Instead, there was a chirp, and something with bright feathers flew over their heads. Both girls blinked in puzzlement, then Komekko shouted, “IT’S A CHICKEN! CATCH IT!” 

The scrambled after the bird, shouting and jumping after it, but the brightly colored thing flew up into the cavern beyond, and both trailed to a stop as the gaped. They had never seen trees before, nor ferns, or hanging vines. Komekko walked forward to bright blue blossoms, and bent over to sniff one.

“Don’t! It could be poisonous!” Megumin gasped, and grabbed her sister’s collar and jerked her back. 

“It was nice!” Komekko wailed, and sat down on the mossy ground and started to cry.

Feeling wretched, Megumin sat next to her. She carefully leaned forward, and smelled the flower. It did smell nice. Awkwardly, she picked one and placed it behind Komekko’s ear, then put one behind her own. “Um, I guess it’s not poison. You…look cute, like that.”

Hiccuping, Komekko glanced over at a small puddle, studying her reflection. “I…I do, I guess. Y-you do to, b-big sis.”

They sat there for a moment, gazing around in wonder. Then Komekko’s stomach growled. 

“Can we catch a chicken and eat it?” she asked plaintively. 

“We’ll find SOMETHING to eat,” Megumin promised. 

In the end, they found some mushrooms and berries, and ate those. Megumin tried to only eat a nibble to see if it was poisonous, but both mushroom and berry tasted so good she ate the whole thing, and Komekko devoured several handfuls. They washed it down with the strange, delicious water, then fell asleep atop a flat boulder. 

After a long rest, when neither was sure how long they slept beneath the earth, they explored their new environment for two days. The caverns were quite large, and both girls were cautious now that they had been fed. They came across many odd animals, but none of them appeared to be dangerous or threatening. They even caught one fish and two frogs and made a small fire out of dry leaves and sticks to cook them.

“It’s good. Can we stay here forever?” Komekko asked, smacking her lips and burping after she polished off a whole frog on her own. 

“I mean…I guess. I don’t know where we are,” Megumin admitted. 

“It’s nice. There’s no corporations, and no eye hunters!” Komekko said happily. “We haven’t even had to blow anyone up!”

“Yeah…but…what about Yunyun? Or our parents?” Megumin asked, feeling a bit sick to her stomach.

“M-mommy said she and daddy would be safe, a-and for us to go to Axel and find the Ice Witch. I-I thought witches were bad, but…” Komekko started to cry, and Megumin hugged her sister tight.

“I miss them too. They’re alive, I promise. Dad’s killed loads of Eye Hunters. Mom too. There’s no way they’d stop them, right?” 

“Y-Yeah,” Komekko agreed, but they fell asleep in each other's arms that night, both weeping silent tears. 

The next day, they found the sword and the armor. Megumin tried to pick up the sword, but it was stuck fast in the rock. It wasn’t rusted: There wasn’t a hint of decay or wear, and the blade was still sharp. The armor was intact as well, but it was far too big for either to wear.

“What’s Gram?” Komekko asked. 

“I don’t know…maybe it’s like the Cursed Sword the Swordsman used, the one who died killing off the last of the gods?” Megumin guessed. “You know, the one who helped the Corporations destroy the monsters and save the world.”

“I never liked him. Everyone calls us monsters, but they’re the real ones!” Komekko said, glaring at the sword.

“Yeah…it’s a stupid story anyway. Come on, let’s see what’s over here,” Megumin said, and led Komekko into the cavern beyond the blade. There, they found themselves at the edge of a pure lake full of the glowing water. Out of it flowed tiny streams in all directions, watering the entire hidden cavern. 

“Is this…the source?” Megumin asked. She frowned, then stripped off her clothes. “Come on, let’s wash.”

Komekko did the same, and the two of them bathed and played in the pristine water for a time. When Megumin turned around, she found their clothes had been purified as well. They were still ratty and torn, but they were cleaned better than the best chemical baths, and smelled of sunlight and hope. 

“That’s…weird,” Megumi muttered, plucking at her plastic trousers. She frowned at the lake, squinting into the depths. “Do you think there’s something doing that?”

“I dunno. Are there fish?” Komekko asked. “Can we eat ‘em?”

“Well, there’s one way to find out,” Megumin said, a grin spreading across her face. She took out the last of her bombs, activated it, and chucked it into the center of the lake. She and Komekko watched expectantly, and a moment later, a geyser of water shot up. Then, there was a rumble, and a loud crack as the earth shook. Both girls clung to one another, then watched in horror as the water began to drain from the lake. In mere moments, there were only puddles and trickles of water remaining: There was a large hole in the floor of the lake, and all the water had been sucked away.

“Did…did we ruin it?” Komekko asked, her voice small.

“Maybe…look. There’s water flowing out of that…tank?” Megumin said, pointing.

At the center of the lake stood a pillar of blue crystal, taller than a man and as wide as a lift tube. Within it, the silhouette of something could be seen, something approximately the size of a person. 

“There’s writing!” Komekko said, pointing to the base of the crystal, which stood upon a plinth of worn white marble. She scampered over the wet rock and various water plants, past gasping flopping fish, and over slick shards of crystal. Megumin was hard on her heels, and the two of them came to the plinth, upon which were inscribed letters of pure sapphire.

Megumin cocked her head to one side and read: “Here rests the last true goddess, our Lady of Waters. She resisted to the last, until her final champion’s dying breath. One day, she will return, and defeat the Devil King and his generals once and for all. 

Remember: Even though we lost, we tried our best, and it’s not our fault. Blame Society!

High Priest Zesta.”

“He sounds weird,” Komekko said, frowning. 

“Yeah…the Corporations defeated the Devil King. Everyone knows that. And gods aren’t real,” Megumin said with a shake of her head. 

“I wish they were. Then maybe someone could help us, and we wouldn’t have to run away all the time,” Komekko sniffled. 

“Don’t be silly. A Crimson Demon is strong enough to defeat everyone,” Megumin said, but she felt tears in her eyes too. She reached up and wiped away the tear, flicking it onto the crystal pillar. 

The droplet of water hung in the air for a moment, then splattered onto the crystal. For a moment, it rested on the surface. Then, the crystal began to glow. Cracks appeared on the surface, and Komekko and Megumin cried out and clung to one another in panic. Before they could think to flee, the crystal burst asunder, and a young woman with blue hair, dressed in a flowing robe of pure white floated up before them.

“As long as there is one eye left to shed tears, I, Aqua, Goddess of Waters, shall not rest, nor abandon this world,” the woman said. She floated down before Megumin, who gazed up in shock. 

The woman was beautiful, incredibly so, with a body like rich people from the upper levels paid millions of credits to get. Only hers was more…real. It didn’t look like a flesh sculpt, of which even the best always had an air of artificiality. This body didn’t seem fake at all, and when the woman smiled, there were dimples and smile lines, and her eyes danced with joy. 

Aqua reached out, and wiped away Megumin’s tears. “Fear not, daughter of the Crimson Demon Clan, my ancient allies. I am here. It’s going to be alright.”

For some reason, Megumin believed Aqua, and trusted her. She had been taught from before she could walk that the only people she could trust had red eyes like her own, that anyone else could and would be an Eye Hunter, and was her enemy. But Aqua didn’t seem like her enemy: she seemed like the big sister that Megumin had always wanted, but never had. 

She burst into tears at the same time as Komekko, and flung herself into Aqua’s arms. 

“There, there. It’s going to be alright. Tell me…is um…oh…what was his name? Mitsubish? Katsurugi? I…I can’t remember…how long was I healing? I remember taking a wound against the Devil King…I tried…Eris tried…our heroes…but we failed. We all…Oh no. Is the Devil King…?”

Megumin looked up, wiping snot off her nose and flicking it away with a finger. “The Devil King died ages ago, and so did magic. Who…who are you?”

The woman smiled, tossing back her hair. “Well, you must recognize me. I’m Aqua, the Goddess of Water, and patron of the Axis Cult?”

“What’s an Axis Cult?” Komekko asked. “Is that a corporation? Is a goddess like a CEO?”

“CEO? I…don’t…corporation!? But you have to have heard of me!” Aqua said, looking a bit panicked. “Sure, the worship of Eris is taking off and all, but…I’m still one of the original gods! And very popular! I fought the Devil King for centuries! If it wasn’t for my champions, he would have overrun the Kingdom of Belzerg ages ago!” 

“Um, Belzerg’s the name of the planet,” Megumin said. “Kingdoms are just in stories.”

“They tried to have a Kingdom on the moon a long time ago, but CEO Sylvia and Chimera Tech killed the king, because he got in the way of profits!” Komekko explained.

“Sylvia!? The Flesh Crafter is here?!” Aqua gasped, looking around. She shoved both girls behind her, and held out her hand. A scepter with a pink lily flower on the tip appeared in Aqua’s hands, and though her knees were shaking, she raised it as if to ward off a threat. 

“Relax, CEO Sylvia doesn’t live in Axel. It’s the back end of nowhere. She lives on the moon, duh,” Megumin said.

“The moon? But…Eris is the goddess of the moon…how could she..?” then Aqua sat down, hard. “Eris…the other gods…they’re all…they’re dead. I…I couldn’t…the Devil King…”

Aqua started weeping, and Megumin and Komekko shared a puzzled look. Then they hugged their new friend. 

“It’s OK, we’ll help you! The Crimson Demons hate all the corporations!” Komekko said.

Megumin nodded. “Yeah. The Devil King is long gone, but the corporations are way worse. They make life miserable for everyone. But everyone has to work for them because they have all the jobs.”

“Yeah, you can’t get no tech or ‘nuthin. But it’s OK! Daddy taught Megumin how to make bombs and she’s teaching me!” Komekko explained. 

“Why would you need bombs?” Aqua asked, sniffing and wiping at her tears. “Can’t you just use your magic?”

“Pff. Magic isn’t real,” Megumin said dismissively. “Everyone knows that. It’s just a hoax.”

“A Crimson Demon, who doesn’t…I’m sorry! I didn’t properly introduce myself, no wonder you don’t know me!” Aqua stood up quickly, brushed off her robe, then struck a pose, covering one eye with one hand, and twirling her staff in the other as she cackled. 

“BEHOLD! I AM AQUA! FOREMOST GODDESS OF THE NATION OF BELZERG, AND SHE WHO WILL ONE DAY DEFEAT THE DEVIL KING!”

Megumin and Komekko blinked in puzzlement, clearly baffled. 

“What’s she doing?” Komekko whispered. 

“I don’t know…but it’s kinda cool, don’t you think?” Megumin mused. She raised a hand, covering one eye. “I think…I think it would look better with an eyepatch.”

“How come? She’s got both eyes,” Komekko pointed out.

As the sisters talked, Aqua slowly lowered her hand, looking horror struck. “But...you’re Crimson Demons. You…you don’t make introductions?”

“Um, sorry, we forgot. I’m Komekko! Hi, you’re pretty. Can we live here with you?” 

“And I’m Megumin, this brat’s big sister,” Megumin said, ruffling Komekko’s messy brown hair. “You, um…you know we’re Crimson Demons…but you don’t hate us?”

“I…why would I? The Crimson Demons were steadfast foes of evil! The most powerful mages in the world!” Aqua cried. “They were created by…um…that’s not important! Look, your people were the most dramatic in the world! It was great! You would make big speeches, and use flashy spells, and recite poetry instead of incantations because you thought it was cooler!”

“That doesn’t really sound like Crimson Demons. We have to be quiet and hide or the Eye Hunters will come,” Komekko said with a shrug.

“Yeah, usually we have to wear goggles, but we lost ours when…nevermind.” Megumin cocked her head to one side. “I did like the pose though. I should practice one…”

“I…yes.” Aqua sniffled, the wiped away her tears and smiled. “I can teach you! Just, um, do one thing for me?”

“What’s that?” Komekko asked curiously.

Aqua dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together desperately. “Please worship me! I don’t have any prayers, I can barely confer any blessings, or do even the most minor of miracles!”

The sisters exchanged a puzzled look again. “Worship you?”

“Yes! Just…say you’ll join the Axis Cult, and have no other gods before me! It’s OK if you worship some nice gods on the side, Eris is my friend, we shared lots of worshipers! But I need prayers badly…or…or I’m useless…” Aqua sniffled and started to cry, her shoulders slumping as her hands fell limply into her lap.

“Well, you’re the only god we know. So…I guess we’ll worship you. You seem cool,” Megumin told Aqua.

“Uh huh. What do we hafta do?” Komekko asked curiously.

“Well, I like prayers, and offerings! Do you have any bubbly?” Aqua asked hopefully. 

“No, they won’t sell Crimson Demons anything, we can’t earn chits since we’re outlaws,” Megumin explained. “And if you steal food or drinks they send the Eye Hunters.”

“Oh. Um…a hymn?” Aqua suggested. At the girls blank looks, she explained, “Songs! You sing songs of praise.”

“We don’t really listen to the shortwave. We can’t get implants to listen to music, and we don’t have money to pay for a subscription,” Megumin explained. 

“Plus, if you sing, people might hear you and then you could get in big trouble or hafta kill them,” Komekko added. 

“No songs? No music!?” Aqua seemed astonished, then outraged. “Right! I’m teaching you a song right now!” 

She plucked out three of her hairs, grabbed some mud from the ground, and in a few moments, Aqua had fashioned an instrument that neither of the Crimson Demon sisters had ever seen before. 

“What’s that?” Komekko asked, poking it. 

“It’s a lyre! Now, this is a song I used to sing with Eris. It’s called, ‘Wanna Go Home,’” Aqua explained. “It’s not really a hymn to me, but any time my followers sing and feel joy, I get a little worship from it. It goes like this…”

Leaving in the morning,

without a word to say

from my house into the

world, in the light of day

I might seem courageous,

but once the sun goes down

you'll find that I'm the

biggest crybaby around…

Aqua sang the whole song through, with Megumin and Komekko listening in rapt astonishment. When Aqua was done, both of them had tears in their eyes.

“That was the best thing I’ve ever heard,” Megumin whispered, and Komekko nodded, sniffing and scrubbing at her face with her sleeve. 

“Well, I’ll teach you to sing it,” Aqua said, and sat down on the plinth. “It goes like this… Leaving in the morning~ now, you try!”

In less than ten minutes, Aqua had both girls singing. Around them, flowers began to bloom, and pure water flowed forth from the shattered crystal, into a dying world.

And, far beyond the stratosphere, an alarm began to sound upon the lunar surface. 

Chapter Text

While the skies of Belzerg itself were blackened and ruined, to the point where modded lungs or replacements were far and away the most popular bio-augs on the market, above the world orbited a verdant gem. To those who had witnessed the silver beauty of what had once been called Eris, the primary planetary moon, it would at first glance appear to be either a distortion from the pollution, or perhaps that the moon had been desecrated. 

While it was true that the moon had been blasphemed in unspeakable ways, the green-blue tinge came from the lush landscape of the lunar surface. While once the moon had been a near airless desert, devoid of most life, now it was thick with moisture and oxygen, to the point that giant insects flourished, and plant life ran out of control. 

Unlike the planet it orbited, the moon of Discord (having been rechristened some hundred years ago) was covered not in a decaying cityscape, but rather a thick jungle, save at the polar caps where taiga and prairie were present instead. 

However, only a fool, or a desperate Belzerg native, would have mistaken the moon for paradise. 

Biomodded wildlife ruled the jungle, and the giant insects were often lethally toxic with an appetite for humanoid flesh. The damp floor was choked with strangling vines and acidic pitcher plants that were as happy to swallow a man as a beast. Giant predator beasts fed upon the insects with fang and claw, while the herbivores were ill tempered and territorial. 

Still, it was this moon that fed the dying world below it. The giant insects were harvested and turned into nutrient rich goop that was sold as ration bars to the starving masses. The jungle produced a number of fruits that, once stripped of their toxins, were fermented or canned to be sold to those below. 

And despite the dangers, life upon Eris, to give the moon its true name and source, was far better than it was below. Unlike the other corporations, the workers of ChimeraTech enjoyed a reasonable 50 hour work week, two weeks of paid vacation a year, and air they could breath without developing lung cancer before the age of forty. As the ones who made the food, their rations were far fresher and more appetizing, even a mean sewage maintenance worker eating as well as a senior manager on the planetary surface. 

Indeed, it was the dream of the low level management and skilled workers to save up enough to immigrate to the moon and take a job as a menial there.  High level executives took their vacations in the various casinos and resorts that ChimeraTech leased to Masked Media and the Church of Serenity. Though it was not the church’s Cycle that the denizens of the moon worshiped. 

The object of their adoration and affection had shifted throughout the centuries, not because the individual was a new one, but because the flesh they wore had been changed so often. This year, CEO Sylvia, called the Flesh Shaper, wore the form of a tall elven woman, with wide hips, generous breasts, dusky skin, dark brown hair with a reddish tinge, and oddly broad shoulders. What lay beneath the concealing folds of their red evening gown was anyone’s guess. 

The worship of gods or goddesses was forbidden and illegal, but the Cult of the Fleshshaper had always been tacitly allowed and encouraged. For they were the giver of life, the shaper of pleasure, and the one who succored two worlds. 

Currently, Sylvia was swaying down the plush red carpet of her gilded and marbled estate on the edge of the northern savannah, their long legs taking great strides in their bright red heels and matching evening gown, their current aide scrambling along behind them. 

“What is next on our agenda, Sena?” Sylvia drawled, taking a long pull from their cigarette on its holder. No e-cigs for the flesh shaper: they had perhaps the last garden of tobacco, grown for their personal use, with extras sold at exorbitant prices to other CEOs and high level executives. 

Sena, Sylvia’s current aide and favorite mortal, adjusted her glasses and glanced at a schedule she had long ago memorized. The old style glass lenses were an affectation: her eyes had been sculpted to have perfect vision, but Sylvia enjoyed playing dress up with their toys. 

“Next is the video conference with the other CEOs. They likely wish to secure further shipments. Population on Belzerg continues to decline. Food shortages are contributing to the problem.”

“And the other part is the dreadful mess Hans made of the oceans and atmosphere,” Sylvia tsked. “Why the Poison Slime general was put in charge of that…bah. I suppose after he poisoned Alcanretia there was no stopping him.”

Sena nodded, not comprehending why Sylvia sometimes referred to themselves or the heads of the other corporations as “Generals” from time to time, or knowing what Alcanretia was. History was written by those who controlled the narrative, and Masked Media were experts at culling undesirable  memories from the collective consciousness of the populace. 

“Profits are up for us, as are margins. We can further increase food production by 5% over the next quarter,” Sena said, rattling off the low end of the report she had read. 

“Mmm. Make it 10%. Keep half for ourselves: when I make my move on the surface, I want to have stronger and more numerous forces. Give the fools down below their 5%. They will strangle their own profits soon enough, and we will swoop in to pick up the pieces,” Sylvia declared, turning for her private conference room. 

Sena took up her post behind the lavish red couch, an heirloom that was hundreds of years old, at the center of the room, while Sylvia draped themselves over it, resting her arms along the carved wooden back and stroking it. The CEO nodded, and Sena used her subdermal implants to activate the wall screen as the chandelier above dimmed, washing the room in shadows. 

The wall flicked, dividing into nine sections. The center section was blank, as was the far left corner, showing where former peers had once resided as a reminder that even CEOs could fall. The other seven screens showed the logos of the Seven Corporations, save for Sylvia’s, which showed them in all their glory.

The black and white mask logo in the upper right flashed, then came to life. A masked man in an old style suit appeared, smiling cheerily at the world. His was a visage anyone on Belzerg or Eris would have recognized: Vanir, CEO of Masked Media and the voice of the news. 

“Ah, mon cherie, you look as lovely as always. Moi sees that life has been kind to thee lately; hast thou put a spawn in the belly of thy servant, or hast thou given her a rod and stem of her own?” Vanir cackled. 

Sena blushed and glanced to the side, unable to meet the eyes of cackling media chief. 

“What games I play with my toys is not your concern, Duke of Shame. But I will say that sometimes, it’s fun to swap things out. It keeps things fresh in the bedroom,” Sylvia drawled, and Sena blushed, nervously adjusting her glasses. 

More of the screens came to life as Vanir laughed, from the sour expression of Hans of Santomon Chemicals, to the pious smile of Serina of the Church of Serenity, which controlled health and funerary services. 

“And let the weekly dickering and bickering begin,” Sylvia said under her breath, before making an imperious gesture. “Ladies, Gentlemen, and beings of everything in between, life is good, is it not? Profits are up, production increases, and the workers are content. Well, for me, at least. Some of you may not be doing as well. Wiz, darling, how is life on tired old Axel?”

The pale, brown haired woman in a very out of date purple robe smiled, nervously fiddling with the waterwheel pendant at her neck. Sylvia considered it horribly tacky to wear your trophies so prominately as that, but Wiz had been the one to finally kill that stupid bitch of a deity. Sylvia supposed she could have worn her necklace of Crimson Demon eyes, as she treasured every one. But their power had been broken when magic died. Or rather, had been killed. 

“Oh, well, I-I think our new line of gardening supplies will do very well! People are always complaining that there isn’t enough to eat, so I thought helping them grow their own food would be profitable…Plus, they could grow flowers! And that would make things look much nicer…”

“Absurd. This planet’s life force is dead. We can barely harvest mold and rats,” Beldia growled, his head floating suspended in the liquid of his cybernetic body’s chest. “That is why NyteTech’s new space program is the way of the future. We need new worlds to conquer. The moon was a good start, and if Sylvia can make that airless rock bloom, what of the other planets?”

Sylvia hid a smirk. “Oh, Beldia, that sounds like a wonderful idea. How have your probes fared?”

“...we’re still working on the telemetry,” the head said, sulking in its clear fluid. 

“Why do you care? It’s not as though you need to eat!” Hans complained. “Some of us are actually alive, you know, and I don’t want to turn into a headless fool like you! Besides, how could we perform the rituals to raise new undead!”

“Um, well, we could try finding a source of magic…” Wiz suggested. “What about you, Wolbach?”

The horned CEO of Blackstone Construction sniffed. “I gave that up and you know it. It was the only way to ensure our victory. The blood is on all of our hands. It watered this world for a time. For now, it doesn’t matter. I’m sated, and I have enough to continue on like this for a very long time. Who cares how many mortals die to fuel the machines, so long as they remain fueled. WIth the moon providing new materials, we can continue this indefinitely.”

Sylvia frowned. “It’s that attitude that led to all of you being in the situation you’re in. If you took better care of your minions and pets, you wouldn’t be in such a state.”

Sylvia held up a hand, and Sena hastily lowered her head so that Sylvia could stroke her, like a favored dog. Despite herself, Sena closed her eyes in happiness at her owner’s touch, sighing happily and leaning into it. 

“You see? A little affection, a little food, and a little care…and the world blossoms under you. I still have my fun. Why, just yesterday my clutch of neo-dragons hatched. They fly quite well in this low gravity. When they are grown, I shall hunt them and eat of their flesh. Perhaps carve one or two for my other pleasures. You could have all this, if you could think beyond sucking dry the mortals.”

“Oh ho, I think you shall find shame and sorrow aplenty,” Vanir chuckled. “Our current arrangement suits moi quite well.”

“As long as you increase what you’re sending us!” Hans said, pointing an accusatory finger at Sylvia. “We need more workers! If the population keeps dropping, our profits will fall, and that is unacceptable.”

“Why should I care what problems you have on your dying ball of dirt?” Sylvia said, taking a long puff of smoke and blowing it at the camera. 

“Because if you don’t, we’ll embargo you and you’ll lose profits yourself. With no markets, no ore, and no manufacturing capacity, how long can YOU last?” Beldia demanded. Of course he and Hans were working together. 

“Hmm, well, I think you’ll find I can survive just fine,” Sylvia drawled. “But, well, I suppose I can increase production…but it will cost you.”

After that, it was all dithering and dickering and trade negotiations. Still, ChimeraTech had a stranglehold on the food supply, and everyone knew it. Within a few hours, the CEOs had hashed together the outline of how the future of Belzerg would be shaped. The little details were up to their underlings, but Sylvia mostly had what they wanted. 

“Mmm, that was exhausting,” Sylvia yawned, stretching on the couch and nearly popping out of their dress. 

Instantly, Sena removed her clothes, crouching by her owner’s side, looking both ashamed, eager, and nervous. 

“Hmm, not today, my sweet,” Sylvia said, petting Sena’s flushed cheek. The truth was, Sylvia was growing bored of Sena. The woman had been too easy to tame, having already harbored some rather perverse fantasies. “You can visit the succubi if you’re stressed, or order one of the lesser servants to your rooms.”

“I…but…” Sena swallowed and bent her head down, still crouching there naked. “...have I displeased you?”

“I’m tired, pet. Go run along,” Sylvia said with a shooing motion. Sena hastily grabbed her clothes, tears leaking down her cheeks. Sylvia glanced at her, frowning. Perhaps Sena needed to be carved again. She’d gone back and forth with Sena, carving her several times before restoring her original organs. But right now a female frame just didn’t seem appealing. It was so bothersome being an immortal; finding new pleasures grew harder by the day. 

“Perhaps I should experiment on myself,” Sylvia mused as the door shut. The breasts under the dress swelled, then shrunk, hips growing wider, then narrower, face and melatonin levels shifting on a whim. More could be altered easily, from a tail, to horns, to the number of limbs. 

While their body was still in flux, Sylvia heard an alarm sound, and their shape snapped back to what it had been before the meeting. She stood, frowning, trying to recall just what that particular tone indicated. 

A few more bars played, and Sylvia’s nostrils suddenly flared as she recalled. That was the sound of-

“ Yasaka! Bring up that location!” Sylvia snapped, rising to her feet as a tail slithered back into her body. 

“Authenticate,” the voice of the computer lapsed. 

“Flesh is clay in the sculptor's palm,” Sylvia hissed, flexing the fingers of her left hand as talons grew and retracted. 

“Magic detected on Belzerg’s surface. Location: Axel,” the computer responded. An overlay of the surface of the planet below appeared, rapidly zooming into a large area. It was miles across, and near the surface. 

“How did they…what type of energy? Is Vanir calling up old friends? Did Wiz try something?” Sylvia demanded. 

“Magic Type: Divine. Domain: Light.”

“How!?” Sylvia hissed. “How did they-” 

Striding to the door, Sylvia flung it open. She looked about, and spotted a janitor with his back to her, mindlessly cleaning the floor with a rotor disk. “You!”

The janitor did not respond, simply continuing his task. They were a brown haired human, somewhere towards the end of adolescence , and male by their figure. Though in Sylvia’s halls, that was no guarantee . The Flesh Shaper was fond of carving whomever caught their fancy. 

“You! Janitor! Look at your Executive!” Sylvia snarled, striding forward. 

But still, there was no response. Sylvia realized the young man had on old style headphones. They were cheaper than subdermal implants, and still saw occasional use. 

“Listen to me!” Slyvia barked, and ripped away the headphones. The sound of a bright, peppy woman’s voice came out of it. Sylvia recognized it as one of Vanir’s pop idol groups he was forever forming and breaking apart to milk for drama. 

“Hey! Lady, those are mine!” the janitor snapped, and spun about to snatch the headphones away from Sylvia. “Watch what you take! I had to save up half a days…wages…to…oh shit.”

Sylvia crossed their arms under their breasts, smiling in amusement. “Lady? Do you not know to whom you speak?”

“Yeah, well, I’m not into futas, and I always imagined you with a clam instead of a sword,” the boy mumbled. Then he glared up at her. “But even if you’re the CEO, don’t go stealing my stuff! Or I’ll file a complaint with HR!”

Sylvia leaned down, sharpening their teeth to razor’s edges as she smiled. “Oh really?”

The boy eyed her flatly. “Yeah that’s not doing it for me. That’s the sort of thing to give a guy nightmares. How am I supposed to fantasize about you sucking…never mind. Look, just fire me or turn me into soylent green or whatever if you have a problem. I just want to do my job, get enough money to play my games, and live as comfortable a life as possible.”

Sylvia blinked. No one had spoken to them like that since…since…they couldn’t recall. Unconsciously, their teeth flattened, as something stiffened under their dress. 

“Well, aren’t you a feisty little one. I can’t decide if you’re just stupid or…reckless. I’m not sure I care which. But I’ll make you long for me as a ‘trap’ little man. What is your name?” Sylvia glanced down at the name tag on the uniform. Subdermal implants were for the help: Sylvia relied on biomancy alone. “Sato? Hmmm. That’s Japanese. Have you the blood of heroes?”

“I have the blood of two dumbasses who got themselves killed in a gang war, but were smart enough to have a good insurance policy. I cashed it out and bought a ticket here, but sadly even in paradise a guy has to eat,” Sato answered, folding his arms over his chest and blushing. 

“Ah, what a loving son, using his parents’ deaths as a meal ticket,” Sylvia laughed. Then they shook their head. “But I don’t have time for this. Come. I need a mortal with me, and I don’t want Sena damaged. If you serve me well, I’ll reward you.”

“Can it be with a cute girl? I can’t find a date,” Sato grumbled as he lay down his machine on the floor and followed after Sylvia’s crooked finger. 

“Oh, how delightful! A virgin, are you? No need to answer. I can see it written all over your face. Well, if you do well…I’ll fix that for you,” Sylvia cooed. 

“I, um, I can see that you’re excited…sir? I’m not really into-”

“Oh, Kazuma. You don’t even know what you’re into yet. But trust me: After one night with me, everyone is into the same thing: More of me,” Sylvia promised. 

Sato didn’t look certain. “I’m not sure-”

“And, of course, you’ll get a substantial bonus for services rendered. Enough for a boy like you to enjoy years of idleness,” Sylvia promised with a smirk. 

“Well, hell, I guess I’m up for anything once! What do I need to do, uh, boss?” Sato asked, hurrying to keep up with Sylvia’s longer stride. 

“Check on a…friend,” Sylvia said with a grin. 

They took Sato to an elevator, then used the biometric scanner to verify their identity as the Ruler of Discord. That opened up new commands, and Sylvia keyed in a destination.

“Woah, it goes down to sub level 8? I thought it stopped at two?” Sato said, peering at the control panel. 

“Oh, yes. You’ll see,” Sylvia chuckled. Then they turned and drew Sato to themselves. Roughly, Sylvia pulled Kazuma’s mouth to theirs, forcing in their tongue. At first, Sato was shocked and baffled, but then the pheromones and drugs Sylvia put into their saliva kicked in, and Sato moaned in pleasure, embracing Sylvia happily. 

The carving Sylvia had done to themselves made their touch and taste highly addictive, enough that a single french kiss turned a man into a lifelong addict. Sylvia really would have to let Sena pleasure them a little later, or the poor dear would go into withdrawal soon. Sena was too useful to let her go to seed.

As for Sato, well…this was just an insurance policy. After five minutes in the elevator with Sylvia, the fool would do literally anything for the CEO, up to and including taking a bullet. 

When the door’s popped open, Sylvia straightened their hair as they pushed Sato back. “That’s enough for now, pet. I can promise you more, later. If you serve me well, I’ll relieve you of that embarrassing condition of yours.” 

“You’ll cure my lactose intolerance?” Sato asked, sounding dazed and more than a little drugged. 

Sylvia paused and frowned at him. Had that worked? It should have. “I mean your virginity.”

“Oh. OH! Yes, boss! Right away!” Sato looked around eagerly at the sub level. It wasn’t dark and dank, as one would expect of someone with no imagination like Beldia or Hans. Instead, it was brightly lit, with rows of large, spherical containers, each of them numbered. On the base of each container were various pipes and hoses with pressure valves on them, all humming with raw power that ran from the containment pods to various parts of the building, or even the lunar core. 

Between the containers ran metal walkways suspended from the high ceiling on cables, all of them with the proper railings of course. The other CEOs might not believe in workplace safety, but Sylvia only wanted the underlings they personally killed to die, and not lose material to simple stupidity. 

“We’re looking for container 3R-1S,” Sylvia said, nodding down the row. “You lead the way, Sato.”

The man hurried forward down the walkway, glancing left and right. He found the container in short order, though Sylvia didn’t stray from the elevator, their hand hovering over the emergency escape button. If containment was breached…

“I found it!” Sato called, out of Sylvia’s line of sight. 

“Good. Check the panel. What does it say?” Sylvia demanded. 

“Says, um…let me see…Open Hatch, system check, purge system-”

“Run the system check and tell me what it says. Do not open the hatch or purge the pod,” Sylvia ordered. If that happened…well, things could be recovered, but it would be disastrous. It wouldn’t be the first time there was a leak, but…

“Uh…it says…all systems normal, containment secure,” Sato answered. 

Sylvia breathed a sigh of relief, and left the elevator, walking over to where Sato waited. The dope grinned widely at them, pointing to the panel. “Look boss, it’s all green!” 

Sylvia walked over and glanced at it, then put a hand on the metal liner on the outside. As always, a faint trace of energy, the very same stuff that was being sucked out of the pod and channeled to the core of the moon. But the occupant…

“Close your eyes,” Sylvia ordered. 

“Huh? Why should I-” Sato began

“Open your mouth and close your eyes, and I will give you a special surprise,” Sylvia said in sing-song tones. 

Sato did so, and Sylvia put a hand on his head to force him to his knees. Briefly they considered lifting their dress to really complete things, but instead Sylvia just absently stuck a finger in the boy's mouth. They needed to be on alert, not distracted by anything. 

While Sato eagerly sucked on the finger that was feeding him a mild narcotic, Sylvia popped the hatch. Only a narrow viewing panel, but it should be enough. They peered inside briefly, wincing in pain at the light that poured out. Yes, it was all as it should be. Hastily Sylvia shut the panel, then removed their hand from Sato’s mouth. 

“Stand, pet.”

“You taste…good,” Sato mumbled, staggering to his feet. 

“You’ve been a good pet,” Sylvia said, touseling the messy hair. “I’m going to go check on a few things. You stay here. There’s an emergency kit with food and water on the wall there, see it? Yes, help yourself to it, they’re changed monthly so it’s fresh.”

“You’re…you’re gonna leave me here?” Sato said plaintively. “What about my bonus? And, um…the other thing?”

“Oh, I’ll come back,” Sylvia said in a husky voice. “If you’re very good, I’ll, well, remove the ‘spear’ so to speak, and let you become a real man.”

“Really?” Sato gasped happily. 

“Really,” Sylvia promised. “But, if you’ve been bad…”

Sato whimpered and shied back. 

“Oh, don’t look at me that way. I take care of my pets, and I’m growing fond of you. If you’ve been bad, when I return, you’ll drop your pants and bend over, and I’ll still help you with that pesky virginity.”

“I, um, I…” Sato blushed and looked away. “...I’ll be good.”

“Oh, I hope not. I rather like the second way,” Sylvia laughed. Then bent down and kissed Sato deeply again. “Something to remember me by. I shan't be too long.” 

With that, Sylvia walked away, putting a little extra waggle in their hips. That leak had to be something else…something valuable. With their current resources, they couldn’t restore Belzerg to the paradise they envisioned. But…if there was a new Source…that changed everything.

With a smile, Syliva stepped onto the elevator, and contacted Sena. She was a bit pent up, and so was Sato. Perhaps she’d let Sena play with Sato when they’d had their fill. Maybe Sylvia would even let them take turns on themselves. Once the new Source was secured, everything would change. 

And Sylvia would become not just the CEO, but the Devil King they’d dreamed of being for centuries. 

=================================================================================

For half an hour after Sylvia left, Kazuma Sato paced back and forth, sweeting in nervous anticipation. To finally get laid, and lose the label of virgin loser forever! And by the flesh carver! Part of him dreaded the thought of being made into a bottom toy… but the rest…the rest wanted another hit of whatever high Sylvia had given him. 

He broke down eventually and went and got the food. It was wrapped algae bars with protein filling. Not the most delicious, and only some water to drink, but it was free and filling, so Kazuma chowed down. He’d only been at this job for a week, and already he’d gotten the CEO’s notice. He really was a hero or something after all.

“Pssst. Hey. Don’t make any sudden moves.” 

Kazuma looked up from his snack to find a silver haired boy in a green jumpsuit, midriff exposed, a silver scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face so only purple eyes poked out. 

“HEY!” Kazuma gasped, scooting back. “What are you-!?”

“I said don’t move!” the stranger growled, and held up a gleaming silver revolver, the barrel pointed right at Kazuma. 

He froze in mid crab crawl, sweat beading on his forehead. 

“Just stay right there. That monster got their claws on you already,” the stranger grumbled, coming forward. Kazuma winced as the revolver was pressed to his forehead, closing his eyes. “Now, if I can just…there.”

A wave of cold washed over Kazuma, and he gasped, head spinning as a wave of cold fire ran through his veins and his vision swam. When it cleared, he felt clearer headed than he had in ages. He was no stranger to recreational drug use; ChimeraTech provided all sorts of chemical escapes for the employees at low prices. What better way to keep the population under control than to keep them too doped up to care? And that wasn’t even getting into the flourishing illicit drug trade that even the corporations didn’t want your average joe getting their hands on. 

“What did…what did you?” Kazuma gasped, grabbing onto the guard rail to steady himself. He found hands helping him up, and blinked at the silver haired stranger, who had pulled down his scarf and was smiling at Kazuma. 

“Nano-tech. Cleanses the toxins from your system in a hurry. It’s a doozy, but you should be clear headed. How are you feeling?”

“I feel…great, actually,” Kazuma admitted. He suddenly went pale. “Did Sylvia send you? I…oh sweet crypto. I was going to let them…to let them…”

The worst part of it was, even with the drugs gone, Kazuma was tempted to stay. Maybe his chastity would be violated, sure, but Sylvia treated their pets very well. A lifetime of luxury for a little buggery didn’t sound too awful to a 20 year old who made his living scrubbing floors and cleaning bathrooms. 

“Look, there’s no time. I’m a thief. I’m here for a score. A huge one. You can stay here and be that monster’s pet, or you can help me and get the biggest break of your life, and not have a single person who owns you,” Silver Hair said quickly. 

As they talked, Kazuma blinked. Those hips, and while it wasn’t much, the breasts did swell…probably a femboy or a futa though. Swapping out your junk or getting hormones wasn’t exactly hard on Discord. 

“Hey, I like the sound of easy money, but I hate risk. No offense, pal, but I ain’t helping you,” Kazuma said, shaking his head.

The thief pursed their lips, then pointed to the large metallic sphere down the walkway and across from the 3R-1S pod Sylvia had inspected. This one read “4L-1C3” and was a little smaller, with the cables and hoses attached to it glowing much more faintly. “Tell you want. You peek inside, then you decide.”

“I don’t know what you-” Kazuma began, but the thief pushed him towards the container. 

They took out a cloth, then dumped something into their hand. Kazuma blinked at seeing a little carved beast. It had the tail of a serpent, with the head of a lion and the torso of a woman, complete with little breasts and arms. 

“What the hell is-” Kazuma asked, but the thief pressed the thing to the panel, and the security shield popped open. The thief keyed in a few commands, inserted the creature into a slot, then keyed in a few more. The hatch hissed open in a cloud of vapor, showing off the inside of the container. 

“Look inside. Look inside, and tell me that you’re willing to stay and be that thing’s pet,” the thief said grimly.

Kazuma did take a look, and he felt his heart go into his throat as he did so. Within the container was the frail form of a young girl, covered in a sheen of slime, her blonde hair plastered to her head. Hoses and wires connected to her face and back, and Kazuma had a sick feeling that he knew what was happening.

“This moon, this world, is built on lies and slavery,” the thief said quietly. “The life you live? It’s stolen. Stolen when there was no need, because it was once given freely. But now they can charge for it. That girl? She’s been sucked dry since she was put in stasis, and after she dies another will take her place. You know what she is? Who is she?”

Kazuma shook his head mutely, unable to speak. 

“Then I’ll tell you what she is: Hope. We free her, and we can save this world,” the thief said, clutching Kazuma’s arm. 

“I thought…I thought you said we’d be rich,” Kazuma’s voice rasped. “She’s just…some orphan they kidnapped, and are sucking the life force out of to…power something. I mean, I’ve heard about soylent green, and the “Matrix” that Masked Media has tried setting up to generate power, but…”

“This is worse than all that. Far worse,” the thief said quietly. “I could tell you more, but here’s what’s important: Will you let a little girl be held captive, sucked of her vitality, and used as a battery so a corporation can profit?” 

“I…” Kazuma closed his eyes. “No. I…I’ll help you. Even if there’s no money in this…What do I need to do?”

The thief grinned. “I never thought you’d ask! We’re going to do a little burglary and some mild sabotage and arson, along with some grand theft spaceship.”

“Grand theft spaceship!? They’ll kill us for that!” Kazuma gasped. 

The thief shrugged. “Better to die on your feet than live on your knees, right?” 

Kazuma scrubbed his hand through his hair. He desperately wanted to go home and smoke until he was so high he couldn’t see straight, or go find Sylvia and let them have their way with him, or find a succubus and pay just enough for a dream that would wipe this all away.

Then the little girl inside the sphere whimpered and twitched slightly. 

Kazuma turned to the thief. “Right. Let’s get started on that burglary and sabotage.”

Chapter Text

Beta'd and edited by The Grand Cogitator and Tabasco

Brought to you by, my patreons! More capitalism at the end.

Black rain pattered off the roof of the car as the officer stepped out, glancing around to ensure there was no one readying an attack. The streets of Axel, even the midlevels like this, were not safe. 

Taking a step onto the rusted metal pathway, the officer took a moment to glance down below herself. Lights twinkled under where her car was hovering, little specks in the shadows until they were swallowed up by the night. Shivering slightly, the security officer hurried up to the coffee shop and put down her credit chit. “Two coffees and two cups of ramen, please.”

The proprietor gave her a gap toothed smile when he saw her face, quickly serving up the hot food and drink. “Ah, Officer Tina, out on patrol again? Didn’t I see you just last night? Is this breakfast, or dinner?”

Tina gave him a faint smile and shrugged. “Can you even tell down here, Ruff?”

“I suppose not,” Ruff said as Tina took her plastic beverage holder. He wore a stained pink apron that read “Kiss the Cook”, and one of his arms was replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic. Despite his scarred face and bright pink mohawk, he had a kindly smile, and reputation for being a softy that was reinforced by the discount he gave Tina on her food. 

Waving goodbye, Tina hurried back into the ancient company car, passing over a cup of coffee and ramen to her partner. 

“Ruff says hello,” Tina passed along, sipping her coffee as she took up her gun. She preferred not to use it; not because she had any qualms about killing a gangbanger or perp, but because she wasn’t exactly the best shot. “He gave me a discount.”

Her partner grunted, then slurped down some ramen before setting the steaming cup of noodles and broth in the holder on the driver's side. “Maybe he’s sweet on you. Was it a big discount?” 

“Five percent,” Tina said, glancing over her shoulder as their car pulled up and away from the walkway. “I don’t know that he’s my type, Claire…”

“Bad business, security getting involved with a non-corp. Ruff’s food is good but he’s probably not even strictly legal,” Claire said, her eyes never staying still as they moved up to the traffic lanes. They didn’t join the flow though, just hovering off to the side as they scanned for potential violations while they ate.

“You say that about every man I meet,” Tina sighed, taking up a pair of chopsticks to aid in slurping up the noodles. 

“That’s because no man is good enough for my partner,” Claire said, giving Tina a sly wink.

That made her blush, and look away. “We’re just partners, Clarie.”

“And roommates. And best friends since childhood. Come on, do you even really talk to anyone else?” Claire asked, holding out a hand scanner to check a floating barge that churned by. It must have passed, because she didn’t gun the engine to pursue.

“It’s not like you have much of a social life either,” Tina said, giving Claire a level look. “When do we have time for much of anything between shifts?”

“Management has it out for us, I’m telling you,” Claire agreed with a nod, tapping the twin iron cog icon on their shoulders. While Axel was traditionally the territory of ShopWiz, NyteTech had made gains in recent years, and currently controlled some of the relatively choice bits of Axel, including where Claire and Tina were patrolling. 

There was the sound of gun fire, and Tina pulled up the scanner as Claire warmed up the weapons, their usual banter forgotten for the moment. In a moment, she had the location of the gunfire pinned, and winced. “It’s on the ShopWiz side.”

“Super. Let their security handle it, or not,” Claire said with a shrug. 

“Yes, but…they’re chasing a woman,” Tina said, tapping the screen. “Two orcs, a couple of humans, and a dwarf. They’re all armed and she’s not.”

Claire gave Tina a flat look. “You know if we get caught meddling in ShopWiz turf we’re done for. Plus, we’re not supposed to harass the gangs unless corporate property is at risk. Is the woman they’re after NyteTech?”

“No…” Tina admitted, pulling up the profile. Then she brightened. “But she is wanted for tampering with company property and failure to uphold a verbal contract.”

“Those are minor charges with piddly fines, we won’t get any commission on that at all,” Claire grumbled as she gunned the engine and started to dive towards the gang that had cornered the lone woman below. 

“You’re the one driving us forward,” Tina said, adjusting the straps on her ballistic vest (bought with her own money) and then pulling on her riot helmet. “You want to help as much as I do.”

“If I wanted to help people, I’d make my money on my back at a brothel,” Claire grumbled, but she loosened her pistol at her side as Tina took up her baton and riot shield.

The gang had cornered the woman, and the two orcs were holding her down as the dwarf slapped her. One of the men unbuttoned his trousers, laughing at something. They obviously intended to assault their victim in more ways than one. After that, they would rob her, then either kill her and harvest the organs, or take her alive and sell her to a slaver. Technically, you couldn’t sell someone who wasn’t a convicted criminal into slavery, but brands were easy to forge and most places didn’t look to hard. 

“STOP! CORPORATE SECURITY!” Tina bellowed through her amplified speaker, then jumped out as soon as Claire had the hovercar close enough. She winced as she landed; she couldn’t really afford the fancy biomods that would let you pull off a stunt like that, but she was naturally strong and athletic. Still, after a few years of security work, your body took a beating. And once it was used up, you were put out to pasture.

Tina raised her baton, ready for a fight even as Claire popped out, pistol pointed in the general direction of the gangbangers. 

One of the orcs squinted at Darkness, frowning. “This bitch try to sell you faulty chips too?”

“Ah, come on honey, let me have some fun before you take her,” the man with his belt undone whined. “Those damn chips hurt when I put ‘em in.” 

“They were good, you just mishandled them! I’m innocent officer, I swear!” the woman gasped, wriggling in the grip of the two orcs. Clearly not comprehending that Tina was about to save her life. 

“Ah come on. You’re NyteTech, ain’t you supposed to be on the other side of the street?” the dwarf complained, flexing his bruised knuckles.

“She’s on our wanted list. Now back off, or I bust heads while my partner pops some,” Tina growled, raising her batton.

“Feh. As long as the bitch gets railed, what do I care,” the other orc said. Then she shoved the woman forward. “Got her wallet anyway.”

“Don’t say that! The corpo will lift it off us!” the dwarf snapped, apparently the leader.

“Officer, please, I am but a poor, innocent girl! My supplier told me these chips were good, I swear! Here, you can have one, it has the latest 4D Porn from Discordia! One clip even features the fleshshaper itself!” the girl said, holding up a bag of microchips. 

Only a cursory glance told Tina they were clearly old junk that had been shined up a bit. If they held anything but junk data, it would be a fluke. She snapped flexiplast cuffs on the woman and roughly hauled her forward. “You’re wanted at Security HQ. Come on.”

Claire set the car down, her pistol still pointed in the general direction of the gang, but they were moving off. One of the orcs hand her hand down the pants of the man who’d exposed himself, and was laughing. He seemed uncomfortable, but once an orc got her hands on a man, she wouldn’t rest until he was passed out. The others seemed to think it was a great joke, with the other orc commenting on how she’d have her turn. 

“At least someone’s getting laid tonight,” Darkness muttered as she put the perp into the back. 

“You could be too if you’d just relax,” Claire said as she snapped the car up and back towards NyteTech’s side. The odds of one of the sparse ShopWiz patrols coming on them were low, and the other corporate security giving a rat’s ass were lower, but there was no need to take chances. 

“Hey, you’re both kinda cute, if you let me go, I’d give you both a quickie!” the perp offered, pressing her face up against the perforated plastic barrier between the back and the front seats.

Tina gave her partner a look, and Claire blushed. “Maybe if you do, you’d quit bothering me. I told you, that time when we were teens was a mistake. I was drunk.”

“I wasn’t,” Claire muttered, but it was an old argument. She glanced in the rearview mirror at their passenger. “Who is this perp again?”

“I’m Cecily!” the perp volunteered, smiling widely as she pressed her face up against the scratched and stained security screen. “And I’m sure this is all a big misunderstanding. Hey, is that food? Can I have some?”

“Typically, arresting officers don’t feed their perps,” Tina sighed. “We usually expect to be bribed and cajoled, offered just a bit less than the fines you owe.”

“Well, I’m broke, and hungry! Like I said, I’ll give you a quickie. But food first, it’s been a few days…”

Claire took a longer look in the mirror. Cecily was scrawny, to a positively unhealthy degree, and dressed in near rags. She looked to be a few years younger than Tina or Claire, somewhere in her late teens or early twenties, but her sunken cheeks and hollow eyes told a familiar story. Wordlessly, Claire hit the button for the screen and passed back her cup of ramen.

Cecily eagerly took the food and began to slurp it down. After a moment, she paused, then looked up, apparently baffled. “Um, thanks. I…I really am broke…you can have the chips I scavenged…they’re just cast offs and blanks…or…I don’t know, all I have left is…”

“You’re probably diseased,” Claire said, fixing her eyes on the road ahead. Tina reached over and patted her partner on the leg. “Besides, it would be a gross breach of protocol for someone in a position of authority to use it to take advantage of a young woman.”

“A…gross…are you saying I’m ugly?” Cecily asked, clearly puzzled and slightly offended. 

“She’s saying it would be wrong for us to take advantage of you,” Tina told Cecily. 

That didn’t seem to make sense to Cecily, but she eagerly sucked down her food without much further protest. “Well, thanks for the food anyway. What are you gonna do? Put me in a sweatshop or sell me for parts or something?”

“You have any skills?” Tina asked. “Anything marketable?”

“If I did, I’d have a job,” Cecily said with a shrug. “And get regular meals.”

“That’s what we thought. Well…we picked you up this time, kid. Stay out of trouble,” Claire said, setting the car down at one of the mid levels. “We can’t do much for you.”

“You- you kidding? You’ve done more for me than anyone since my mom kicked me out ten years ago,” Cecily said as she got out of the hatch. She paused, then frowned back at the car. “You’re really not going to do anything?”

“Stay safe, citizen,” Tina told her, and gave Cecily a sad smile.

“You’re really weird security guards, you know that, right?” Cecily asked. 

Tina shrugged, and Claire snorted. 

“Well…bye! Thanks.” Cecily jogged off, disappearing amidst ramshackle huts and flickering neon signs. 

“Shit. Wish we could do more,” Claire grumbled. “She was kinda cute.”

“Your type?” Tina asked, waggling her eyebrows.

“She looked like you,” Claire said with a shrug, and lifted the car back up. “Now. Let’s find us some actual bounties. That was my lunch. And don’t try to give me yours. You gave away your dinner to that orphan elf boy.”

“I just…I wish…” Tina’s throat tightened, and she closed her eyes, feeling so exhausted for a moment.

“Yeah. I know. Me too,” Claire agreed quietly.

They did manage to find a few bounties, some violent criminals and an arsonist. They turned them in at the NyteTech Security HQ, collecting enough to not only pay for their shift and rent for another week, but get some real food from Discord; rice, some kind of meat, and even a few vegetables. They ate in their small, cramped apartment, looking out at the filthy rain that patterned on their cracked window. 

Claire snuggled up to Tina when it was time to go to bed, and a part of Tina wanted her oldest and only friend to just…press the issue. To throw her down, and have her way with her. To tell Tina to spread ‘em, and then to force Tina to pleasure her in turn. 

But Claire didn’t. She would tease, she would ask, she would hint…but she never, ever forced herself on Tina. 

As they lay there, Tina reached into the small safe under their bed, and entered in the key. She took out their matching amulets, and held them up. One bore a shield, another a sword. The metal was untarnished by age, but it wasn’t gold or silver, or even platinum. They didn’t know what the chains were made of, and neither had their parents. 

“Feeling maudlin tonight, Lady Dustiness?” Claire asked, reaching up to take her own amulet and holding it tight.

“Maybe we should sell them,” Tina said quietly. “What good have they done us?  Or anyone?”

“We swore to keep them. To be the protectors,” Claire said, wrapping her chain about her hand and gazing at the sword. “They’re all we have left.”

“No. We have each other,” Tina said quietly, and smiled at Claire.

“The last daughters of long dead houses. Your ID doesn’t even say Lalatina, and mine just says Claire Shin. Not Symphonia.”

“Don’t call me that,” Tina grumbled. “Tina Ford is better than Lalatina Dustiness. I half think our parents just made it all up.”

“I liked the stories,” Claire said quietly, handing Darkness back the amulet. “Maybe…maybe we are making a difference. Protecting people.”

“Maybe,” Tina said quietly, and put the amulets away, locking the safe again. She turned towards Claire, and pulled her friend close. “I just…I think the only one I really want to protect is you.”

“Yeah. But…there’s more, isn’t there?” Claire asked. 

“Yes,” Tina agreed, feeling the tears in her eyes again. “Someday, we’ll find out what.”

And until then, at least they were surviving.

========================================================================

For a day and a night, Aqua, Megumin, and Komekko simply stayed in the hidden world underground. Aqua had found the armor and sword, and had cried over it for a long while when she found it the next day.

“Who were they?” Komekko asked, touching the sword.

“M-My champion. Kyle…no…Kyouya? Mitsu…rugi. Kyouya Mitsurugi. He was…from Japan. I…I summoned him. He fought bravely, but…” Aqua hung her head. 

“Who’d he fight?” Komekko asked curiously. “Was he the Cursed Swordsman?”

“Yes. He fought the Devil King, but… we’d been losing for so long. It was just me and Eris left. I tried…I tried so hard…but I’m a Water Goddess. I can heal, and banish the undead, but…it was all my fault,” Aqua sniffled. 

“Hey, at least he saved you, right?” Megumin asked. She put her hand on the sword and tugged at it. “Can I have this?”

“Huh? You’re a Crimson Demon. You use magic, not swords,” Aqua scoffed, shaking her head. 

“Crimson Demons are powerful warriors! I have mastered marksmanship, knife fighting, and demolitions!” Megumin bragged she grunted and strained, but couldn’t get the sword out of the ground. 

“You’re not from the bloodline of heroes,” Aqua told her gently. “Only someone from Mitsurugi’s bloodline could pull it  forth.”

“Well, he’s been dead a long time,” Komekko said with a shrug. “Oh well. Maybe we can find other weapons. I’m pretty good with knives! And I can shoot too.”

“But…you’re both little girls,” Aqua said, looking sick.

“I am NOT!” Megumin snarled, eyes glowing bright red. “I’m sixteen! An adult! And I can take care of myself AND Komekko!” 

“You’re not sixteen,” Komekko piped up. “You’re fifteen and a half. I’m six! I’m a big girl! I killed two eye hunters all by myself!”

“That’s not…children shouldn’t have to fight,” Aqua said, sitting down beside the fallen armor. She lifted up the helmet, resting it against her forehead. “But…Kyouya…he was only sixteen when I found him. A high school kid from Japan. I gave him a second chance at life. He fought beside me for three years…married Fio…they had two children together…”

“What’s high school?” Megumin asked, frowning. “You mean, like, a school on the upper levels?”

“They don’t let us go to school but Big Sis and mom taught me to read and stuff! And I can do math too! Listen, I know all the prime numbers! Two, three, five, seven, eleven-”

“That’s very good,” Aqua said, tears trickling down her cheeks as she set the helmet down. She looked around the underground chamber, looking forlorn. “How long was I asleep…?”

“I dunno, but I’m hungry, and I bet ‘Mekko is too. Let’s catch some food,” Megumin said, obviously done with this. She bowed to the fallen armor. “Farewell, brave warrior. May we meet again in the Village.”

“And may your enemies go blind,” Komekko agreed. 

“That’s not a proper prayer,” Aqua said, standing. “Look. Like this.”

Aqua raised her hands, and suddenly a blue circle formed at her feet. “Sir Mitsurugi. In life, you fought with valor and strength. In death, may your rest be eternal and peaceful. I send you now to the Realm of the Gods, where you shall be honored as a hero for all time.”

A shining blue man flickered into existence, and Megumin and Komekko both gasped in shock, grabbing one another’s hands, and pulling tight together. 

“Lady…Aqua. I…I failed you,” the shimmering blue spirit said, kneeling before Aqua. 

“No, my champion. I live on. And the fight does as well,” Aqua said gently, placing a hand on the translucent man’s head. “Rest, now. Be at peace.”

“Thank you…thank you, lady Aqua.” The spirit stood, and to the two girl’s shock, he drew the sword from the ground. He held it out to Megumin. “Daughter of the Crimson Demon Clan. Bear this blade, until you find a hero worthy of it. Gram will serve you until you pass it into the hands of a true knight.”

Hesitantly, Megumin took the sword. She tried to lift it, but stumbled slightly. “It’s heavy! What is it made of, concrete?!”

“It is adamantoise. Forged by the goddess. I grant you its strength,” the ghost of Misturugi said, touching Megumin’s forehead with one pale finger.

Instantly, Megumin was able to heft the blade easily, eyes going wide. 

“Thank you, Kyouya,” Aqua said, smiling sadly. “Even in death, you’re looking out for me.”

“You finally remembered my name,” he chuckled. Then he yawned. “I am…tired. So…tired.”

Aqua stood on her tiptoes, and kissed Mitsurugi’s cheek. “Then rest.”

Nodding, Mitsurugi laid down, crossing his hands over his breast, and vanished. 

“Was he like a hologram?” Komekko asked curiously, looking around. “Where are the emitters?”

“Komekko… I think…I think he was real,” Megumin said slowly, looking at the sword in her hand. She swished it experimentally, the blade singing through the air. “This feels real, anyway.”

“But didn’t you say guns beat swords?” Komekko said, frowning at the weapon.

“What?! There can’t be guns! Belzberg is strictly a fantasy setting!” Aqua gasped. 

“What kind of weirdo dreamed up this place as a fantasy?” Megumin grumbled. 

Aqua wilted at that, looking guilty. “Well, I…things were supposed to be different…I think…I think I need to see what’s going on outside.”

At those words, both sisters made a face. “Do we really? We had to crawl through the sewer to get here,” Komekko complained. 

“The Eye Hunters are probably out to get us too. We’d have to make goggles,” Megumin sighed. She held up Gram, then grinned. “But maybe this time, I’ll have something special for them!” 

It took the rest of the day to prepare to head for the surface. Aqua ended up making them all new clothes that she called “Adventuring Gear” from the various plant fibers that were around, spinning them into sturdy cloth. She tried to make robes for Komekko and Megumin, but both refused, citing how impractical that would be wading through sewage. 

In the end, they all had on thick trousers, sturdy boots cobbled from the cast off plastics of the sister’s former clothes, two sets of goggles, flexible gloves, and shirts and jackets. To Megumin and Komekko’s eyes, the clothes looked strange and alien, as well as being far more comfortable than anything they were used to. 

“These are cool!” Megumin said, striking a pose with Gram and grinning broadly. “I’ve never seen such unique clothes!” 

“I like them, they have pockets!” Komekko agreed, showing hers off proudly. 

“I just wish I had more dyes, these are too plain,” Aqua sighed, looking forlornly down at her own clothes. They were in muted earth tones of brown and green, which blended into the background of the caves quite naturally. 

“Hmm, we’ll stand out in the slums a little bit, but I think this will make us hard to spot,” Megumin said. She lowered the goggles over her eyes, then exclaimed happily. “You put tech in these! Ooo, what filters are this? Do you have ultraviolet and infrared? Must be infrared, you and Komekko are both glowing really brightly.”

“Um, they detect mana sources and evil,” Aqua said, tapping the goggles. “See?”

“Well, now neither of you are glowing. And how the heck would you detect evil?” Megumin demanded, lifting her goggles and squinting at Aqua. 

“Well, I mean…if you’re a demon or undead, or if you’re really mean then that’s evil,” Aqua said, scrunching her face up. “You’d have to ask Bahamut or Minerva, they…they’re…”

Aqua started crying again, causing Megumin to blush. Komekko just tried on her goggles, looking around in excitement. “You do glow really bright, Big Sis, but Aqua’s like the sun!” 

“I-I have a lot of mana,” Aqua sniffled, wiping at her eyes. “Let’s…let’s go see what’s outside. I have to find more followers, and…somehow…defeat the Devil King! I won’t give up!” 

“The Devil King died a long time ago, but I mean, if you’re so good at making clothes, at least you could make some money and get good food,” Megumin said with a shrug. “Plus, maybe you can help us find mom and dad, or at least Yunyun.”

“Yes, the Crimson Demon clan will be valuable allies once more! Plus, I really need to scold your parents. Running off and leaving you two alone, and not even teaching you any magic first! You should at least know how to throw a fireball or something,” Aqua complained. 

Komekko and Megumin shared a puzzled look as they started off towards the sunken entrance. “Um, I don’t think our parents knew any magic. They would have used it to stop the eye hunters. Dad’s just a really good gunslinger, and mom can hack any system you’ve ever seen.”

“And they taught us how to make bombs!” Komekko agreed happily. 

Aqua seemed rather unenthused at the idea of explosives, but she was determined to leave, and followed the girls to the cracked pipe. As they got closer though, her face took on a horrified expression. “What’s that smell?”

“It’s shi-” Komekko began, until Megumin swatted her. “It’s poop.”

“I know that smell, but the other stuff…it smells like…like…evil! Something unnatural!” Aqua wailed, and ran forward to the crack. “Yes…this is definitely evil?”

“I mean it’s like a billion years of crap and, er, pee,” Megumin said, frowning at Komekko who made a face at her.

“I’ve heard the bad words you know, and mom and dad aren’t here.”

“Yeah, but Aqua’s, like, a goddess or something! We’re not supposed to swear!” Megumin argued. 

“Well, I’m going to fix it right now!” Aqua declared, and plunged her hands into the horrid stink. “Purification!” 

Instantly, the smell vanished, and the liquid turned into the same pure blue liquid, water so clean that it seemed to have unearthly properties. 

“There!” Aqua said, standing and smiling to herself. “That’s better! Come on, let’s climb in and get exploring! Maybe there’s treasure! There’s usually treasure in sewers.”

“Normally in sewers it’s just full of…crap,” Megumin said, grimacing. “Ugh, I sound like a little kid.”

“I won’t tell if you swear,” Komekko promised, but that just earned her a sour look as they climbed into the stream of water. 

This time, their trek through the pipe was much easier, as they were going with the flow, and instead of effluent, they were surrounded by clean water. Even touching the liquid seemed to invigorate both Megumin and Komekko, and they splashed along, laughing and chatting with Aqua, who told them stories of ancient Belzerg that seemed too incredible to believe. 

“You mean, there was an entire town with clean water like this people came to see?” Megumin asked, confused.

“No, no, Arcanletia was a hot spring! It was built near a volcano, and rich mineral water fed the city. It was built as the perfect vacation destination! That’s where my cult was based!” Aqua explained. Then she sobered. “But…but once I was lured away…and when I came back…Hans had poisoned everyone and everything…only Zesta was strong enough to survive until I could heal him…”

“Hans? You don’t mean the CEO of Santomon?” Megumin asked. 

Before Aqua could respond, Komekko hissed, “Hunter!” and dove under the water. Megumin immediately slid down under the liquid as well, leaving a perplexed Aqua standing alone. 

“Huh? What are-”

Before Aqua knew what was happening, Megumin had kicked Aqua’s legs out from under her, causing her to fall into the water with a splash and cry. 

“Shh! Quiet!” Megumin hissed, holding a hand over Aqua’s mouth. “Hold your breath and duck down!” 

“I don’t have to,” Aqua complained, but she did dip below the surface, looking up from the dim blue glow. 

A few moments later, a teardrop shape hovered out of the dimness, a glowing green orb at its center, with laser scanners tracing over the surface of the water. It was letting off a low, throbbing hum that made Aqua’s teeth hurt, and various spikes and ominous looking barrels protruded from the sides. It was not quite jet black, but rather a very dark gray that was hard to pick out against the darkness of the sewer. The entire thing seemed to be made of metal and plastic, and looked like something out of a nightmare. 

As the Hunter drone drew near, something flashed out of the water where Komekko had sunk. There was a clang and a spark, and the robot let out a warbling wail that deafened Aqua even under water, echoing through the sewer. The barrels under the drone began to swivel, and barked out streams of bullets, hot lead and flying shrapnel turning the narrow confines to a deadly tempest. 

Then Megumin shot out of the water, pointing Gram straight at the Hunter Drone. She skewered it through the center, the blade passing through the armored carapace like it was rusted tin. The siren gurgled and died, and the drone fell down into the water with a splash. 

“Good job,” Megumin gasped as Komekko surfaced, prying out her sister’s knife and handing it to her. “But if there’s a Seek Drone, that means there’s an eye hunter nearby. We have to run. We’ll get slaughtered in here.”

“You’re hurt!” Komekko said, hurrying forward. Megumin’s right arm and left side were bleeding, holes punched through Aqua’s clothing by the whining bullets. 

“I’ll be fine,” Megumin said with a grimace, struggling to yank Gram free. “You take Aqua and go the other way. I’ll stay behind and scavenge for parts for a bit.”

“No! I’m not leaving you!” Komekko wailed, ripping off her goggles and looking pleadingly at her sister. “That’s what mom and dad said!” 

“I’ll be fine,” Megumin grunted, sinking down into the water. She blinked. Actually, as the water filled her wounds, she was starting to feel a little better. Maybe it was the blood loss, but she felt warm, and the pain was leaking out. What was…

“Heal!” Aqua cried, grabbing Megumin’s head and hugging the girl to her breast. “Heal! M-Megumin, tell me you’re OK! What was that thing!?”

“Just a drone,” Megumin said. “You and Komekko go…go…” Absently, Megumin patted her arm, then felt her side. She plunked a bit of shrapnel off the surface of her perfectly whole skin. She took off her own goggles, and blinked. “I…I was shot, wasn’t I?” She felt the holes in her clothing, where the bullet and shrapnel had torn it. But…aside from a small bit of blood, there was nothing.”

“You were! I healed you, you’re OK, right?!” Aqua said, patting first Megumin, then Komekko down. 

“Big Sis, you’re…OK?” Komekko asked, pulling away from Aqua to look at where Megumin’s wounds had been. 

“Yeah. This…this is better than that nanotech bio-gel we stole when mom lost her hand,” Megumin said, frowning at her injuries. 

“She did say she always wanted some cybernetics,” Komekko said with a nervous giggle. “Daddy said he liked it too…”

“Well, this is better than some jelly or nano-whatever,” Aqua huffed, pulling herself to her full height and flipping her soaking wet hair back out of her eyes. “I am, after all, a goddess of healing! And you’re my followers, so I have to take super good care of you!”

“That’s, um…thanks?” Megumin looked back at the drone, rummaging around in it for a bit. “Huh. This is NyteTech stuff. Guess they’re muscling in on this turf. Weird that it went down so easy. Their drones are probably the best ones. Expensive though. Someone’s gonna be real mad at us.”

“Do we still go back?” Komekko asked uncertainly, peering down the gentle slope of the pipe.

“No. I’m not running away anymore!” Aqua declared. “We’re gonna fight this Eye Hunter guy and beat him up! No one hunts my friends!” 

“You sure? There could be a lot of them. And if they have a drone this nice…” Megumin flipped the drone over, and her breath caught. Painted on its side were two sets of glowing red eyes. 

“Mommy…daddy?” Komekko asked, seeing the eyes before Megumin could try to hide them. Tears filled her eyes, and she looked up at Megumin. “N-not…not them…o-or Yunyun…”

“I don’t…no, it couldn’t be,” Megumin said, her voice strangled. She gripped Gram for a moment, then set it against the side and began rummaging. “Hold on. I’ll make a couple of bombs and see if I can take one of the guns. It didn’t look too damaged.”

In only a few minutes, Megumin had cobbled together a couple of grenades, and ripped out a machine gun. She and Komekko fiddled with it while Aqua watched in fascination, until Megumin handed the gun to Komekko. “Fifty rounds. Use them well.”

“I’ll kill another Hunter. For mom and dad,” Komekko vowed. She swallowed. “Or…or…for those eyes.”

“By our eyes, and for our blood,” Megumin agreed, attaching the grenades to her belt and picking up Gram. “Come on. Let’s show them why the world still fears the Crimson Demon Clan.”

Author's note:

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Chapter Text

The soft hum of high voltage electrical equipment and the yellow glow of the lights was starting to give Kazuma a headache as he slid down the ladder to the floor. He looked around at the dozen bulbous containers, and realized they were in a starburst pattern, with the largest one at the center. That had been the container Sylvia had inspected, but the container that he and Chris were interested in was at the southern edge.

The one with the little girl trapped inside of it. 

Forcing down the pain, which come to think of it, was probably just withdrawal symptoms from all the various drugs he’d done since he’d arrived on Discord, Kazuma hurried over to a control panel on one of giant tubes connected to the container. He flipped out his phone, inserting the chip Chris had given him, and placed it on the surface of the panel. He tapped through a few screens, which now recognized him as a maintenance tech. 

“OK, I think I see what we need to do,” he called up to Chris. “We don’t want to trip the flow when we pop her out, but I can spoof it so that it looks like the flow is the same. They’ll catch it on the meter upstream with…mana? She’s putting out mana?”

“That’s what they’re harvesting from all these pods,” Chris called down. “I’d rescue everyone if we could, but…security is too tight. She’s the one that has the best chance of escaping. The last hope for the world.” 

“Like something out of a cheap gacha game,” Kazuma complained, but he inputted the series of commands, then nodded. “Right, the programs are set up to report the same amount of ‘mana’ coming out here.”

“I’m cranking up production on the central pod, so it should be a while before they notice the discrepancy,” Chris answered. “Get ready to power it down.”

Hurrying over to a large emergency control switch, Kazuma used his phone to disable the security, putting in the override code Chris had supplied to him. He waited, then when she shouted, slammed the lever down. He’d already disabled the warning system at the main panel, and none of the lights changed, but the flow of mana ceased. 

He scrambled back up the ladder and onto the walkway. Chris was just pulling the still unconscious girl out. “Shut the pod!”

Kazuma hastily did so, and by the time he’d turned back around, Chris had pulled a large white smock over the girl, then belted it with a bit of plastic cabling, like the kind vent rats wore. 

“What’s her name?” Kazuma asked, kneeling by the girl and feeling at the girl’s forehead.

 It was warm, but he couldn’t tell if she was feverish. Her skin was wet and clammy, but that was probably just the fluid she’d been suspended in. The back of her neck had a small metal port in it, which Kazuma imagined went all down her back. That itself wasn’t too unusual; some people got ports so they could go live in the VR world known as the matrix, or if they were a hacker who wanted to do some serious diving into a mainframe. 

“For now… call her Alice. Maybe she’ll remember who she really is when she wakes up. Either way, we need to get her down to the surface. Come on,” Chris said, picking the girl up. She put her on Kazuma’s back, then tied the girl’s hands together so that her arms encircled his neck. 

“Why won’t she wake up?” Kazuma asked. He could feel a faint flutter of the girl’s heart through the thin shirt, so she wasn’t dead, but was she a vegetable or something?

“Mana drain. We used to call it Mind Down. It means her spiritual energy is totally drained: that pod kept her on empty so she was always passed out. It will take a few hours at least for her to build up enough of a reserve to wake up,” Chris explained, leading Kazuma to the far wall, away from the elevator he’d come down on. 

He could barely remember that ride, he’d been so high. A part of him wanted to go back to Sylvia to chase that feeling, even if it meant surrendering his anal virginity. It had all felt so good…

Most of him was sickened at the thought. Sure, he’d known Sylvia was evil. You couldn’t exactly rise to the level of CEO and stay there for hundreds of years with a good moral compass. But to imprison little girls and use them as batteries or something? That was sick, even for the hedonistic ruler of Discord. 

“You’re making this sound like some cheapo video game. What, is she an SSR or something?” Kazuma asked, trying to sound snarky and confident, though he feared he sounded more whiny and harsh.

“You have no idea,” Chris said quietly, pausing in the act of opening a maintenance hatch. “The world has been made to forget. I mean to make them remember. Starting with you, Sato Kazuma.”

“It’s Kazuma Sato,” he corrected, adjusting his unconscious burden. 

“It didn’t used to be,” Chris told him, then led the way down the corridor. 

Kazuma had a while to puzzle that out, but he came up dry. He didn’t have much breath for talking; he was more than a bit out of shape, and they were climbing up ladders, scrambling up slopes and stairs, and squeezing through cramped passageways. He was saved from total exhaustion by the fact that every few minutes, Chris had to stop and disable some security system.

 He expected her to do so silently, but each time she made him come up and watch, explaining what she was doing. 

“This program is pretty simple: just attack this port with a bunch of junk data, then power it down, and when it comes back, you have half a moment to enter the reset key, which will disable it for thirty seconds and… go!”

“Right, for this one, you have to run a simple trojan horse, then key in three error codes within 10 seconds. The system will be vulnerable, and then your trojan will let you into admin mode. Be quick, it will detect something is wrong and sound an alarm if you stay in too long.”

“For this, a physical method is simplest. Set up a couple of mirrors to redirect the laser beam. Be fast, you have to get the timing EXACTLY right, or the alarm will trigger.”

Kazuma listened to all of it, not sure why he should care. At last, they came not to an electronic defense or lock, but rather a physical lock on the other side of a simple gate of metal bars, completely impassable. Chris frowned, apparently stymied by the simple barrier. “Shit. I’m not strong enough to…hmm. But maybe…?”

She turned back to Kazuma, frowning at him. Putting a hand to his forehead and Iris’s temple, then muttered, “Grant status.”

“What are you even-” Kazuma began, but then he gasped. His mind suddenly flooded with information, and he jerked and shuddered, sinking to his knees and putting a hand out against the wall to keep himself from falling over. Chris had fallen over herself, and was dry retching. 

“What…what did you…?” Kazuma’s vision cleared, but when it did, he found a strange card on the ground. He picked it up, and found that it wasn’t plastic like he had thought. It felt…odd. Strangely organic, like it was made from leather or something. It had strange symbols on it, the only ones of which he could recognize were…

“Kanji!? But, that shit’s illegal!” Kazuma gasped, nearly dropping the card. But there was his name, as his parents had taught him secretly all those years ago.

“Assistant and Wisteria. The most common spelling,” Chris chuckled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “And for the other…Protect. Appropriate. Congratulations. Now, hand it over.”

“Er, OK, what the hell is it?” Kazuma demanded, passing the card to Chris. 

She examined the card, then clicked her tongue. “You would be a lucky one. Appropriate you would find me…like old times, I guess. But your other stats…average. Huh. Guess that blood’s getting pretty thin.”

“What are you even talking about, lady!?” Kazuma demanded. Then blushed. “Um, unless, you know, you’re actually-”

“I’m a woman, thank you,” Chris said, sounding drained and defeated. “I’d blame Sylvia for that one, but frankly it’s always been a problem. Well, I guess you’re just an Adventurer then.”

“What do you mean? This is one shitty Adventure! What kind of-”

Something washed over Kazuma, and he gasped for breath. What was-

“Well, I can give you this much. Two skills for you, my favorites. Steal, and Pick Lock,” Chris told him. “Don’t expect Pick Lock to work on anything electronic. Maybe if you take the skill a few times and level it up, but the basic one just works on physical locks.”

Data poured into Kazuma’s mind, almost like those learning chips you could buy that would dump a language into your head, or marksmanship. Half the time that stuff didn’t work since most people could only afford black market knock offs, and the other half your brain dribbled out your nose when it fried your central nervous system. 

But this time…Kazuma just…knew. He blinked at Chris, and she jerked her chin at the lock. “Try it.”

Trembling slightly, he held out his hand. It just felt…right. “ Pick Lock .”

On the other side of the gate, the lock sprang open and fell to the ground.

Lowering his hand, Kazuma glanced at Chris and swallowed, but she just grinned and winked. 

“Nice. Don’t try to use it too often, you’ll get Mind Down yourself,” she warned.

“Right,” Kazuma agreed, following Chris through the gate. He checked on his passenger. She was snoring softly now, and seemed to be sleeping instead of just in a coma, but she was still out cold. 

“Here. Don’t lose it: Guard it with your life. And never, ever let anyone see you have it,” Chris warned. “They’re probably so illegal that a law isn’t even on the books banning them; that’s how afraid Sylvia and the others are that someone will rediscover it.”

“Rediscover what?” Kazuma asked, tucking the card away.

“Magic,” Chris answered, and then opened a door at the end of the corridor. This time, they came out into a small maintenance bay, and Kazuma immediately noticed that it was much hotter here. They had to be on the surface, and close to the jungle at that. 

“Hold on, we need to grab some survival gear,” Chris told Kazuma, going over to a supply closet and taking out her tablet to hack it. 

“No need,” Kazuma said, and pressed his hand pad to the security plate. It flashed green and opened at his touch. “Maintenance worker, remember? Low level stuff like this I have clearance for.”

They took out three packs, but before they set out, Chris unbound Alice’s hands and laid her out on the ground. She was stirring and shifting now, though still as pale as a vent rat or someone who’d spent their entire life planetside on the lower layers. 

“Time to wake up,” Chris said, taking out an adrenaline shot. 

“Is it smart to give her that?” Kazuma asked. “What about that mind down stuff?”

“It would be death to carry her around in there, and we’ll need her,” Chris told him. She stabbed the shot into Alice’s arm, and a moment later the little girl sat bolt upright.

“FATHER!” she screamed, looking around wildly. 

“Shh, hey, it’s OK, we got you out of there,” Chris said, patting the girl’s arm, then pulling her into a quick hug. “You’re safe.”

“Where…where am I?” the girl asked, sounding dazed, her head resting on Chris’ shoulder. Her blue eyes locked on Kazuma’s, and she blinked. “Big…brother?”

“Ah, no, not exactly,” Kazuma admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “Do…do you remember anything?”

“I…remember…my father…the pain…I don’t…” the little girl started to cry, and Chris rubbed her back. 

“Shhh, shhh, it’s OK. I’m sorry, I would let you grieve, but…we have to get going. Right now. It’s not safe here,” Chris said, pulling away from Alice and wiping the girl’s tears away with her fingers. 

“Who…who are you? Who am I?” the girl asked, hiccuping. “I just remember…my father…he tried to…to…I think…he wanted to save me, but…”

“I’ll explain later,” Chris assured Alice, standing and pulling her to her feet. “Take this. We have to run.”

Alice took the offered pack, frowning at it. She reached to the side of it, and took the machete out of its sheath.

“That won’t do you much good,” Kazuma said, taking a rifle and checking it. It was a high caliber gun, something to keep off the big predators or herbivores, though it might just slow them down. Or, you know, mission kill an armored car. “Get a gun. Can you shoot?”

“I don’t…what is a gun?” Alice asked, looking confused and clutching the machete to herself.

“Let her keep it,” Chris said, standing and drawing her own two pistols. “I think she knows how to use that.”

“For what, chopping weeds?” Kazuma demanded, but didn’t argue further. 

Chris looked through the view screen, and the jungle outside looked quiet. She checked the peephole, just to be sure. The door itself was heavily armored as well as being a double hatched airlock. Not because the atmosphere was deadly, but to keep out something nasty if it somehow got through the first door. 

“Clear,” Chris muttered. She looked at Kazuma. “Ever been to the surface?”

“Just in Green Zones, and only to clean stuff,” Kazuma admitted. 

“Well, this is a Level 5 red zone. So be ready. A big old murlodont or a herd of hundroog could come out of the foliage and rip you limb from limb,” Chris warned. 

Swallowing, Kazuma gripped his rifle, then nodded. “Right. Let’s do this.”

Chris opened the first door, then quickly opened the next as Kazuma shut the first. They dashed out into the clearing around the building, only for red lasers to suddenly paint the ground in front of them. Behind them, the sound of clapping could be heard. 

Kazuma and Chris slowly turned, Alice shrinking to hide behind them, still clutching her machete. Behind them on the roof of the building, Sylvia stood with a dozen corporate commandos in power armor, even more HK Hawks roosting behind them, venomed talons gleaming. 

“Well, well, well. I suppose I should have expected this,” Sylvia said, continuing their slow clap and smiling down at them. “From you, at least, thief. But you, Kazuma? Naughty, naughty. And here I thought you loved me.”

“Me too,” Kazuma said, his throat suddenly swollen. He desperately, desperately wanted to crawl back to Sylvia and feel that rush again, but… “But you imprison little girls.”

Sylvia stopped clapping and glared down at them. “If you knew who she was, what her kind had done to me and mine…you’d be thanking me, boy. And do you realize, you stealing her could kill us all?”

“You’re full of shit!” Kazuma snapped. “She’s just a little girl, how could she-”

“She’s a part of the mana battery that keeps this moon green,” Sylvia said, gesturing to the jungle. “Keeps the food flowing. No mana, no food. No food, no people. A small sacrifice, a tithe to be paid by the leeches that held up their corrupt system for ages. Fair, wouldn’t you say?”

“Fuck you,” Kazuma growled. He glanced at Chris and lowered his voice. “Now would be a good time for one of those nasties to come out of the jungle.”

“We’d have to be pretty damn lucky for that,” Chris answered out of the side of her mouth. “Keep that thing talking. She always did love the sound of her own voice.”

“I rather think I’ll be the one doing that to you, my pet,” Sylvia said over their little conversation. “What are you saying, thief? Hmm, perhaps this time, I’ll turn you into a boy, and then do you while I make my new pet watch. Then I’ll either put you back in your pen, or-”

“ABOVE!” one of the commandos suddenly yelled, raising his gun and letting off a stream of bullets towards the trees high above them.

The HK hawks started to rise, even as something with huge, powerful arms, and a long tail that ended in a venomous spike lept across the 100 meter gap and landed amongst the commandos. It fell dead, but it did crash into three hawks, breaking bones and causing the others to flap away in a panic.

More creatures leapt out of the treetops, most of them landing amongst Sylvia and the commandos, while four of them attacked the three out in the open. 

Kazuma got off one shot, blowing off one of the creature's arms before its tail lashed out, sending his rifle flying out of his hands. He fell to the ground with a thud, barely conscious of Chris blasting away with her pistols and felling another creature. A third and fourth came for Kazuma, who had put Alice behind himself, and he desperately scrambled for the pistol he’d strapped to his side. It probably wouldn’t stop this thing, but-

“BIG BROTHER!” Alice screamed, and leapt at the creatures. She looked to be about ten years old, with blonde hair past her shoulders, flying loose behind her, her white smock flapping about her knees as she jumped. Kazuma cried out and reached out a hand, trying to claw her back, to keep her behind himself, but he was far too slow.

The creatures howled, both standing on their springy tails and reaching out clawed hands that were as big as Alice’s torso to rip her in half. Then the machete came down. 

“EXTERION!” 

In a spray of bone and blood, the creature's hands were severed, and they rocked back on their tails as Alice landed, machete behind her now. Being predators, they immediately backed off, fleeing and leaving their dead and dying companions.

“RUN!” Chris screamed, even as Alice’s knees buckled, and the machete slipped from her hands. 

Kazuma caught Alice just as she passed out. He didn’t have time to process what had just  happened, or how, as he slung Alice over his shoulder, machete in the other hand, and booked it for the trees, Chris sprinting ahead of him. He panted, running faster than he ever had before in his life, as the howls and screams echoed behind them amidst gunfire. 

Just as they made it to the trees, another shot rang out. Chris shrieked in pain as she fell one way, and her right leg blew off the other.

“CHRIS!” Kazuma gasped, stumbling beside her. “Chris, I-”

“RUN YOU IDIOT! “ Chris wailed. “JUST GET HER FREE OR THIS IS FOR NOTHING!”

“I…” Kazuma didn’t look back or hesitate further, nor waste air on more words. He couldn’t carry both Alice and Chris, and he ran off into the jungle, hacking his way through with the machete as the sounds of battle continued behind him. Tears streamed down his face, but he ran for all he was worth.

Some time later, Sylvia tossed aside the arm they’d ripped off one of the feral throwbacks and tossed it aside. They had been meant to keep intruders away from this location, and a fun diversion. Briefly, Sylvia considered violating one of the wounded ones: it wasn’t quite bestiality considering their shared biology. Even if it had been, Slyvia wouldn't have cared, and they always did like dominating those they defeated in every way. But there was no time for such things now. 

The Avatar was still alive, breathing out the last of her mana and life force, hands clenched to her wound. “How did you get out this time? Wait, don’t tell me: I let you out myself. It’s been what, a hundred years?”

“One hundred forty two,” the Avatar gasped, now pale from blood loss. 

“Hmm. I’ve missed our little game, but I’m afraid I don’t have time for it,” Sylvia sighed, reaching down an arm that grew scales and claws. 

The thief gave Sylvia a bloody grimace, and opened her hands, revealing a grenade with no pin. “I’m not letting you take me alive this time.”

The explosion took out Sylvia’s arm, and one of her feet, causing them to fall to the ground in a bloody pile. They hissed in pain, but cried out in anger. 

“I’ll find you, my pet!” Sylvia raged, one arm becoming a tentacle to lift them back up. “You and that little bitch! YOU’RE BOTH MINE! MINE FOREVER! MINE! THIS IS MY MOON! MY WORLDS!”

Beside Sylvia, the body that had been called Chris dissolved into silver flakes and vanished. 

And in the jungle, Kazuma ran blindly on, carrying his precious burden. 

Chapter Text

Everything was wrong. 

Hugging herself, Aqua followed Megumin and Komekko as they made their way toward the pipe's exit. Around her, the filthy sludge continued to purify slowly, though the flow was too fast for more than a small ring of clean water to form around Aqua. Everything about the disgusting liquid horrified Aqua, making her feel physically ill. How could the world be so sick as to produce such wrongness? 

“They’re sure to be watching the exit,” Megumin said quietly. “Sending in a NyteTech drone means they at least suspect there are Crimson Demons here.”

“What do we do?” Komekko asked. She sounded serious and calm, but her lower lip was quivering, and Aqua could sense the little girl’s fear. 

From Megumin, Aqua just sensed cold rage, and regret. And an entire ocean of grief. 

“We’ll try a flashbang, then jump out and surprise them. Hopefully, we take a few with us before we’re cut down,” Megumin said, hefting Gram. 

“What!? That’s a terrible plan! I’m not going along with any plan that gets you killed!” Aqua declared. “Even if I could bring you back to life, which I can’t without more prayers, I’m not letting you die!” 

“Aqua, they have us cornered. We can try and fight our way out but,” Megumin looked down at Komekko, and Aqua saw nothing but pain in her red eyes. “You and Komekko try to get free while I fight. Find Yunyun. Stay alive. For Our Eyes and Blood.”

“No! I’m not leaving you!” Komekko wailed and grabbed onto Megumin, hugging her tight. 

“You have to! I’ll catch up, OK?” Megumin said, hugging her sister fiercely. 

Aqua didn’t know what to do, but hugs were good, so she stepped forward and wrapped both girls in a hug. “Don’t you have any spells or skills that help? Crimson Demons know all kinds of magic…”

“I told you, I don’t KNOW any magic!” Megumin snapped. “No one does!”

“That’s impossible, you have to have SOME skills,” Aqua sniffed, and grabbed Megumini’s face in her hands. “ View Status .” 

For a moment, Aqua thought her spell had failed, as no glow appeared around Megumin, showing her class, skills, level, and stats. Then she realized that most of the fields were totally blank, the aura that would normally show them off missing entirely. There was a field with Megumin’s stats, but they didn’t look like Crimson Demon stats at all. Yes, her intellect was very high, as was normal, but she had no mana at all, and the rest of her stats were focused around some sort of weird dexterity based melee build, only there were no skills to speak of. Not even basic proficiencies. It was as though Megumin wasn’t even a resident of Belzerg at all, but rather one of the strange worlds that had no levels or experience.

“That’s not right,” Aqua mumbled, even as Megumin started to squirm and Komekko poke at Aqua. She let Megumin go and did the same to Komekko, and got largely the same result. Nothing but basic stats. 

“This is all WRONG!” Aqua wailed, sinking to her knees and hugging Komekko to her tightly. 

“Yes,” Komekko sniffed. “Big Sis can’t die! Not like…no! They have to be alive, they hafta”! 

“Well I’m going to fix THIS,” Aqua snarled, and her eyes suddenly glowed a deep blue as she called upon the very fabric of her own being. “ Grant Status !” 

It was a simple spell, one Aqua and the other deities had created for when they summoned heroes from another world. Naturally, such people were empty vessels, waiting to be filled. And as such, the gods were able to give them certain unique abilities and powers. Unfortunately, Aqua was rather lacking in such weapons at the moment, as she couldn’t return to the Divine Realm with her very limited pool of Faith and Mana. 

But she could use this simple spell, and start making the world right once more. It wouldn’t be much, the advantage would be minor, but this she could do. 

The two sisters gasped, as blue runic circles appeared around them. Aqua sighed, standing up and holding out her hands. Two cards appeared in them, each inscribed by divine hands to contain the very essence of the siblings. Normally, such cards were made by devices that an artificer made and a priest had to bless, but these would be special. 

“There. That’s better,” Aqua said, holding out the cards. “Take them. Now you can have magic.”

“What…what is this?” Megumin whispered, taking the card gently. “They just…appeared. What are they?”

“I like mine! It has my picture! Look!” Komekko said, holding hers up. In the picture on the card, Komekko was smiling mischievously, looking like an ordinary little girl. 

Aqua smiled and nodded. “You look very cute! These are your Adventurer Cards. They will keep track of your XP, spells, all that stuff. You don’t have anything now, but look! You have some unspent skill points. I’m afraid it’s not much, but you can also take a class and gain access to the basic class abilities. Let’s see…Komekko, you qualify for Arch Wizard! That’s the class most Crimson Demon’s take.”

Komekko wrinkled her nose as if uncertain. “Are they good at fighting?”

“Of course! Arch wizards are some of the most powerful Adventurers! They use magic to support their allies and destroy their enemies! They’re barred from Divine Magic, so no healing spells. But they can learn practically any other branch of magic, and they have the most mana and the best skills for improving their mystical might!” 

“That sounds good, how do I do it?” Komekko asked curiously. 

“Just touch here, and select Arch Wizard from the list of classes, then confirm it,” Aqua explained. “We used to have to do special rituals for this, but the gods decided that it was too much effort, and besides, a card can be used on the front lines for a quick boost of power!” 

“I…I can be a knight?” Megumin asked, blankly staring at her own list of classes.

“Huh? I mean, you don’t have the Stamina to qualify for any of the traditional knightly classes like Crusader or Knight. But you’re a Crimson Demon, you should just go with Archmage,” Aqua advised. 

Megumin put a hand to the hilt of the sword on her back, then shook her head. “I know how to use this. Maybe, if we had more time, or if it was just me…learning ancient and powerful spells to devastate my foes, devoting myself to power beyond reckoning…but, my sister is here. And you’re here. I need to be able to protect you. What class lets me do that?”

“Well…” Aqua studied Megumin’s skills and scratched her head. “Rune Knight is a class that uses swords and magic, but they rely more on strength. With your skills…I think either an Assassin or Spell Blade would be best…”

“I’m not just here to kill people. I’ll avenge my people someday, but right now, I need to protect Komekko,” Megumin said firmly. She stabbed her finger down. “I shall become MEGUMIN! SPELL BLADE AND WIELDER OF THE LEGENDARY GRAM!” 

Megumin’s card glowed, but nothing much more happened. She blinked and looked at Aqua, frowning. “So…now what? Did I learn some super skill or something?”

“Well, ordinarily, you have to have someone who already knows a skill to teach you. But, since I’m a goddess, I can grant you each whatever skill you have the points for. Komekko only has enough points for Basic Magic, but you can-”

“Lookit!” Komekko said, and waved her hand. There was a flash of light, and a black raven appeared. It let out a squawk, flapped a bit, then landed on Komekko’s head, there not being anywhere better to roost in a sewer pipe. “I picked Summon Familiar! ‘Cause that means I get a pet, right? Ima name him Hoost!” 

“Uh, I guess she spent her skill points,” Aqua said, scratching her head. “Summon Familiar at the basic level just lets you summon a mundane creature. Most people don’t bother with it…it can do some useful things though. She can see through its eyes, or talk to it.”

“RAWK!” the bird said and flapped its wings. 

Komekko giggled. “Hoost says he wants to eat! Me too, Hoost. Hey, can I eat him? I’m hungry!” 

The raven looked mortally offended and pecked at Komekko, who batted him away. 

“Bad bird!” 

“You could, but it wouldn’t do you any good. You made him with your mana: at best eating him would get you a portion of it back,” Aqua sighed. She turned to Megumin. “For you…I’m not sure what you should take…”

“There’s a skill here called ‘Shroud,’ what’s that do?” Megumin demanded, pointing to one of the skills that were listed on her card.

“Oh, that’s a spell that lets you hide yourself or an object about your size from sight with a mystic veil. It won’t work in direct sunlight though,” Aqua said.

Komekko and Megumin exchanged a look. “We’ve never seen the sun.”

“What?! How?! Oh, I have got to fix this world! What has happened?!” Aqua cried, tugging at her hair. 

“You said Komekko can see through her pet’s eyes, right?” Megumin asked, selecting Shroud as her spell. “I have an idea…”

======================================

Crash took a long drag off his e-cig, expelling the vapor out through his nose. He looked down at the sewer pipe below, then at his screen. Nothing on all the equipment. “Shit.”

“I told you, I’m not going in there,” Bandit said, spitting to the side. She adjusted her tactical webbing over her black body armor, rubbing it as if to scratch herself. She always did get itchy, the poxy bitch. “Red-eyed little fuckers took out the drone like it was nothing. That shit’s expensive, but my hide’s worth more.”

“You’ll go in if I say so,” Crash snarled, lowering his e-cig and glaring at Bandit. “After losing the drone we need the chits. And Reds are worth a lot. Didn’t even think there were any left after the pair we fragged a month back.”

“Told you there were some brats with them,” Coot said, not looking up from the scope of his rifle. The old man was lying on a ledge above the other members of the team, covered in a pretty decent chameleon cloak. “We’re gonna have to go in and get ‘em out. Told you the drone wouldn’t work.”

Crash and his crew were camped out on a slimy metal landing above the large septic pool below them. There were a couple of smaller pipes feeding into it, but the one they’d tracked their prey too was large enough for even a grown orc to fit into. Crash had sent their very advanced, and highly expensive, new drone in to scout and possibly bag their prey with minimal danger and effort. It had looked like his big payout after years of work was about to happen. But now, right at the end, everything was going tits up. 

“Shut it. You never think ANYTHING will work,” Crash snapped. He shoved his cig back into its pouch and clipped it shut, then grabbed his helmet and pulled it back over his head. “Remember, they’re brats but they’re Crimsons. They’ll fight like hell. Don’t eat a grenade from one like Cortex did.”

“Don’t tell me how to wipe my own ass and I won’t tell you how to run your outfit. But I am NOT going in there. They have the drone now, which means they’ve got guns and explosives. We’ll get murdered,” Bandit argued. She pulled down her rebreather and scratched at her acne-scarred face like she always did when she was nervous. 

Though he wouldn’t admit it, Crash was spooked as well. Taking out a NyteTech drone with nothing but some improvised weapons? That was hardcore. There was a reason the bounty on Crimson Demons was so high, but so very rarely collected: people who weren’t careful were likely to end up dead tangling with them. He’d started with a crew of seven when they’d caught the adults, and lost three with a fourth too injured to stay in the field. But these were just kids. Supposedly, easy meat. 

Crash flexed his left hand, which was now metallic. He’d lost that when they’d killed what had to be these brat’s parents a month back. It still ached all the time, but that was fine. Once they claimed the bounty on the brats, Crash would take it easy for a few years. Buy himself a woman who was prettier than Bandit, even if she was a wildcat in the sack. Man wanted to look at his lay after the deed was done and not feel disgusted with himself. 

“Something on the sensors,” Coot said. “Movement. Smoke or something.”

Squinting at his screen, Crash wiped it with the back of his right hand, smearing the greasy surface further. “I don’t see shit.” 

“I’m telling you, there was something. They’re doing something,” Coot said. 

“Just wait, they’ll come out. There’s nothing in there but shit,” Bandit urged. “Maybe we should call in some backup. This is NyteTech turf. They’ve got good corporate security.”

“We do that and they’ll take the eyes and our bounty, and there go our profits. Three-way split is plenty,” Crash spat.

“Can’t split if you're dead,” Coot mused. 

“Shut up or it’ll be a two-way split and I’ll spend your portion on a body job for Bandit,” Crash growled. He heard an odd noise and looked up and around. Were those wingbeats? There might be some lamprey owls around here looking for a meal, but they wouldn't tangle with three well-armed freelancers. 

“The fuck is that?” Bandit demanded, raising her rifle, her head jerking around. 

“Put that down before you shoot me, you dumb bitch!” Crash said, slapping the barrel of her gun down. 

There was a splash behind him, and Crash spun, looking into the pool. There were ripples in the water. “What came out?”

“I didn’t see shit. So that’s probably what it was,” Coot said, his tone smug.

“You fucker,” Crash said, though he exhaled out of his nose. Dammit, he did like these two. Sure, Bandit was ugly as sin, Coot was a pessimistic old cuss, but they worked well together. The Crimsons hadn’t been the first bounties they’d bagged, and they made enough to live. With another big bounty, maybe he would get Bandit a body mod job. She was more than decent in the sack, plus she wasn’t boring when she wasn’t whining, so-

“TASTE THE FURY OF MY VENGEANCE!” 

A sword sprouted through Bandit’s sternum. She let out a puff of air, her eyes going glassy. Her gun dropped to the ground, and she sagged, held up by only the blade through her chest. 

“FUCK! FUCK, OFF ME!” Coot bellowed as a raucous cry sounded. His rifle barked three times, but Crash wasn’t paying attention.

Out of the darkness, two glowing red eyes appeared, attached to the figure who had just skewered Bandit. Crash snapped up his rifle and fired a three-round burst, but his shots were wide. Even though he knew in his heart that Bandit was dead, he wasn’t going to shoot her if there was even a fraction of a chance of hitting her. Then the little girl with the sword yanked it out of Bandit, and rushed at Crash. He fired again, this time hitting her blade. But his bullets just bounced off the weapon.

“What the fuck!” Crash snarled, and fired again. His target dodged and threw something at him. He could only swear in panic as the bomb went off. He fell to the ground, bloody, blind, and deaf. It had just been a flash bang, but one of those going off in your face, even in tactical armor, wasn’t good for your health. 

He never saw the stroke that took off his head. 

==================================================================

Megumin raised Gram, looking around for something else to try to kill her. There was a shot, and Megumin instinctively ducked. But it was just Komekko, who was lowering her makeshift gun after climbing out of the sewer pipe with Aqua.

“That’s one for me!” Komekko said happily, shouldering her weapon and hurrying over. “Good boy, Hoost!” 

“Rawk!” the raven said, fluttering down to the man under the stealth cloak Komekko had just shot. The bird had been distracting him, and was evidently hungry, as he started pecking at the dead man. 

“They’re…they’re just people,” Aqua said, clambering out of the lake below. Megumin did a double take. The water looked…well, like water now. Not like polluted sewage. 

“They’re Eye Hunters,” Megumin said and holstered Gram. She took out a knife and knelt by the woman she’d killed. “Not people.”

Komekko hurried over to her own kill, but Hoost was taking care of that, pecking out the dead man’s eyes. Megumin quickly gouged out her own kills, then used the blood to write the symbol of her people on the ground: Two glowing red eyes.

“The price is paid,” Megumin whispered. “Sleep well, mother, father. I…I’ll take care of Komekko. I promise.”

“What are you doing?!” Aqua gasped. “You can’t desecrate the dead!” 

“They do it to ours,” Megumin said, standing up after she wiped her knife off on the Eye Hunter’s pants. “So we do it to them. Quick, get the supplies off them Komekko, then we have to go.”

“But they were just PEOPLE! Not monsters, not demons, or anything! They were all human! How…how could they work for the Devil King?” Aqua demanded. 

“They didn’t. They’re just licensed mercs,” Megumin grunted, going through the belongings of the dead. She took what chits and credits she found, along with rations and easy-to-carry electronics. She found a nice pistol and thirty rounds of ammo as well on the woman, pocketing those. 

When Megumin turned back around, Aqua was crying over one of the bodies, smoothing the hair out of the now eyeless face of the dead woman. Megumin had overheard her name through Komekko’s weird raven-drone thing, but she didn’t care about the names of Eye Hunters. 

“Why are you so upset!? Didn’t you hear? THEY KILLED MY PARENTS! They would have killed Komekko! They would have killed YOU! Let this scum reap the harvest they have sown, and let their corpses rot on the plains as crows feast upon their eyes!” 

“Hoost is a raven though, not a crow,” Komekko said, her bird once more perched on her head as she came over. “He gets very offended if you mix them up. He says crows are dumb and small.”

“Well, I’ll make sure to feed him as many eyes as he wants,” Megumin promised. “Now we have to get out of here before- Dammit! Take cover!” 

Megumin grabbed the only slightly torn chameleon cloak and hid under it with Aqua and Komekko as the sound of an air car’s engine echoed through the small space. A moment later, a bright light stabbed through the darkness and the brief wail of a siren. 

“Corporate Security!” a male voice blared over a loudspeaker. “Everyone freeze- Oh shit. What the hell happened here?”

Megumin hugged Komekko tightly as the air car set down, and a moment later she heard boots clanging off the metal walkway. 

“Fuck me, these are those mercs that came through. What tore them apart like this?”

“Shit, look at their eyes! They were Eye Hunters! There’s demons around here. Run a scan, maybe-”

Megumin and Komekko rose up together. Komekko drew a bead on the corpo still in the car and let loose with two round bursts. She didn’t do more than wing him, but her shots made the pig cry out in pain as he fell back into his squad car. 

Megumin raced forward, swinging Gram in a wide arc. She sliced through the corpo’s hand as he tried to bring his pistol to bear on her, then followed through with a slice through the neck. She didn’t take the man’s head off, but she did slice his jugular, and he was down and dead, though it would take a minute or so. She ran forward to the car, where Komekko was pinging shots off the windshield to keep everyone’s head down. She rammed Gram into the man’s side, then kicked him out of the car. 

“GET IN!” Megumin screamed to Komekko and Aqua. “More will come!”

“How can you just kill them!” Aqua wailed, scrambling over with Komekko and the familiar, all of the piling into the car. 

“Pretty easily, they’re not exactly our first,” Megumin grunted. She paused before getting into the car and struck a pose. “Know that this is what happens to all who oppose the Crimson Demon Clan! FEAR OUR VENGEANCE!" 

Then she got in the squad car. It was still on thankfully, and she hastily piloted it up and out of the pit. 

“We’ll have to find somewhere to hide,” Megumin said as she yanked up on the control yoke. “Killing corpos is always a pain in the ass.” 

“I brought the food!” Komekko said around a mouthful of ration bar, and handed Megumin one. Aqua was still blubbering, but she’d followed  and was just sort of laying in the other seat. Komekko, being familiar with Megumin’s driving habits, was already buckling her webbing. 

“W-why did we have to kill them?” Aqua sniffled. “That was a half elf and a dwarf! They weren’t evil, just mortals!” 

“They work for NyteTech!” Megumin snapped as she slammed the throttle forward, causing Aqua to squeak in panic as she was slammed back in her seat. “They make the weapons and hardware used to hunt Crimson Demons down! If they found us, they’d kill us and collect the bounty themselves! You’re pretty, so they’d probably, you know, let you go if you let them…do things to you…”

“And that’s why we carry suicide bombs,” Komekko told Aqua, who was now slumped on the floor as Megumin raced up a ventilation shaft. “Mommy says that’s a better way to go.”

Megumin dodged around protruding piping and dangling wires avoided suspicious looking patches that might conceal ambushes and put on more speed. It couldn’t be long before the car got locked down and the corpos realized their goons were dead and sent back up. Until then, she needed to find somewhere to hide, and if possible, someone to sell the car to to be stripped so she could get some trade. 

“Where’s a good chop shop around here,” Megumin muttered out loud, taking the car through a large vent and into a larger space between dilapidated highrises. 

“I can help you with that if you promise to let me have a ration bar and not kill me!” 

Megumin swore and nearly jumped out of her skin, while Komekko took the pistol and pointed it towards the speaker. That proved to not be necessary, as the person in question was a bedraggled looking blonde woman with handcuffs on, strapped into the back of the squad car. 

“Who are you!? What are you doing here!?” Megumin demanded, slowing down the car's speed and keeping low. For now, she’d just look like some corpsec patrol fishing for bounties, but that couldn’t last forever. 

“Hi! I’m Cecily! I, uh, I was er…look kid, you’re too young and too cute for me to tell you what I’m doing in here, but let’s just say I haven’t eaten since those nice pigs gave me some ramen, and that was a week ago. I’ve run out of tricks to turn except the oldest one, so I figured, what the heck?” Cecily said, shrugging and giving Megumin a helpless grin. “Turns out I still have a bounty on my head. Small one, but these guys were bored. They were about to…anyway, they took me when they got wind of a rumor of a couple of Crimson Demons, which I guess is you?”

“Don’t try anything, Pale Eyes, or I’ll frag ya!” Komekko threatened, pointing the pistol toward the security glass.

“No! Absolutely not!” Aqua snapped and touched the gun. “ Ashes to ashes, rust to rust! ” 

The gun in Komekko’s hand suddenly crumbled into a pile of iron oxide, causing Komekko to goggle at it for a moment before turning to glare at Aqua. “That was mine! Why’d you break it?”

“RAWK!” Hoost agreed. 

“Guns are icky and not a part of my setting,” Aqua huffed. She turned to Cecily. “You…you don’t have anywhere else to turn to, do you?”

“Aqua, she’s an OUTSIDER. Don’t talk to her! We’ll just kick her out of the cab at a few hundred meters and she won’t be our problem!” Megumin snapped. Though she felt sick saying it. Crimson Demons weren’t supposed to kill innocent people, but, well, who was innocent when you had a bounty on your head? Everyone was willing to trade tips on where to find Crimson Demons, so if someone saw your eyes, they had to die.

“Hey, hey! Relax, I’d never turn in a couple of kids,” Cecily swore, but Megumin could tell she was lying. “Look, I know a chop shop near here. I, uh, I  helped the owner…never mind. If we show up with a car he’ll buy it off us. Just toss me a few credits and we’re good, OK?”

“Megumin, can you open the little window?” Aqua asked, tapping on the security glass. 

“Where’s the shop?” Megumin said, not pressing the button and turning to glare at Cecily. She put the car into a slow forward hover, keeping the lights low. They were over a particularly dingy bit of slum, but Megumin didn’t know the arena well enough to say whose turf they were in.

“Not far, here in ShopWiz turf! Just promise to let me go, ok? I hate the corpos too, I’d never rat anyone out. You killing those guys? Great stuff! They were probably not even going to feed me after…uh, look, you’re cute but-”

“I know what rape is, OK? We grew up in the slums,” Megumin said, though her face heated. She had a vague idea that it was bad and a complete violation of someone and that death was better, but she didn’t actually know what it entailed. 

“Cecily…are you…do you need hope?” Aqua said, holding a ration bar through the small window. 

Megumin and Komekko both sighed at the waste of food, but Cecily eagerly took the bar and devoured it. “Thanks! I’m starving! As for hope, you can’t eat it or sell it, so who needs it? I’m just trying to survive!” 

“Set the carriage down, Megumin,” Aqua said quietly. 

“It’s an air car,” Megumin muttered. She frowned at Aqua. “What are you going to do?”

Aqua gave Megumin a sad smile. “People need hope. I…I can see I’ve failed. There are no more gods, are there? Just…this…poison. And machines. We have to start somewhere. We have to free this world.”

Cecily gave Aqua an incredulous look, one that said, “I’m nuts but this bitch is crazy.”

“Fine,” Megumin sighed. “I can always kill her later…”

“No. No more killing. Not unless they’re evil. You’re not…you called it a corpo, right Megumin?”

“Huh uh, no way! I’m a nobody, not even ShopWiz would hire me!” Cecily vowed. Which meant she’d applied and been rejected. Everyone wanted a corporate job. Even a job cleaning putrid toilets or processing raw sewage was good if it was for a corporation. You wouldn’t starve, and corporate security was more likely to not try to rob you. They might even help you if they were in a generous mood and whoever attacked you had a bounty on their head. 

Megumin set the car down on top of a flat concrete roof that didn’t have too many cracks in it. She kept her hand on the yoke just in case it gave way, or it turned out there was someone ready to ambush them to steal the car for themselves, but the structure held and no one attacked. 

The concrete was stained and cracked, with bits of trash in the corners. A rusted old air conditioner that had long ago been stripped of anything useful sat on one end, while the sagging remains of a broken ladder showed where access had once been. Aqua hopped out and went over to the rear door, which Megumin popped open for her. 

“Cecily, let me see your hands,” Aqua said. 

“Uh, OK. Look, I’ll do chicks too if that’s what you want. Just don’t kill me, please! I’ll keep my mouth shut, whatever you want! Everyone knows they can trust Big Sis Cecily, and-”

Aqua took the woman’s hands, turning them over. Tears leaked down Aqua’s face, and she shook her head. “Megumin, can you get these off of her?”

Megumin glanced at Komekko, but her sister already had a rifle at the ready, so she went over and used a chip she’d found in the car’s cupholder to pop off the cuffs. Cecily rubbed her wrists and smiled nervously, first at Megumin, then at Aqua, obviously not certain what happened next. 

“I can feel your hurts. You were beaten recently,” Aqua said, touching a bruise on Cecily’s cheek.

 Now that Megumin got a closer look, she could see that Cecily was thin and haggard, her hair lank and greasy, her eyes filled with pain. Even her eyes were dull and listless. Sure, she talked fast and smooth, but Megumin felt a pang of pity. Sure, her life was miserable, but she’d had her family. Her sister and Yunyun, who was basically her sister, and her parents before…

Despite herself, Megumin hiccuped and started to cry. To her shock, Cecily reached out and patted Megumin on the head. “It’s OK kid. I heard…the pigs were talking about how someone, um…well they said bagged, but I think they meant…did you know those other Red Eyes?”

Megumin nodded sullenly, jerking away from the touch.

“Chin up! As long as you're still kicking, it’ll be OK! I dunno what happened to my mom, she never gave a shit about me. I hope…I hope your parents were good to you while you had them. That’s what’s supposed to happen and stuff, right?” Cecily said, smiling. Her teeth were yellowed and chipped, and by the sores on her gums, Megumin guessed Cecily had scurvy or something. She was dying, slowly. Like most people. Like the whole world.

“I can take care of your bruises, and the disease,” Aqua said. “But…you have to do something for me. Promise me that after, you’ll pray to me, OK?”

“Uh, lady, if you’re gonna give me a medkit, I will do whatever you want. I lost a tooth yesterday, so I know what’s up. The ration bar was good though, it had some vitamins or whatever, right?”

“Call me Aqua, Goddess of Water.” With that, Aqua took Cecily’s head in her hands again.

“Goddess of what? Are you some sort of WOAH!”

“ Heal ,” Aqua said, and a blue glow washed over Cecily. After a moment, Aqua added, “ Restoration . Muse’s Reflection ."

When the glow faded, a new woman was standing there. Cecily’s lank hair now shone with luster, her skin had taken on a flush of health, her eyes shone with vitality, and even her cheeks weren’t as sunken and hollow.

“What…what did you do?” Cecily gasped, but then she had to catch Aqua as the other woman sank to the ground.

“Out…out of mana…faith…please,” Aqua whispered, her eyes fluttering closed. 

Megumin instantly knelt, taking Gram and holding it up before her. “I thank Aqua, Lady of Heroes, for bestowing on me this blade. I pray for the souls of my parents, that they may find…find somewhere better than here.”

“Thanks for the food, Aqua,” Komekko added, and bit into a ration bar, before feeding a bit to Hoost, who squawked in appreciation. 

Cecily slowly lay Aqua down, tears filling her eyes. “Thank you. I…I don’t…thank you…I…I love you, Lady Aqua!”

After a few moments, Aqua was able to open her eyes and get shakily to her feet. “Thank you…I needed…I needed that. Cecily…do you promise to pray to me, every day? And give me offerings?”

“Whatever you need,” Cecily swore, tears rolling down her face as she clutched Aqua’s hand. “No one has…no one ever…thank you…”

“I mark you as my priestess,” Aqua said, reaching up and touching Cecily’s forehead. “Spread the gospel of the Axis Cult. ‘Not even Aqua knows whether you will be happy in the future, so you should, at least, be happy now!’”

“I will. I’ll tell everyone!” Cecily promised, nodding furiously and pocketing the card that had appeared in her hands. “I’ll tell them there’s a real goddess, not like those fakers in the Church of Serenity.”

Aqua’s eyes suddenly flashed. “Oh, Regina is still around, is she? Well, I’ll show her that the Axis Cult is way better than her wackos!” 

“Regina’s real? I thought CEO Serena just made her up,” Komekko said, frowning slightly. 

“She’s a real jerk is what she is. A goddess should make people smile! All revenge does is make everyone sad and miserable!” Aqua huffed. 

Megumin turned to Cecily. “Look, we won’t kill you…we’ll give you some ration bars and split the profits off the car. Where’s the shop?”

Cecily stood up. “I’ll show you. You drive, I never learned how.”

On the short flight over, Cecily peppered Aqua with questions like, “Are you really going to save the world?”

“Yes, I’ll defeat these corporations and make the world right again! With pure water, clean air, and food and fun for everyone!” Aqua replied. 

Megumin would have rolled her eyes if she hadn’t seen Aqua make wonderfully delicious water. And the very thought of breathable air, free for everyone…that was the sort of deed worthy of the Crimson Demon Clan. 

“What about like, being bad and stuff? Do we have to pay fines like the Church makes people?”

“If you feel bad, you’ve probably done something bad! Just say you’re sorry and don’t do it again, then do something nice for someone! If you forget that you were bad, so will I!” 

“What about killing? Do you kill people if they wrong you?”

“No! The Axis Cult only fights demons and undead, and bad guys! We help other people!”

“Do you like, charge for healing and stuff? You could make bank!”

“Absolutely not! The gifts of the gods are free! So freely give them! Everyone should be happy, and how can you be happy if you’re sick? Heal everyone, and then party to celebrate!” 

Then Aqua started spouting life advice that even Megumin, young as she was, recognized as questionable.

"Sometimes, running away is winning! So if you can’t win, just book it!” 

“If you’re going to regret it anyway, do whatever’s easiest for you in the moment!”

“It’s society’s fault that things don’t work out!”

They arrived at the chop shop, which was just a rusty garage hidden behind a fallen tenement building with various squatters living in the ruins. The only sign it was a garage at all was a landing strip that had been cleared, and a couple of thugs standing around at the edges.

“Who the hell are you?” one demanded as Megumin killed the engine.

“Hey, Francis, remember me? I’m Cecily!” the woman in question said, bouncing out.

“You’re that bitch that sold me those chips that you said had the good stuff on them, but it was just naked pictures of you!” Francis, who was apparently a female dwarf despite the beard by the timber of her voice, cried. 

“And boy did you get a deal? Still have that game leg? I see you didn’t replace it,” Cecily said, walking towards Francis as the other tough drew a cudgel. He was a tattooed male dwarf with a bright green mohawk, and when he grinned at Megumin, she saw nothing but black stubs of teeth. That was the sign of a mossbeer habit; a nasty, hallucinogenic alcohol that destroyed your mouth and guts. But, everyone died young anyway, so why not take a trip first?

“That leg is the only reason that you’re not-” Francis began, but then Cecily took the woman’s outstretched finger. 

“Heal!” a much dimmer blue glow surrounded Cecily, washing over Francis’ right leg. 

Francis blinked, then slowly stood up straight. She stopped her foot a few times, then muttered, “Well I’ll be damned. What did you do?”

“That is just one of the many amazing things that the Axis Cult can do, Francis! It’s your lucky day! Not only did I bring you guys a car, for only the low price of 100,000 credits, but I brought you the Gospel of Lady Aqua!”

“A hundred thou for- no! But, what’s this Gospel stuff?” Francis said. She jerked her chin towards the male dwarf. “Yo, Rocky, calm down. That was some good shit. I think we should buy this car.”

“Yeah? You trust these tallies?” Rocky growled, fingering his cudgel. He’d driven bits of glass and rusty metal into it, making it a rather fearsome-looking weapon. Megumin wasn’t worried though. Any Crimson Demon that couldn’t defeat a dwarf in single combat unarmed wasn’t worth the Red in their Eyes.

“I dunno…look the car over,” Francis ordered. Then she turned back to Cecily. “Tell me more about this Axis stuff. Is it nanotech? That’d sell real well…”

“You just have to give prayers and offerings to the wonderful and glorious lady Aqua!” Cecily said. She paused, turning to Aqua. “Um, what sort of offerings?”

“I like booze! But some water will do if you don’t have any. Just give me a sip or two at every meal! Big offerings on all the special holidays, like my Birthday! It’s August 1st,” Aqua explained. 

“I got some booze here…” Francis said, taking out a flask from a pouch on her belt. “If you-”

“A glorious offering for the Lady Aqua!” Cecily said, snatching it away. She presented it to Aqua, bowing deeply. “A gift for you, goddess, from your faithful and bestest priestess, Cecily!”

“That was mine!” Francis roared, reaching for her own cudgel. 

“A small price for fixing your leg, wouldn’t you say?” Cecily prompted, batting her eyes.

“Well, I mean, I guess, but-”

“Great! So, you were saying 110,000 for the car, right?” Cecily prodded. 

“Fuck me sideways, Francis, this is a real NyteTech corpo car! This is worth millions!” Rocky said, popping up. “Let’s frag these guys and-”

“Hey, I see you’ve got bad teeth, I can help you too!” Cecily said. She ran over and grabbed Rocky’s mouth, chanting, “Restoration!”

“What the fuuuuuu….” Rocky slowly reached up, touching his pearly whites. He sat down on the ground, hard. “What kind of…”

“Quickly, offer prayers and thanks to Lady Aqua! Promise to serve the Axis Cult, and I just know good things will start coming to you!” Cecily promised. 

“I…no one’s ever…” Rocky fell flat on his face, crying. “Thank you, Lady Aqua! I promise to offer you a sip of every mossbeer I drink from now on!” 

“We can’t give you millions for the car,” Francis said, slowly squatting up and down. She shook her head. “Shit, a new knee is worth… look. I’ll talk to the boss. We’ll give you what cash we have. I’ll get the crew started on this.”

“We can’t stay,” Megumin said, touching her goggles to make sure they were in place. She and Komekko had put them on long before they landed. The corpos probably had their pictures, but no need to let these dwarves know what they were sitting on. A car was worth millions. A set of Crimson Eyeballs? A billion. Each.

“Yeah, OK. Just…I’ll go get the boss. Rocky, start stripping it, it’s got tracking on it. We’ll have to move, but this score is worth it,” Francis barked. 

“Yeah, OK.” Rockly slowly stood, peering at Aqua. “Are you…her?”

“I am Aqua, Goddess of Water,” Aqua agreed. She had already drained Francis’ flask, and pointed a finger at it. A trickle of water appeared and rapidly filled it up. 

She handed it to Rocky, who took a sip. He immediately choked, coughing as he held it up. “What is…is that…water? But it tastes…how’d you purify it?”

“I made it,” Aqua said with a shrug. “It’s clean. Cecily can purify more, and if she levels up she can learn to create some on her own.”

“Holy Mother of Bedrock,” the dwarf swore. He kowtowed again. “Thank you, my lady. You…I don’t know what you are. But I’ll worship you. I’d worship anyone who could do that…”

Despite Megumin’s hurry, they spent half an hour at the dwarven chop shop, during which time Aqua and Cecily healed every single one of the dwarves, including several children who came out of hiding. When Megumin finally dragged Aqua away, the car was already gone and the dwarves were packing up, but the Axis Cult had twenty new members. A few of the squatters had come out to see the commotion, and Cecily had gone over, preaching and healing the various illnesses and injuries they had. People that poor couldn’t even afford a back alley hacksaw, let alone a corporate clinic with real meds. 

“I feel better now,” Aqua sighed. “It’s only a few prayers…but they really believe…”

“Enjoy it while you can,” Megumin told her, leading the way as Komekko ushered the goddess along. “Because once NyteTech gets wind of this, those dwarves are all dead.”

No one stole from the corporations for long, Megumin knew. 

She just hoped she could hide Aqua before they caught wind that someone was handing out for free what they rightfully sold. 

Chapter Text

For half an hour, Kazuma ran blindly through the jungle, jagged leaves cutting his face and arms, thorns ripping at his legs and chest, and stinging insects biting at him. Through it all, he clutched Alice to his chest desperately, shielding her from as much harm as he possibly could. 

Even the massive dose of adrenaline Kazuma had gotten during the attack could only keep him going for so long though. He wasn’t in the best of shape, and though he was from planet side with heavier gravity, he could only run for so long, especially with the mounting minor injuries. Eventually, his ragged breathing and screaming muscles caught up with him, and he was forced to first slow to a jog, then a trot, then to stagger blindly forward. 

His arms burned and felt as though they were made of lead, but when he looked down at the unconscious face of the girl in his arms, Kazuma gritted his teeth and made himself keep going forward. 

I’m sorry, Lia. I’m sorry, mom and dad. I failed. I can’t do it again. I’m sorry. 

Kazuma’s heart thundered in his chest, and his vision began to swim. The oppressive heat combined with high humidity meant that he was rapidly becoming dehydrated, and he had not brought any supplies with him, save for the machete that now hung from his belt, his arms too tired to use it to clear a path any longer. 

Just as he was hitting the edge of his strength, Kazuma stumbled into ankle deep water. Swearing, he staggered, then dropped Alice, who fell into the water with a splash a moment before Kazuma collapsed himself. He sputtered and tried to fight for the surface, only for something to grab onto the back of his shirt and yank him up out of the water.

Desperately Kazuma tried to grab the machete and slice at whatever was holding him, images of a Lorian dropping out of the canopy to grab him, or a Canopy Crawler’s jaws striking from on high. 

“Alice! Alice get up and run!” Kazuma gasped, the muddy water filling his eyes. 

“Um, that’s me, right? You can stop struggling, I have you.” 

Kazuma’s vision cleared, and he saw that Alice was holding him up out of the water with one hand as she waded to a higher patch of ground, where she heaved him up out of the muck and onto the bank. 

“Oh, um, thanks,” Kazuma managed, gasping and collapsing on the mossy ground. 

Alice looked down on him, concerned, but a noise off to the side made her look around, startled. “What is that? Where are we? I remember…another attack? But I don’t…where is…the woman…I knew her, I think, I don’t…”

“Sylvia and her thugs attacked us, got Chris. Had to leave her behind,” Kazuma admitted, managing to sit up with a groan. He unhooked the machete from his belt and looked at it for a moment. Then sighed and gave it to Alice. “You know how to use that better than I do…the heck was that back there?”

“I…I just…I knew…” Alice swallowed and then sat down, starting to cry as she hugged her knees to herself and rocked back and forth. 

“Hey, it’s OK,” Kazuma said, crawling over. Despite the muck, he gave Alice a hug, not knowing what else to do. To his surprise, she clung to his chest, pressing her face to his breast and weeping. He gingerly squeezed her, his own eyes shut as he thought of the last time little hands had clung to him. How long? Those bastards.

“T-thank you, big brother,” Alice whispered, drawing back and wiping at her eyes. “You must have fought General Sylvia and escaped. The Flesh Shaper, she is…no, no that’s not right…”

Something caught in Kazuma’s throat. “My parents…they called Sylvia a general too. I’m not sure…I don’t think even they knew why. Just that the corporations are evil. I had to work for them though, had to get away from… never mind.”

“Corporations?” Alice’s face scrunched up in confusion, so Kazuma rubbed her damp hair. 

“Don’t worry about it. Right now, we need to focus on staying alive. The jungles of Discord are dangerous.”

“Ah. Such as the creatures that attacked us earlier?” Alice asked, standing up with Kazuma. She clutched at her machete as if the weapon gave her comfort, looking around with some trepidation.

“Feral throwbacks. Basically, escaped lab experiments. That lot was pretty damn nasty. Took out a full team of commandos and Killer Hawks. We need to keep moving though; it’s hard to track people in the jungle, but I’m leaving a bit of a blood trail and that’s bad.”

 Kazuma went over to the water, kneeling down and peering at his muddy reflection. He sighed, but scooped some water into his mouth, drinking it. “Probably gonna get the shits from this, but it’s that or die of thirst…”

“Did you not take some purification magic or disease resistance?” Alice asked, coming over. She scooped water to her mouth as well, looking around warily.

Kazuma chuckled, taking out his Adventurer’s card. He blinked at it. “Huh, it says I’m level 3 now. Got some skill points, but I don’t know how to spend them?”

“Oh! I think I can grant those,” Alice reached over and put a hand on Kazuma’s card. “Hmmm, yes, you are an Adventurer class. I can give you Basic Magic . I never use it, but you should be able to create drinkable water for yourself that way.”

Kazuma blinked at her. “Er, sure, OK…”

“ Grant Spell ,” Alice chanted, and a moment later, knowledge rushed into Kazuma’s mind as kanji appeared on his card. Create Water, Earth, Wind, and Fire, plus Flash and Darken. The six basic spells of the six schools of magic. But how did he know that? 

Didn’t matter. First, drinkable water. “Create Water.” 

A trickle of water spouted from Kazuma’s finger, and he guzzled it thirstily. A second casting of the spell provided Alice with a sort of drinking fountain, which made her giggle and she drank. 

“Much better than that muddy stuff,” she said. 

“Why didn’t you use Create Water?” Kazuma asked curiously. 

Alice shrugged. “I don’t know, I suppose because I can drink pure poison and survive.”

“And…you know that how?” Kazuma asked suspiciously. 

“Why, it’s right here on my…on my…” Alice clutched at her head, her expression suddenly pained. “I don’t know. I just…I know. I think…I think I skipped Basic Magic?”

“Then how can you grant it?” Kazuma asked, frowning. 

“I…” Alice’s head whipped around. “Something is coming. Several somethings.”

“Shit, what is it? Not a baloth pack,” Kazuma groaned, standing up and backing towards the water. Then he felt a tremor. He looked down, and saw the murky water trembling itself. Wait. A watering hole…this was a watering hole. It was about 10 meters across, a shallow pool with a narrow stream trickling in and out of it and both ends. Which meant…

“We gotta go!” Kazuma gasped, and grabbed on to Alice’s arm. 

However, she had taken a firm stance, raising her machete into a high guard. “I shall not retreat. I shall not back down. No foe can face me. I am the Sword of the Realm.”

“You’re a little girl lost in the jungle!” Kazuma shouted over the oncoming roar. “We have to-”

A herd of creatures burst from the jungle at a run, bellowing their panic. Their skin was gnarled and thick, with two large tusks coming out of their mouths and large, sharp hooves pounding the ground. 

“Barkhides!” Kazuma gasped. They were far from the most dangerous animals in the jungle, but they traveled in large herds and they could easily trample over most things that got in their way. Their tough, barklike skin also meant only the deadliest of predators could take them, as they were invulnerable to both small arms fire and most claws and fangs. 

Not, it seemed, to Alice. Her simple machete moved in a blur, and in two strokes, three barkhides died, sliced in half. The herd bleated in panic and curved around the two, though Kazuma did grab Alice and back up against the trunk of a massive tree next to the water. The herd beasts splashed through the water, but as they did so there was a snapping sound. Kazuma glanced behind him to see a section of the far bank collapse, a dozen barkhides falling and impaling themselves on sharp spikes at the bottom of a pit trap.

“No! Someone’s hunting them!” Kazuma gasped. “We have to get out of here!”

“I can take them!” Alice gasped, raising her machete again. “I can fight!” 

“Not worth it! Plus, ranged beats melee!” Kazuma told her, taking her wrist. He ran around the base of the tree, then froze as a barrel pointed into his face.

“That’s far enough. Damn, you make a lot of noise,” a man’s voice drawled. He was dressed in jungle camo, his face smeared with mud or makeup to hide it, two brown eyes peering at Kazuma. His weapon was a large caliber shotgun, big enough to take down a barkhide, and large enough to blow Kazuma and Alice to bloody bits. “Thought you’d spook the game. What’s a kid and a janitor doing in a Class 5 Red Zone?”

“Do not threaten us, knave, or I shall be forced to put you down,” Alice declared, raising her machete.

“Hoo hoo! Look at that! Thinks she’s a badass, does she? Girly, I’m wearing two grade armor under this coat, and that piddly thing won’t do jack to me,” the man chuckled. “Just take it real easy; no sudden motions. You try to call the corpos on us, and we’ll have a problem.”

“Dust!” a woman’s voice called from behind them where the herd had come from. “Be careful! She took down three barkhides with that! She’s a combat android or something!”

“Oh come on, she’s not an android!” Kazuma protested. Despite himself, he was too nervous not to add, “Besides, as a girl she’d be a gynoid.” 

“A what now?” Dust asked, raising his weapon and frowning. “Lolisa, drop the cloak. Don’t want Rin taking you out by accident if she gets a bad angle.”

Kazuma jerked away as a silent figure in a black body suit decloaked next to him. They were slender, with a blank mirrored visor, and a dark fiberglass crossbow with various bolts on a bandoleer across their chest. 

“Demon!” Alice hissed, shoving Kazuma back and raising her machete. “Get back!” 

“You take one wrong move towards Lolisa and you’re dead, little girl,” a third voice said, this one coming from a woman in light body armor with a rifle in her hands, and a tail poking out of the back of her pants. 

“Hey, hey, let’s not be racist here. No reason to hate on the succubi,” Dust laughed. “Let’s just all relax. Now: you don’t LOOK like corpos, or at least, you shouldn’t be out here with just a knife if you were. Why don’t you tell us what you’re doing out here?”

“Don’t have time,” Lolisa whispered, her voice barely audible over the background noises of the jungle. “Blood. Will attract predators.”

“Keith and Taylor will be here with the ship soon. So we need to ice these two or take them with us,” Rin growled, keeping her rifle trained on Kazuma’s head. Kazuma spotted distinctive scars on her neck from a slave collar, and shivered slightly. 

“You’re slavers,” he gasped, pulling Alice back. “You can’t have her.”

“No!” Rin growled, while Lolisa shook her head vigorously. 

“Not exactly,” Dust sighed. He bent over slightly, stepping into Alice’s line of sight as her eyes were locked on Lolisa. “Look, kiddo. Were you…” Dust reached over and felt the back of Alice’s neck. 

In a flash, Alice shoved Dust away, and the man went flying through the air, landing with a splash in the watering hole a good eight meters away. Kazuma swore and grabbed Alice, dragging her down to the ground as a crossbow bolt went through where his head had been, and Rin’s rifle roared, the tree behind where Alice had been exploding and sending out splinters. 

“DIE, DEMON!” Alice snarled, getting out from under Kazuma and rushing forward, her machete coming up in a deadly arc. 

Lolisa, however, activated her stealth cloak, shimmering out of visibility as a zipping sound could be heard. Alice went barreling through where Lolisa had been, her machete carving a tree an arm span thick in half with a single blow. 

“DUST!” Rin wailed, and she tried to bring her rifle down towards Kazuma. 

Something triggered in his mind, and Kazuma stretched a hand out, shouting, “STEAL!” a moment later, he felt something soft in his hand, and he blinked down at not the rifle he had thought to take, but rather a warm bit of fabric that was.

“Eh-he-he-he,” Kazuma chuckled to himself as Rin squawked, her rifle falling with a splash as she twitched in surprise. 

“Big Brother!” Alice gasped, coming over and snatching the panties out of Kazuma’s hand. She wagged a finger at him. “Shame on you! This is not how one fights!” Then she turned around and held out the undergarments to Rin, who was swearing and reaching for her sidearm. “My apologies, miss. I promise that my brother will comport himself more honorably in our conflict hitherto.” 

“I, um, I…how’d you do that?!” Rin demanded, snatching away the panties and blushing furiously. “You were all the way over there and…ARGH! DUST! Tell me you’re not dead!” 

“I’m OK!” a rather woozy Dust called as he staggered up out of the mud. “Stand…stand down! I think they’re like you, Rin…girl’s got a port on her neck. I think…I think she’s an escaped slave too.”

Kazuma hastily nodded, raising his hands as Rin finally got her gun out and pointed it at him. “I swear! I’m a janitor! I…I found her in the basement level. She was hooked up to some machines. I…I had a kid sister…I couldn’t just leave her there, ya know?”

“And that justifies you stealing my panties, how?” Rin demanded, flicking her safety off and shoving her panties behind her belt. 

“I was trying for the gun! I swear! I’ve never used that ability before!” Kazuma babbled. Though he couldn’t help a leer towards Rin’s panties, though when she shoved her gun into his face he let out a “meep” and took a step back. 

“Rin,” a soft voice called from up a tree. “He used…magic. So did she.”

Kazuma looked up, and was surprised to see Lolisa hanging from a branch high above by a grappling hook. She dangled high above, her crossbow now holstered at her hip. With a whir, she lowered herself down to Alice’s level, prompting the young girl to snarl at her. The other woman removed her helmet, revealing the youthful face of a pink-haired succubus that appeared to be in her teen years, though that was deceptive for that race. “What are you?”

“I am…” Alice licked her lips, and looked at Kazuma.

“My sister. Now, I’ve figured out that you’re poachers,” Kazuma said as Dust wadded towards them, rubbing a growing bruise on his right cheek. “Honestly, don’t give a damn. We don’t have much, but, um…do you need two more crew members? I’ve got some skills, so does Alice…we just need transport away from the moon.”

Dust ignored Kazuma, going over to Rin and Lolisa and pulling them back a few steps. He put his arms around their shoulders, holding a quick whispered conference. Kazuma didn’t catch much, aside from Rin glaring at him. 

“You really must stop stealing the panties of maidens, Big Brother,” Alice said with a sigh. “Whatever will father think?”

Kazuma slowly turned to look down at Alice, but she looked suddenly dazed, holding her head with one hand and swaying slightly. “What was that?”

“I don’t…I just…I can remember…you…did that before?” Alice said, her tone questioning. “But…but my first memory is seeing you…you and…”

“It’s OK, they messed with your head in that pod,” Kazuma said, smiling and patting Alice on the head. She smiled at him, sniffing and wiping away a tear that had been forming in the corner of her eye. “You’ll get your memories back.”

“You think so?” Alice asked hopefully. She glanced at Lolisa and frowned, then looked back at Kazuma. “You do not…you do not mind that I call you Big Brother?”

An invisible hand grabbed Kazuma’s throat and squeezed hard, so he just shook his head mutely. He thought of a girl with dark hair, but the same blue eyes and innocent smile. And it was all he could do not to weep.

“Right, good news! We’ll get you off this death trap!” Dust said happily. “And we promise not to sell you into slavery, provided in trade, Alice gives me a pair of her panties.”

“DUST!” Rin gasped, adding a matching bruise to Dust’s other cheek, while Lolisa sighed and shook her head. “She’s like twelve!” 

“...” Lolisa looked away, hugging herself. “He is not…he is joking.”

“Ow, ow, come on, relax! I was kidding ! You two are both more than enough woman for me!” Dust said, putting his arms around both girls' shoulders. Rin elbowed him in the gut, while Lolisa cringed and stepped away. “Man, can’t a man catch a break? Look, we’ll get you out of here. But we need to get loaded! Rides here!” 

There was a gust of wind, and Kazuma looked up to see a small ship coming down out of the sky, the plants around them whipping as about as the engines roared. 

“RIN GET BACK ON OVERWATCH!” Dust shouted as the ship hovered just above the water. “SHOOT ANYTHING THAT TRIES TO STEAL OUR KILLS. IT WILL TAKE US A WHILE TO GET LOADED, BUT WE-”

As Dust barked orders, the rear ramp of the ship lowered, and a lanky brown-haired man with a visor trotted down towards them, hauling a heavy rope for getting the dead barkhides aboard. Kazuma knew their skin was valued for its durability, but the meat itself would sell for a fortune down on Belzerg, where fresh food was millions to the right buyers. 

“Kazuma…do we go with them?” Alice asked, uncertain. “They have a demon…”

“Look at her neck,” Kazuma said, pointing to Lolisa, who was hurrying over to take the cable the man was passing down to tie to a dead barkhide. Each had at least half a ton in meat, with the offal and bones being valuable in their own ways as food or materials. There weren’t many large animals left on Belzerg, and those that had been so polluted their flesh was inedible. That didn’t stop some starving fools from trying to eat them, but most died soon after. 

“I see a mark of some kind,” Alice said. Her own hand trailed to the back of her head, where a socket was drilled into her skull. “Is that…?”

“Not quite like you. She was…chipped. If she can talk and function…they must have not completed it. That, or somehow her original personality was preserved and put in. But a chipped succubus…they’re sold as slaves. They’re worth a lot of money.”

“I see. So…this demon is not our foe?” Alice asked. 

“Yeah, I think she’s on our side. Rin and Lolisa are both escaped slaves. Since, um, Rin looks carved and it’s ChimeraTech that sells chipping tech…they’re probably on the run from Slyvia just like you.”

“Then we should help load the carcasses?” Alice asked, looking at Kazuma uncertainly. She clearly wasn’t sold on Lolisa being friendly, but she seemed to trust Kazuma at least. 

“Yeah, let’s get to it,” Kazuma agreed. 

Dust and Lolisa had just gotten one carcass tied to the cable and the other man was winching it aboard when Alice walked over and picked up the first carcass. The poachers froze and watched in awe as Alice casually tossed the 1000 kg of dead animal up the ramp and into the hold. Then Alice jumped down into the pit and tossed five more corpses up, climbed out, and threw all five in. By the time Dust and Lolisa collected themselves and got their first animal winched in, Alice had gone and gotten the three beasts she had butchered and thrown them in the hold as well. 

“Our cargo is loaded, Captain Dust. Let us depart. I do not wish to meet the Flesh Shaper again unarmed and unarmored,” Alice said, nodding to Dust. Her clothing was now stained red with gore and splattered with mud, but she managed to smile sweetly. 

“Uh, yeah. Good work,” Dust said. He jerked his head towards the ramp. “Well, come on, let’s get out of here before a patrol comes looking for someone.”

“Sweet revenge Dust, where did you find this one? Another pair of escapees?” the other man asked as they boarded. 

“They just keep finding me, Keith,” Dust laughed as they all scrambled aboard, Rin last of all, her rifle still trained on the jungle. As the ramp closed, Dust suddenly laughed, then began to cry. “We found her, Keith. After all these years…we found her.”

Kazuma felt something cold form in his chest, and he hugged Alice to himself. What now? 

Chapter Text

Security Headquarters (Axel) for NyteTech was a somewhat rundown and dingy office, with stains on the walls and floors of various unspeakable origins, the occasional light that was a bit dimmer than it should have been, and furniture that was worn and scuffed. Still, it had all the arms and armor you would need, and the breakroom always had hot coffee and donuts. Not for free of course, but it was sold at a discount for employees. 

Tina was currently indulging in both. It had been a week or two since their big bounty, but she had Claire had managed to bring in a few other small time perps. They would have had an easier time if they did what most security officers did and shook down people for protection, or picked up people whose only crime was debt or offending a manager, but the duo had resolved to only take on real criminals, especially the violent and dangerous ones. 

It had given the two of them something of a reputation, as usually run of the mill CorpSec had very little interest in actually going after dangerous prey. Sure, it often paid better, but that was a good way to get hurt. Shaking down shopkeepers or people behind on their rent was a lot easier and better for your long term health. 

“FORD! SHIN! GET YOUR ASSES IN HERE!” a bellow came from the Chief’s office. 

Tina paused and glanced at Claire, who was getting her own coffee out of the vending machine. “Wasn’t me.”

“What did we do this time?” Claire sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. She grimaced. “Ugh. I swear, this stuff gets worse all the time.”

“I CAN SMELL YOU BOTH, GET OVER HERE!” the Chief roared again. 

Sighing, Tina took two large bites of her donut and swallowed, handing the other half to Claire, who gave her half her coffee. It wasn’t quite a meal, but if they were in for a dressing down, probably for ignoring a bounty or damaging corporate property in the line of duty again, they would both need something in their stomachs and to be at least slightly awake. 

The Chief’s office didn’t have the poor lighting or threadbare furniture, the big orc having pilfered the best for herself. It did have a potted plant imported from Discord, though it wasn’t doing well in the toxic air despite the old air filter churning away in the corner. The Chief herself was an old orc warrioress, though she had long since gone to seed. One of her eyes was gone, replaced with a cybernetic, and she kept a permanent rebreather on her muzzle after the last bout of lung cancer. 

Still, Chief Swatti was a tough old broad, and the shotgun she kept in her desk was one she had plenty of experience with. Rumor had it she’d fired several people WITH the shotgun, though Tina was fairly certain that it had only been one time, and the officer in question had thought to use a more traditional orcish method of climbing the corporate ladder. 

“There you two are. Close the door and sit down,” Swatti growled, looking up from her plant. It was brown and sickly looking, and had steadfastly refused to bud, despite the fertilizer and special imported water Swatti insisted on giving the plant. She pushed it to a corner of her desk and glared at her two officers as they sat. “I take it you haven’t heard yet.”

“Heard what? We just got in, filing our paperwork from last night before setting out,” Tina said, sitting on the nicely padded chair. She sat up straight, with her helmet under one hand on her lap, her shoulders back, and her eyes forward. Claire similarly had good posture, and both their uniforms were clean and well maintained, with each commendation and years of service stripe neatly sewn on. 

“Nickles and Farbough are both dead,” Swatti growled. “Along with that team of mercs that came through. You know, what was her name…”

“Alison?” Tina gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. “But…we went drinking with her…she was saying she and her team leader were going to retire together after this last job…start a family…”

“Mercs get killed,” Claire said with a shrug. “Alison was nice enough but she knew what she was in for. But what about Nickles and Farbough?”

Swatti passed over a holocorder, which Tina turned on. She grimaced at seeing the gore. Decapitated bodies, blood everywhere…it was a massacre. It turned her stomach, but only so much. After only six years on the force, she’d seen worse. Though rarely to fellow officers. 

“Their vehicle was stolen, we’re still tracking it down. Corporate took extra offense to the theft of company property,” Swatti grunted. “But we all know that none of us in this room give a shit about that.”

“Ore and Branch were friends,” Darkness said, looking up with a stern expression. “Our brothers in arms.”

Claire nodded, leaning back and folding her arms over her chest. “So you want us to track down whoever did this and bring them in.”

“I don’t give a damn if you bring them in. I want them DEAD. For once, Corporate shares the sentiment. Rumor is, it’s two Red Eyes and a priority target. Some sort of very dangerous charlatan that hired the demons as bodyguards, they weren’t clear. They don’t have a description of the third one, only that they are to be killed whatever the cost. Demons are the same. Now, Corporate is offering a million each for demon bodies and a billion for the third, but we both know you could take four demon eyes and sell them to ChimeraCorp for a cool three bil.” 

Swatti leaned back as Tina sucked in a breath. Three billion… “Now, you might be wondering why I’m telling you girls this, and not anyone else.”

“Who else got themselves killed?” Claire said, her teeth gritted. 

Swatti sighed. “Smith and Blackback are dead too. They went after the perps as soon as they found the bodies. At that time, it would have just been the standard bounty for killing an employee in good standing and stealing corporate property. But then their bodies were found an hour ago. Corporate is going to send in a black ops team.”

Swatti snarled and slammed a fist onto the table, her eyes burning with rage. “WELL FUCK THAT! Those four are MY boys! This is MY turf! And it will be MY people who bring those red-eyed fuckers to justice!” 

“I think we agree on that point, chief,” Tina said, gritting her teeth. Four fellow officers dead? She felt slightly bad for the Crimson Demons as a people; their treatment was grossly unfair. But slaughtering four of her coworkers? That was too much to tolerate. 

“You can count on us. We’ll handle it. How long until the black ops team arrives?” Claire asked. 

Swatti shrugged. “Wouldn’t tell me that, but if i had to guess, they’ll be here any time. But you get on the case, and you track those red-eyes down. I’m authorizing you to be put on special administrative assignment, and opening the armory to you. You can take whatever you want for this hunting expedition. On the house.”

That announcement made Tina’s eyebrows shoot up. “That will cost you.”

“Big time,” Claire agreed. She tilted her head to one side. “You actually give a damn, don’t you, you old warhorse.”

Grunting, Swatti leaned back. “Listen. I’m old, and my daughters are all worthless sows. But you kids on my force? You’re mine. A clan leader protects her clan. I can’t get out there and pound the pavement anymore, but I can make sure my officers are given what they need, and that anyone who fucks with The Axel Clan of NyteTech Security pays for it and everyone knows not to do it while Swatti Gutredsdotter is Chief of Security. You understand me?”

Tina and Claire sprang to their feet and saluted as one. “Understood, Chief.” 

They went down to the armory after that, keying in the code Chief Swatti had given them. Darkness picked out the best armor she could find, along with a heavy fire axe that was for breaching buildings. She grunted as she gave it a few practice swings, then nodded and holstered it. It would do. 

For her part, Claire picked out some light stealth armor and a ghost cloak, as well as a variety of grenades, SMG, and another pistol. “Not going to take a firearm?”

“You’re the one who cover’s me. I’ll be the tip of the spear,” Tina said, resting her hand on the axe. She looked around, then grabbed a riot shield even taller than she was. “This is all the weaponry I’ll need.”

“I’ve seen you take out steel walls with just your thick head. I’d hate to see what you’d do with that axe,” Claire said, chuckling. They both headed out, loaded for bear, then paused at their aircar.

“This could get us killed,” Tina said quietly as she stowed the extra gear in the trunk. “All four of those men were veterans. Not as good as us, maybe, but they knew how to handle themselves in a fight. And Bandit and her crew were experienced Eye Hunters.”

“Yeah,” Claire agreed, putting in her own kit and slamming the trunk. She turned to Tina. “Think we should just half ass it and let the black hats take care of this?”

Tina grimaced and shook her head. “No. They were our brothers, even if they were also assholes sometimes. It is our duty. Besides, if reckless killers like that are loose, who knows how many innocents they’ll kill? Corporate won’t even care or report those. But I care.”

“So do I,” Claire agreed. Then she suddenly grabbed Tina, pulling her tight in an embrace. The next thing Tina knew, she was bending her head down slightly as Claire tilted hers up, and then Claire’s tongue was in her mouth. After only a few heartbeats, Claire pulled away. “Sorry. For luck. If we bite it, I don’t want to have any regrets.”

Tina nodded mutely, standing there and half hoping Claire would demand more. But instead, her partner just climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Tina got in, and buckled up.

“Let’s hunt,” Claire growled, and took off into the black underbelly of Axel. 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=

“Rest well, child of stone,” Aqua said, closing the blank eyes of the dead dwarf. She bowed her head and reached out to the spirit of the fallen man, guiding his soul to the afterlife. It was harder than normal, as it had been since she’d woken up, but it was something she had to do. It was a part of her, one of her major duties as a goddess. Not one she liked, but one that was needed. 

“Aqua, we have to GO!” Megumin urged, a bang resounding from the burning car behind them. 

“After I put them to rest. They’re just mortals, Megumin. Even if they did follow an evil path,” Aqua said sadly. She walked over to the human male next. His head was mostly gone from Komekko’s bullets, but she performed the rites anyway. 

The two men had been making it very clear they wanted Aqua to get into the car and do…stuff…with them, before they’d gotten some sort of message and immediately shouted at Megumin and Komekko to take their visors off. Instead, the two girls had instantly attacked, and the result had been both brief and bloody.

 Watching the young Crimson Demons fight was frightening. Before, Aqua had always been a bit concerned with just how effective the Crimson Demon Clan was at using magic to kill things, but their silly natures and bombast had softened the blow. Now, the magic and theatrics were gone, and all that was left was a reminder that the Crimson Demon Clan was a magically engineered race of super soldiers. 

And that they were very, very good at killing things. 

Once Aqua had guided the spirits to the afterlife, she allowed herself to be led away by Megumin deeper into the darkness. Though she knew it wasn’t quite correct, Aqua couldn’t help but think of their surroundings as a dungeon. They weren’t quite underground, but the massive structures above them blotted out the sun, and the air was thick was some sort of poisonous miasma.Plus, there were monsters. 

They turned a corner to find four figures standing around a fire that blazed in a metal can, releasing noxious fumes. Aqua hissed and drew back, recognizing four lizardfolk. Their people were savage, servants of the Devil King for generations. She ducked behind Megumin, who for some reason kept Gram on her back. 

Once, the lizardfolk had been beastkin, like several other races created by the gods. But when the Devil King had offered them power, they had agreed. They had grown larger and more powerful, and had become cannibals, eating both the flesh of their foes and that of their own kin and dead. They had been foot soldiers in the Devil King’s armies, and had begun spawning in dungeons, their numbers ever increasing. 

At their arrival, one of the lizardfolk turned. It was an old female, with milky eyes. She coughed, and held out a taloned hand, her frill trembling slightly. “You can share our fire for a bit of food…”

“Sssss,” one of the others hissed, and Aqua saw it was a younger female. There was a gurgling, coughing sound, and then the soft crying of an infant. “Sssss, it’s alright.”

“Don’t want any trouble,” one of the males said, large and with broad shoulders. But he was hunched over, shifting from foot to foot, looking nervous. “We heard fightin’ a while back. Just move along.”

“They’re hatchlings and a woman, Ss’at,” the other male said, this one older and even more bent. He coughed himself, and shook his head. “Be at peace, warmbloods. We have nothing to share but our fire, but you are welcome to it.”

“...that’s not right,” Aqua said, even as Megumin and Komekko were edging around the fire. “You’re lizardfolk…”

“We got nothin’,” Komekko said, keeping her weapon hidden. Megumin nodded quietly, motioning Aqua to follow her along the edge of shadow.

“CAW!” Hoost agreed. 

The lizardfolk perked up at that. 

“Wazzat?” the old female asked, her nictitating membrane flicking over her sightless eyes. Her tongue snaked out, tasting the air. “A chicken? Can we eat it?”

“He’s ours, not yours,” Megumin growled. “We don’t want trouble either. Just passing through.”

“Please,” the female said, standing up. She was cradling a sickly looking hatching to her bosom. She had no breasts of course, but it was a natural way to hold an infant close. “My son, he is the last of our brood…the only egg that…it’s been days. We have some trade! My shawl, it is real fabric! We would trade it for some food…”

Despite herself, Aqua stepped forward. The younger male growled, his crest half rising, but the older male put a hand on his shoulder. “Peace, Ss’at. Look at how the young warmbloods hold themselves. They know how to fight.” 

“But…we could eat them,” Ss’at said, his tongue flicking out. Aqua shied back, suddenly afraid. 

“We could. Or they could eat us. This is not our prey,” the older male said firmly. He took the shawl from the mother, and held it out. “Any food in trade. My daughter, she is sick. And I do not wish to eat my mother…”

“My flesh for the child,” the old lizard matron said quietly. “Tonight, we agreed. If the hunt went poorly.”

“What is there to hunt?” Ss’at said, his crest slumping as he sat down, looking beyond exhausted. “There is no more work. There are not even rats now. The last time we tried to eat a carved creature…it killed U’ssul. My last daughter. The hatchling needs proper food.”

“But you’re monsters,” Aqua said, stepping closer, peering at the softly crying infant. “You…you’re not people. You serve the Devil King.”

“Devil King?” the old matron spat into the flames, which hissed and crackled for a moment. “This for the false savior. We killed the gods and ate them, and their blood poisoned the world. We have paid for our sins, as the world has. The sun is gone, and all warmth has faded. The long night comes, and death comes for everyone. There is no more hope.”

“Do not say such things, grandmother,” Ss’at said tiredly. “That is but old superstition. I am still strong. I can find work. The hunt will go well. We will live another day. I will not eat you.”

“You will or you will die. That is the way of the hunt,” the old matron said. 

“Aqua, we need to go,” Megumin said quietly. “Scalies really do eat people.”

“What else is there to eat? Everything else is poison,” the older male sighed. He held out the shawl again. “You are not corpses yet. Please. Anything in trade. The creature, or even some scraps…”

Swallowing, Aqua took out five ration bars from her knapsack, and handed them to the astonished older male. “What’s your name?”

“I…I am Zr’dok. This is…my family. How…where did you get this? These are real food…”

“Zr’dok…do you renounce the Devil King?” Aqua asked, looking up into the weary eyes of the…monster? No…they didn’t feel like monsters…

“A curse on the shell that hatched him, if he ever existed,” Zr’dok snarled. He did not eat the ration bars, instead giving one to his daughter, another to Ss’at, and one to his mother. He tucked the last away, and tried to give Aqua the shawl. “It is not worth it but-”

“Why does she keep giving away food?” Komekko asked plaintively. “That’s really valuable…”

“I dunno, but let her do her thing. I’d rather not kill the scalies. They’re not our foes,” Megumin said quietly. 

“Do you all renounce the Devil King?” Aqua asked as the other lizardfolk hungrily bit into their bars. The mother was giving chunks of hers to her child, who coughed, but managed to eat. 

“I have said it already girl. He abandoned us before my grandmother was in the shell,” the matron said. 

Aqua nodded. Then she spat into her hand, and before the lizard folk could react, she rubbed spittle into the matron’s eyes. “You see the truth. Let your eyes be opened.”

“What are you-” the elderly woman battered Aqua’s hands away, then blinked. She looked at her hands, even as Zr’dok growled and stepped forward, raising a powerful hand. 

“What do you do to my mother?!”

“Son! Be still! Lower your hand!” the matron snapped.

Zr’dok froze, then looked at his mother. He blinked, first one eye, then the other. “You…see? But you lost your sight…what…is this…technosorcery?”

“Who are you?” the matron asked, slowly sinking to her knees before Aqua. “I see…you do not look like anything these old eyes have seen before. And I have seen much, before I lost my sight.”

“I am Aqua, Goddess of Water. And I have returned.” Aqua held out a hand. “Once, your people rejected the gods. Mk’ona, Matron of Clan Ruddertail, will you repent the sins of your people, and forge your bond with the gods once more?”

Mk’ona wailed, pressing her face to the ground. “Bow, you fools! You stand on holy ground!”

The other lizardfolk knelt, looking confused, even as Mk’ona kicked off the ragged shoes she wore. “I am not worthy…please…my ancestors, their sins…take my life, spare my son and his daughter and her son, even her mate. They are the last of my clan and kin…”

“The gods failed you, Mk’ona. We could not save this world. But I can save you now,” Aqua said. She reached out and took the wrinkled old hand of the lizardfolk, and lifted her up to a kneeling position. “I will restore your bond to this world as I heal it, Mk’ona. Your people will be monsters no more.”

Mk’ona trembled, her tongue darting in and out of her mouth. “What is your price?”

“I need prayers and offerings, Mk’ona. Your shawl will do. Offer it to the waters in my name, and promise to serve me from now on. You will be my prophetess: Spread my word to your people, and tell them that forgiveness is here, if only they will repent and believe,” Aqua said. She smiled, and took Mk’ona’s face in her hands. “You must eat the flesh of sentient beings no more. You must keep my commands: To love all, no matter who they are, or what their fetish is, to live life fully each day with no regrets, to give freely the gifts of the gods, and to treasure water, for within it is life.”

“Yes. I will,” Mk’ona vowed, her tail twitching beneath her rags. “That is…all you demand?”

“I’m not a war goddess, Mk’ona. I don’t want your blood. Just remember; Slay the Demons! Defeat the Devil King!” 

“It…it will be as you say, Goddess Aqua,” Mk’ona vowed. 

“Then rise, and heal your family,” Aqua ordered. 

Hastily, Mk’ona got to her feat. She began chanting a prayer to Aqua, praising her beauty and mercy. The child was first, gasping, then taking a deep, healthy breath. Then the mother, who shuddered and flexed a leg that had previously been withered. Ss’at stood up straight, laughing in triumph. While Zr’dok just keened and rocked, embracing his mother. 

“I will not have to eat you,” he whispered. “I will not have to eat you…”

“Never again will our people eat the flesh of family to survive,” Mk’ona said firmly. She turned and bowed to Aqua once more. “Thank you, Goddess. We go now to hunt in your name. Not flesh, but souls.”

“Thank you,” the mother said, giving Aqua a hug. She did not cry, for lizardfolk have no tears, but her passion was obvious. “Thank you…”

And then Clan Ruddertail ran off into the Darkness, leaving Aqua alone with Megumin and Komekko again. 

“I thought you said they were monsters. Those are bad guys, right?” Komekko asked, coming over to stand by Aqua in the flickering light of the flames. 

“They were monsters. But…they needed me,” Aqua said plaintively. “I don’t…I don’t understand it…but…the gods made them once, and the rest of the world. I remember…I remember when the lizardfolk swam in pure waters, and ate fish and seaweed…when they would pray to me, and give me beautiful pearls and seashell necklaces…until…until they joined the Devil King's army…it hurt so bad when they did…”

“It’s why we’re sticking with you,” Megumin said, coming up to stand beside her sister. “You’re really weird, and what you do doesn’t make sense. But…if you can help them…maybe you can help the Crimson Demon Clan.”

“Of course! The Crimson Demon Clan were always my friends!” Aqua said brightly. She gazed off beyond the flames, to where distant lights sparkled. “Are we going over there?”

“That’s downtown Axel. Good place to disappear into,” Megumin agreed. “Come on. They’re going to come after us eventually.”

They ended up sleeping in an old dumpster, the trash long gone. It offered some shelter, and there were still real monsters out there. Beasts with no minds, sharp claws or fangs, and that no god had ever made. Aqua shivered as she lay down in a pile with Megumin and Komekko, and cried herself to sleep. 

Even as she did so, she did her best to answer the few prayers that came her way.  Ss’at was praying for strength, to protect his family. Aqua gave him a minor blessing, and soothed away his worries. Cecily asked for more words to tell people, and for a good way to get into the skirts of a cute elf girl she’d met. Aqua gave Cecily’s hair some extra shine, and sent her a vision of a speech one of her Arch Priests had given in a beautiful cathedral, back when the war against the Devil King had been going well.

But Komekko asked for her mommy and daddy back, and all Aqua could do was hug her tight. 

There were some things even a goddess couldn’t do. 

The next day, they made it to the lights, which turned out to be yet more buildings. These, however, were in decent condition, with energy flowing through them, and people living in them. More cars flew overhead, and people filled the streets. Most of them were in better clothes, and looked relatively healthy, though almost everyone had on either a mask or air filter. 

“I could help them,” Aqua said, looking around at all the sickness and suffering. 

“We need to keep our heads down. We’re trying to hide, remember? We’ll find some tenament and you can heal people on the downlow for some cash and shelter,” Megumin said. 

“No! Healing is free!” Aqua insisted.

“RAWK!” Hoost agreed. 

“If you say so. But at least stop giving away our food, we only have enough left for a couple more meals,” Megumin said. 

“Um, I maybe ate a couple extra…” Komekko admitted. “I’m out…”

“What?! That was supposed to…” Megumin sighed. “Forget it. We can sell off some of the weapons we picked up. Those always go for a good price.”

“Yeah, we can-” Komekko again, but Hoost suddenly flapped off her shoulders, screaming loudly. “ENEMIES!” 

The people around them in the streets paused, one vendor, almost dropping the gadget he was hawking from a street cart. But Megumin didn’t hesitate, whipping out Gram.

“There, ghost cloaks!” Komekko said, pointing as Hoost swooped around and screamed. 

There was a flash, and a beam of light sliced through the air, striking Hoost. The bird screamed, then vanished in a puff of feathers. 

“HOOST!” Komekko wailed. “I can’t see them, they’re-”

“SACRED DISPEL!” Aqua roared, stretching her hands towards where Komekko had been pointing. A rippling beam of blue light spread out, suddenly revealing half a dozen figures in dark armor with cloaks whipping about them as they hovered on grav boots. 

“Shit, cloaks are down!” one growled. 

“Open fire!” another ordered. 

People screamed as guns spat, and Aqua was dragged behind a building by Megumin, even as Komekko fired off a burst that blew the boots off of one of their attackers, who then careened into one of his squad mates, crashing both of them into a building. 

“We’re wide open here!” Megumin snarled. “How do I-”

“You’ve gone up a level, I can give you a spell!” Aqua said frantically, grabbing Megumin’s Adventure card. 

“Is there one that will let me fight people who can fly!?” Megumin demanded. 

“Yes!” Aqua stabbed down on the card. “Zephyr Step!” 

Megumin gasped, standing up on her tiptoes. “Power…POWER SURGING! ZEPHYR STEP!” 

Even as the other four attackers circled around the building, Megumin leapt up into the air, a gust carrying her as she ran up the side of the building. Zephyr step didn’t allow true flight, but it did grant incredible speed and agility, making the user a leaf on the wind. 

Gram slashed out, catching one of her attackers across the chest. With a spin, Megumin cut him in half, then turned and lept at two other assassins. She stepped on the head of one, spinning in a front flip, Gram lashing out, and cleaving the head of the other in half. The one that was staggered took a spray of bullets from Komekko to his center mass, and fell to the ground, dead before he hit the cracked asphalt. 

The last of the attackers had a hand to one side of his head, and was screaming, “Targets located! Squad down! Back up, we need-”

“CREATE WATER!” Aqua roared, feeling fury well up in her. A spout of water rose up, and splashed over the assassin. “Ha! Take that!”

“What the- DIE!” The water, of course, had done basically nothing but give the assassin a good cleaning, and he pointed his gun at Aqua and fired off a burst. She cried out in panic and hit the dirt, even as Megumin rebounded off a building and drove her sword through the last attacker. She rode her victim down the pavement, then drew Gram out. 

“Corpos,” she spat. “Blackhats. Not just your regular mercs. But they’re eye hunters.” 

“Never just one team,” Komekko said, sounding sober. She bent down, and picked up an iridescent black feather. The street was empty now, the gun fire causing the residents to hole up and pray that they weren’t caught in the crossfire. “Bye, Hoost. You were a good chicken…”

“He’s not gone,” Aqua said. “He just took too much damage. You can summon him again now.”

“Huh?” Komekko said, looking up in confusion.

“Yeah. Summon Familiar has a short cooldown, but you’ve got plenty of mana. Just recast the spell,” Aqua said.

“Um. COME OUT HOOST!” Komekko said, and tossed the feather in the air. A black cloud formed around the feather, and with a mighty CAW Hoost burst back into being. He flapped down to peck at Komekko affectionately, then flew back up into the air.

“He can spot the other teams for us. Come on! We gotta find somewhere to lose them!” 

They fled down the empty street, passed overturned carts and locked doors. They didn't get far before Hoost began to cry out again, and Komekko nodded. “He can see more! Five, six…no..another group…at least twelve! And these ones got drones! NyteTech!” 

“It would be them,” Megumin moaned. “Come on, we’ve got to hurry before-”

There was a whoosh, and a flaming missile shot at them from above. Aqua barely had time to put up a barrier before an explosion rocked them, sending them all to the ground. Aqua managed to stagger up, keeping up her barrier, but gunfire started to pepper off it. They were at the corner of an intersection, with nowhere to hide. 

“Dammit!” Megumin hissed. She raised Gram, looking around. “Too many! And from two sides…I don’t suppose these spells make me immune to bullets or laser fire…”

“Um, no, you’re supposed to dodge attacks,” Aqua gasped. “I can’t…I don’t have enough faith! I need…I need.”

“We’ll take ‘em out. At least half,” Komekko said, wincing as Hoost was cut down again. “Sorry, Mr. Hoost…You were a good chicken-raven…”

“This can’t end like this,” Aqua wept. “We need…we need…”

And that was when the music began to play. Komekko perked right up, but Megumin groaned and slapped her face. 

“What is that?” Aqua asked curiously. The music was bombastic, and growing louder, an over the top orchestral piece with lyrics in very old Belzergian. 

“That’s the theme music,” Megumin sighed. 

“YUNYUN’S MUSIC!” Komekko cheered. 

Their attackers seemed to hear the music, and some of the fire paused, as they looked around to see a ground truck barreling forward, the music spewing forth. 

“HALT, OR BE DESTROYED!” one of the NyteTech commandos ordered over a loudspeaker. 

For a wonder, the van halted. Only for a hatch to pop open on the top, and a girl to scramble up to the roof.

“BEHOLD! I AM YUNYUN!” 

Komekko cheered, clapping excitedly, while even Megumin smiled. “Get ready to lower the barrier. We’ll attack when she does.

“FOREMOST GENIUS OF THE CRIMSON DEMON CLAN, AND SHE WHO WILL ONE DAY LEAD OUR PEOPLE TO GLORY!” the girl shouted, her own voice enhanced somehow.

“Red eye! Shoot her!” one of the commando’s ordered. 

Yunyun smirked, and struck a pose. “And you are all in range of my missiles.”

The back of the van exploded, and dozens of missiles shot out. Most of the NyteTech blackhats exploded in mid air, though a few managed to dodge. They didn’t survive long though, as Megumin activated her Zephyr Step again and cut several down, even as Komekko snipped a couple. 

“Now that is a REAL Crimson Demon!” Aqua said happily. She turned to hurry towards Yunyun, who was scrambling off of the now ruined van. 

“Megumin!” Komekko!” Yunyun gasped, running forward.

“SISSY!” Komekko squealed, and lept into Yunyun’s arms for a hug. Megumin landed a moment later, laughing and crying, and hugged Yunyun as well.

“Hugs are nice,” Aqua said happily, wrapping all three girls in a hug.

Yunyun blinked, then winced. “Um, w-who’s the outsider?”

“We’ll explain later,” Megumin said, wiping away a tear. “Right now, we have to run.”

“Um, f-first…could you rate my introduction? I-I’ve been working on it, a-and based on my research, um, I think that’s h-how a traditional Crimson Demon greeting is s-supposed to go,” Yunyun stammered, fluttering her hands nervously up and down. 

“Ten out of ten! That’s exactly how a Crimson Demon is supposed to say hello! Complete with the destruction of their enemies,” Aqua agreed. Then she frowned and added, “though usually they use magic and not missiles…”

“Oh, oh I knew I got it wrong!” Yunyun wailed. “I-I had thought the old texts referenced magic, b-but I couldn’t get any spells to work, um, but one…a-and it was just a light, and only sometimes…”

“Yunyun, that’s super cool, but we seriously have to run now,” Megumin said, grabbing Yunyun’s hand and jogging down the road.

“Why? Um, I was tracking those guys…a-and I think we got them all…” Yunyun said, trying to count the bodies. Which was hard, as most of them had been blown to very small pieces.

“Because you just announced that you’ve got a pair of eyes worth a cool billion, and someone’s going to get cute,” Megumin said firmly.

There was a bang, and a bullet snapped by from a building up above.

“Like that!” Megumin said. “NOW RUN!” 

Sobbing, Aqua ran after Megumin, but she couldn’t help but think at least a little was going back to normal. 

Chapter Text

Swallowing, Kazuma scooted Alice behind him, backing them both up to the ramp, the ship shaking and humming around them. He’d only been on a spaceship once, after he’d sold his birthright to buy passage off of Belzerg, and he’d been too frightened and high on whatever drugs he could buy to really remember it. But the feeling of the enclosed space, the stale air that smelled of oil and sweat, and the dim lights made him feel sick to his stomach as he regarded the four heavily armed poachers in front of him. 

“What do you mean, you finally found her?” Kazuma demanded. 

“Don’t you know who that is?” Dust demanded, wiping away tears as the crew regarded both their captain and passengers skeptically. “That’s the key to winning! Where did you find her?”

“She’s my little sister. We were born on Belzerg, but we emigrated to the moon when our parents died,” Kazuma said, lying smoothly. 

Behind him, Iris shifted, but nodded her head affirmative, clinging to the back of Kazuma’s mud and sweat-stained coveralls. 

“Dust, she’s like 10,” Rin said quietly. “I mean, she did some crazy stuff, but she’s just one little girl.” 

“No, she’s not! Don’t you get it! This is why we’re HERE! Why we were sent up here in the first place!” Dust said, turning to the rest of the crew. 

“So…she’s a valuable escaped slave?” the other man, Kazuma thought he was called Keith, asked. “Not like the others?”

“You try to sell her back into slavery and I’ll give you something to think about!” Kazuma said, raising his hand. “Look, we’ll work our way back, but I’m not letting you take her!” 

“You can’t hurt my brother!” Iris said, peeking her head around, tears falling down her cheeks. “I won’t let you!” 

“You’re scaring her,” Lolisa sighed, taking off her helmet and setting aside her weapon. She was short, but still had to bend over to put her head on a level with Alice. “Look, sweetie. Rin and I…we were like you once. They probably had you hooked up to a machine, put all kinds of things in your mind?”

Alice clutched at Kazuma’s hand, trembling like a frightened fawn. “The dreams…I don’t…I won’t…I can’t remember…” 

Bending her head down, Lolisa showed the metal connection at the base of her own spine. “They chipped me. Hooked me up to a machine. I was…well. I’m a succubus, so we’re sort of used to being…you’re kinda young for this, aren’t you?”

“You suck out the souls of men and tempt them to evil,” Alice snarled. Then she blinked, covering her mouth. “I’m sorry! I don’t…I just…you’re a demon…you’re from hell, and are the Bane of Men.”

Lolisa looked up, blinking slightly. “We haven’t done that since…sweetie, I was born in Hell. But the way has been shut for…I can’t even think how long. I was so young when I was brought here…I can’t remember. The things they did to me…”

“I was carved,” Rin admitted, blushing and wrapping her tail around herself. “I was supposed to be…a toy. Like Lolisa. But Dust…”

“Wasn’t just me. Keith and Taylor were there too,” Dust said staunchly, patting the back of his companion.

“Yeah, but she stays in your bunk,” Keith muttered. “You’d think we’d get a share…”

Rin glared daggers at Keith, but Dust came and knelt beside Lolisa. “You were in one of the tanks, right? But you got out.”

“How do you know about the tanks?” Kazuma demanded, then mentally kicked himself. Oldest trick in the book. 

Dust stood up, a wide grin on his face. “That’s what I was told to look for. A girl from the tanks, who-”

“Hey Captain? We got issues,” a voice said over the ship's intercom. “Might want to come up here…”

“What is it, Taylor?” Dust demanded. “Kinda busy.”

“Oh, alright. Then I suppose the total embargo on the planet can wait. I’ll just idle in the upper atmosphere until we get boarded,” Taylor said in tones that positively dripped with sarcasm. 

“What?!” Dust scrambled away, and on a whim Kazuma followed after him. He was semi-aware of Rin and Lolisa taking custody of the young girl, while Keith sulked and went to start processing their freshly killed cargo. 

Taylor turned out to be the ship's pilot, older than Dust or Kazuma by at least a decade, and with a bit of a gut. Both his eyes had been replaced with artificial lenses, giving him a rather unsettling stare, especially when combined with the gray-blond stubble on his chin and the scars on his face that likely had cost him those eyes. 

The pilot grimaced, gesturing to his screen as Dust entered the small cockpit. Like most ships, this one was shaped roughly like a cigar, with main thrusters on one end, and the pilot’s station on the other. Now that they were leaving the atmosphere, Kazuma could feel his weight rapidly fading, though the acceleration was enough to keep his feet pinned to the deck for now.

 “About ten minutes ago by the timestamp, all traffic to and from Discord has been frozen,” Taylor said without preamble, pointing to a message on the screen. “And I mean everything. There’s chatter on every line from some real pissed corporate highliners who are making it known they are extremely unhappy that they’re not allowed to dock, or depart.”

To illustrate his point, Taylor opened the comm line, and dozens of voices all complaining and arguing at once spilled out. Kazuma didn’t have the augs to filter anything useful out of it, but he did get the message: Everything was screwed up to Belzerg and back, and people were not happy.

“Are you serious? What the hell?” Dust demanded, squinting at the screen. 

Kazuma felt his heart sink, listening to the chatter. He shook his head slowly, fear gripping his heart. “It’s her. Sylvia wants her back.”

“What?” Dust looked up, frowning. “Taylor, turn that off. I can’t even think. What’d you say?”

“Who the hell is this? And why’s he wearing a Chimera uniform?” Taylor said, his metallic eyes whirring and clicking slightly as he scanned Kazuma.

“Uh, yeah, never did ask your name,” Dust admitted, scratching the back of his head.

“I’m Kazuma Sato. And…and that’s Alice. You were right. She did come out of a tank. I…I saw her in there and…” Kazuma swallowed, his throat constricting. Could he trust these people? Didn’t seem like he had much in the way of choice. “And I got her out of there. We got out, but…we lost someone along the way. And Sylvia was after us.”

“Wait, the Carver itself?” Taylor asked, going slightly pale. 

“She would be. Do you even know what you stole?” Dust asked, pointing back to the hold.

“My little sister,” Kazuma said firmly. He swallowed. “I…I had a sister, a lot like Alice. She would be about her age now.”

“Captain? What DID he steal?” Taylor asked.

“You’ll see. Any ShopWiz ships ready to depart?” Dust asked, scanning the HUD. He pointed. “Hey, is that the Guild Hauler ? Is Captain Luna still in charge?” 

“Yeah, should be. Why?” Taylor asked. 

“Open a line,” Dust ordered. He glanced at Kazuma, then shooed him back. “Out of the pick-up range! You need someone real smooth to sweet talk a honey like Luna.”

Reluctantly, Kazuma took three steps back, and Dust adjusted his clothes, then licked his hand and slicked back his helmet-mussed hair. “Ok, open a line.”

Taylor pressed a button, and a female voice came over the line. “This is the Guild Hauler . We’re reading you, Faitfore . This had better be good.”

“Lan, honey, sweetie, it’s me!” Dust said, throwing his arms open wide. “Have I got a deal for you!” 

There was a pause, then a click, and the line went dead. Taylor sniggered, leaning back in his chair, while Dust sputtered. 

“She just must not have realized who I am,” Dust said, straightening his jacket. “Obviously a mistake.”

“No, Captain, I think she knows you. And how deep in debt you are,” Taylor chuckled. “How you’ve kept this ship and not gotten it repossessed…”

“Charm, wit, and skill,” Dust declared. He stabbed the button. “Now listen, Lan, I do have the goods this time! Twelve full tons of meat! And I need to offload it before we get inspected because it’s maybe a teensy bit very illegal. And I can’t keep the stealth systems running too long or we’ll get picked up. I’ll cut you in on the deal…just let me talk to Luna!”

“She’s not sleeping with you, asshole,” Lan’s voice said, and a moment later, the image of a young woman in overalls and a long sleeved workers top flickered onto the screen. “And neither am I.”

“Oh that’s probably good, because I think Rin would kill him if he tried that,” Taylor said. He poked his head into pick up range. “Hey, Lan. How’s it going?”

“Taylor, why am I talking to this asshole and not you?” Lan demanded, turning her glare on Taylor. 

“Technically, he’s the captain and this is his ship,” Taylor pointed out as Dust sputtered behind him. 

Lan sighed and rubbed her face with one hand. “Right. How much of a cut are we talking?”

“Five percent!” Dust said quickly.

Lan paused, blinking. “On twelve tons?” 

“Six percent!” Dust quickly said.

Lan paused, blinking. Then she grinned wickedly. “Oh, do go on.”

“Come on, Lan. Cut us a break. Six percent is already outrageous, especially with what Luna will want,” Taylor pointed out. 

“Fine, fine. Damn, a full six? Shit, this almost makes what you pulled worth it, Dust Bin. I’ll put in a call to the captain,” Lan agreed, and the screen cut out.

Kazuma stepped forward, peering at the blank screen. Then he glanced at Dust. “What did you do?”

“Not her,” Taylor put in before Dust could speak. “Despite his best efforts.”

“I didn’t do anything. She’s overreacting!” Dust stated firmly. “Women are just too emotional!”

“Oh really?” Rin’s voice said from right behind Kazuma, which made both him and Dust jump in fright.

“Rin! Honey, Darling! Look, Lan’s nothing! It’s you I love, sweetie!” Dust said, giving Rin a lopsided smile as Kazuma backed hastily away. “I just sort of maybe have to-”

“Can it. Not you I want to talk to right now,” Rin said, turning to Kazuma. She smiled at him, taking Kazuma’s hands and giving them a squeeze. “We’re going to let Alice bunk down, but she wants to talk to you first. We gave her a quick shower, and some of Lolisa’s clothes. They’re a bit big on her but both of them are pretty petite.”

Kazuma glanced down at Rin’s chest, which was fairly flat. Some guys were into that, he guessed. 

Rin flushed, but continued on, gritting her teeth slightly. “You did a good thing getting her out of there. Don’t worry. The guys on this crew are pigs and assholes, but they have some redeeming value.”

“Aw come on, Rin! It was one date with Lan! Just one! She just over reacted to-”

“Dust, I do not want to hear about your ex right now,” Rin said, turning around without looking at him. “Now shut up, or the next time I’m having a problem, I’m going to Kazuma. He seems to at least know how to be kind to a young lady.”

“What?! Rin, no I swear-”

Kazuma followed Rin, her tail twitching back and forth in irritation as she hauled herself hand over hand, gravity having been reduced to a fraction of it had been as the ship had entered orbit. Kazuma managed to pull himself after her, though he did bang into the wall a few times. 

He found Alice with Lolisa, both of them floating in the microgravity. Alice didn’t look even slightly motion sick, though Kazuma was starting to feel the effects. 

“Hey, sis. What’s up?” Kazuma asked, gingerly pulling himself into the cramped room. There were beds with sleeping bags strapped to them so that it was possible to sleep even when the ship wasn’t accelerating to maintain some semblance of gravity. Like most of the ship, it was a bit grungy with a lot of patch jobs, but seemed reasonably clean.

“I’ll give the two of you some privacy,” Lolisa said, using her tail to latch on to a railing. She’d taken off her armor, and was dressed in a tight black bodysuit. “You hang in there, kid.”

“Wait, I-” Alice suddenly jerked forward, wrapping Lolisa in a hug, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry. You…you seem really nice. I shouldn’t have called you a demon.”

“It’s what I am,” Lolisa said quietly. “I’m surprised you even know what that means. Most people have forgotten, and we do our best to keep it quiet.”

Lolisa’s pupils suddenly dilated, and she shuddered, then shoved Alice away. “You smell…like mana. I’m sorry, I…I have to go.” 

The succubus hurried out of the compartment, and Kazuma saw tears in her eyes as she brushed past him. He had to admit, she looked pretty cute.  Though she was as petite as Rin had mentioned, her slender frame was far from boyish. She was definitely built differently than most succubi Kazuma had seen, who tended to go for voluptuous curves. She had the body of a dancer or gymnast, though Kazuma didn’t have much time to appreciate it before Lolisa vanished around a bend in the ship.

“I’ll be back,” Rin said, and hurried after her shipmate, leaving Kazuma alone with Alice. 

“Hey,” Kazuma said, floating closer. He swallowed, not sure of what to do or say. He didn’t really know Alice at all. “So, um, I’m Kazuma Sato. I was…well that’s not important.”

Alice nodded quietly, looking worried, hugging herself and tucking her legs in so that she floated in a fetal position. 

“I did find you in a tank. I’m not really sure what they were for or why, but I couldn’t leave you there,” Kazuma continued. Alice hiccuped, tears filling her eyes, and she looked even more concerned. 

“But, I do want to be your big brother. I know I’m not as strong as you, but, if there’s anyway to-”

Alice gasped and jerked forward, impossibly as far as Kazuma could tell, as she hadn’t used any sort of motion to propel herself through the air. But she was suddenly in his arms, and they were hugging each other. 

“Thank you, brother,” Alice said, clinging to Kazuma like a limpet and causing them to start spinning slowly in the air. “I was worried…I know I’m not really your sister, and I wasn’t sure…I thought I scared you.”

“You gave me a heart attack a couple of times, but that’s because I thought I’d lose you,” Kazuma admitted, squeezing Alice, and closing his eyes. He really did hate Zero G. 

“I’m strong. The others died, but I survived,” Alice whispered. 

Those words felt like a stab in the gut, and Kazuma winced, thinking of his own dead family. How had he survived? Sheer dumb luck, mostly. If he hadn’t gone out to sneak some time alone with that porn VR he’d gotten…no. Don’t think about that. 

“Don’t leave me too, please?” Alice whispered.

“I won’t. I’m pretty good at surviving myself,” Kazuma said, far more bitterly than he intended. 

Alice was quiet for a moment, then Kazuma felt something brush his face, and he snapped his eyes open. He found Alice wiping away his tears, looking terribly mournful. 

“Don’t cry, Kazuma. We can survive together. Promise?”

“I promise, sis,” Kazuma said, forcing a smile on his face. “We’ll take care of each other, OK?”

“Yes,” Alice agreed, then yawned hugely. She blushed, turning away in embarrassment.

“You’ve been through a lot. Plus, you still probably are close to that ‘mind down’ or whatever right?” Kazuma asked. 

“My reserves are…low. And restoring very slowly,” Alice admitted. “I could do with a long rest. They gave me some food, and while it did not seem to have any experience, it was satisfying I suppose.”

“Experience?” Kazuma asked, frowning. 

Alice opened her mouth, then frowned, tilting her head to one side. “...does food not have experience? I remember…oh, it is just there…”

“It’s OK. Get some rest, you’ll feel better in a shift,” Kazuma said. 

Alice nodded, and Kazuma helped her snuggle into a sleeping back and strapped her down. He rubbed her head, and Alice smiled as her eyelids fluttered shut.

“Keep watch…there are foes…all…around…” Alice yawned. 

“I will,” Kazuma promised. He kissed Alice’s forehead, and a moment later, she drifted off, snoring softly. 

Kazuma rubbed at his burning eyes, then turned and pulled himself down the corridor. He paused by one of the rooms, hearing little moans and grunting coming from within. Someone was obviously having a good time. 

“Give it to me,” he heard Lolisa say, her tone breathy and pleading. “I need it. Please! Give it to me!” 

“I am you bitch,” Keith’s voice grunted. 

Blushing, Kazuma hurried down, finding Rin working in the main hold, a shop vac whining in her hands as she sucked up fur and blood from the dead barkhides. She shut it off when she saw Kazuma, lowering a pair of goggles. “How’s Alice? Kid seemed exhausted.”

“Sleeping. Thanks. I, um, I am a janitor, I can help clean up…” Kazuma offered, looking around at the various debris floating. 

“I’ll take you up on that in a bit. When Lolisa’s done, I need a turn,” Rin said, sounding irritated. “But Dust wants you. Go help him and tell him to hurry up.”

Kazuma blinked, then blushed. “Oh, I uh, I know we just met, but, um, you’re very pretty, but I can’t. Alice…she wouldn’t understand, and we don’t really know each other, and, I er…”

How to say “I’m a virgin and the thought of spending a night with a woman I just met terrifies me.”

Rin snorted, then floated over and bopped Kazuma on the head with a vacuum. “Not you, horndog. As much of an ass as Dust can be…under all that bluster and dumbassery is a good heart. Plus, who doesn’t love a good rescue romance?”

Kazuma’s mind flashed to Alice, and he blanched. She was definitely like a little sister, and he’d never been into that kind of porn. 

“Oh relax, he’s not into boys, and I’m unfortunately fussy, though don’t tell him that. I like to keep on him on his toes. Don’t try anything on Lolisa. I don’t know what came over her: she’s refused to let a man touch her since I’ve known her. Or a woman. Now get going, and do me a favor? Try to keep Dust from giving his exes all the profits. Man has no sense.”

“Er, OK,” Kazuma agreed, and fled back to the cockpit, where Dust was still waiting with Taylor, the two of them talking and not bothering to be quiet.

“Look man, it was just the one date! I just, you know, was hard up, and well, I sort of had to leave, and she ended up with the bill! It wasn’t a big deal, just a few hundred credits!” Dust was saying.

“So you ditched her and left her with the bill? Was this because you thought she wouldn’t put out on the first date?” Taylor asked, not watching Dust as he performed what looked like a routine task at his console. 

“Huh? Oh, I could have gotten into her pants, no problem,” Dust said dismissively.

“Really? The same guy who was a virgin until Rin came along?” Taylor said, his tone mocking.

Dust went bright red. “I had experience!” 

“No you didn’t,” Taylor deadpanned. “You were both extremely awkward and a pain in the ass to be around for months. Still are. Also, fuck you, Keith! Damn, why couldn’t Lolisa pick me over that little shit?”

“Huh? What’s happening?” Dust asked, peering at the screen. 

“Not on there, dumbass, and I ain’t tellin’ ya. But I got eyes on this whole ship,” Taylor said, tapping his implants. “You know that.”

Snarling, Dust grabbed Taylor. “If you peep on Rin!” 

“No, I don’t, relax. I’m not a pervert or an asshole like the two of you, but I DO have to turn on certain cleaning systems when you idiots get busy, because you’re not so good about cleaning up after yourselves in micro, Captain,” Taylor said, glaring up at Dust. 

“Oh. Um, thanks.” Dust noticed that Kazuma was floating in the doorway, and turned to him, a smile plastered on his face. “The man of the hour! How’s our fair fortune doing?”

“I swear, Dust, you try to sell her, and I will kill you if it’s the last thing I do,” Kazuma growled. 

“Huh? No! Slavery is- look, I’m one of the GOOD guys. You tell him, Taylor!” Dust said, turning to the pilot.

Taylor sighed. “Our captain has the unfortunate habit of flushing all our profits down the drain like our patron, and usually for a pair of pretty eyes. Even if he is obviously smitten and as loyal as a dog. Which he is as dumb as.”

“Hey! I serve a noble cause!” Dust puffed out his chest, putting one hand to his breast as he stared off into the middle distance. “A noble crusader, fighting for justice amongst the stars.”

“I think you just have a head full of stories and romance, and want to get yourself and me killed,” Taylor said with a shrug. 

“If he’s such a dumbass, why do you work for him?” Kazuma asked.

Taylor pointed to his eyes. “He got me these. No one else would have. They’d have cut me loose and left me to die when I lost my peepers. So what can I say: I’m a sucker with a soft heart too.”

“Hey man, we’re friends,” Dust said awkwardly. “Plus, you know, work-related injury. As your boss, I had to pay for them.”

“Pull the other one. Oh hey. It’s our friends on the Guild Hauler .” Taylor pressed a button, and a buxom woman with reddish-blonde hair in a tight bun appeared on screen, dressed in the uniform of a Merchant Captain in the ShopWiz fleet. 

“What is it, Mr. Cheruka?” the woman demanded, her tones clipped and business-like. “I’m losing money by the minute, and I do not have time.”

Slowly, Dust reached into a pouch at his side, and pulled out a silver disk, bringing it up before him. “Oh, not much. Listen, Luna, you know me. I can cut you a deal on 12 tons of meat. A good one.”

“Mr. Cheruka, I am trying to offload cargo, and I have a ship full of passengers and goods. I do not have space for 12 tons of questionable foodstuffs,” Luna said, her tone irritated. “And considering our past relationship, I see no reason to trust you.”

Dust flipped the disk into the air before him, letting it spin in the zero G for a moment before catching it and putting it on his wrist. He peered at the disk, then shrugged. “It’s valuable cargo, Luna. And if they board me and find it, which they will when my stealth drive runs out of power, or when they start doing hard scans, I’m dead.”

“Tragic. But there are many tragedies in the system every day, Mr. Cheruka. And your death would likely save ShopWiz money in the long run, considering how fast you run up debt with us,” Luna said, her voice frosty.

Dust flipped the disk again, frowning. “Aw, come on, Luna. They're really valuable goods. The best. You know what this stuff goes for on the open market? I might even have some stuff to sweeten the deal.”

“I do not…do not…” Luna trailed off, blinking. She gasped, suddenly leaning forward to peer at her display. “Dust! What is-”

“Oh, this?” Dust shrugged, catching the disk and putting it on his wrist again. Kazuma saw that it was a silver coin, which was odd. Physical currency was mostly long phased out, though precious metals retained a great deal of value. Mostly for their use in various electronics though, as Belzerg had been stripped of anything useful ages ago, and asteroid mining was proving problematic. “Just a trinket.”

“Dust…you…you found something valuable?” Luna asked, her tone hesitant.

“I bagged a big one,” Dust said, flashing a grin. “Trust me: This will pay off for you, and your boss. This is exactly what you’re looking for.”

Luna took a deep breath, which did interesting things to her chest. “I’ll open a port for you. I’ll make room for you and your ship. They’re not letting us dock anyway. I’ll start demanding they let us turn around: we have the fuel for a trip back to Belzerg on board already.”

“You’re the best, Luna! And not just because you were my first kiss!” Dust said with an eager grin.

Luna gave him a flat look. “I never kissed you, Dust. I have better taste than that.” With that, the screen shut off.

Taylor whistled. “Damn, and here I thought she hated your guts.”

“Aww, women love me!” Dust said, putting the coin away and laughing. He turned to Kazuma. “Alright pal, we need to talk. This is about-”

“DUST! GET DOWN HERE!” Rin shouted.

“I’m busy!” Dust called back. “I need to-”

“You need to come down here right now, or I’m going to have problems!” Rin called back.

“Aw, come on! I never even kissed Lan, she was just-”

“Not THOSE kind of problems!” Rin appeared in the hatchway next to Kazuma, her cheeks flushed, breathing heavy, her pupils huge. “Please. Please Dust. Now?”

“Oh. Oh! Um, yeah, right away! Taylor, how long to dock?” Dust asked, taking Rin’s hand. She mewed softly and sniffed at him, nuzzling him as her tail wrapped around his leg. 

“Couple hours, boss, they’re by The Hub. We’ll take it slow. But I know you don’t need that long,” Taylor said with a chuckle.

Rin began to purr like some sort of cat, and Dust hustled her off, leaving Kazuma alone with Taylor. He frowned after the departing pair. “What’s that about?”

“Not my place to say,” Taylor said as the engines kicked in. “But Dust doesn’t pick up people who aren’t broken as bad as he is. Welcome to the Faitfore , kid. Strap in. Might as well get started on telling me your sob story.”

“Why do you think I have a sob story?” Kazuma scoffed.

Taylor looked up at him, his eerie metal eyes unblinking. “Cause you're here. Cause everyone in this godsforsaken void does. Now you better start talking, or I’ll have to start prepping the airlock for your swift departure.”

Reluctantly, Kazuma strapped into the co-pilot’s seat. “I mean, I don’t know what to say.”

“Start with why you were in the jungle with that girl, and how that led to the lockdown,” Taylor told him. “And don’t lie. I saw on the scope what that little girl did. She ain’t normal. No one on this boat is.”

“I mean, shit man, I just started my shift today like normal,” Kazuma said, leaning back. “It all started when that bitch tried to take my tunes…”

Chapter Text

Beta'd and Edited by The Grand Cogitator and Tabasco

Brought to you by my  Patreon , and by my  discord . Thanks guys. 

The police cruiser crashed down onto the pavement, and Tina sprinted out, med-kit already in hand. She raced over to the black ops operative who was crying and whimpering as he bled out, both legs gone at the knee. She hastily slipped on a pair of gloves, kneeling beside the injured man. “Hold still, brother, it’s alright.”

“Corpsec? They sent fuckin’ corpsec?” the man gasped, shuddering as blood continued to pump out of his legs. Tina hastily put on the coagulation spray and stuck him with an IV to try to keep him going.

“It will be alright. You will live,” Darkness told him, looking up and around. There were plenty of other bodies, but none seemed to be moving. Claire was checking the others. At least three full squads. Completely destroyed. She checked her patient uniform, but the only ID was “Bandit.” Typical black hats, no sense of honor. They didn’t even tell their prey their names.

“You dumb bitch, you’re going to be corpse sec if you don’t run! There’s three Demons,” Bandit blubbered. “And joke’s on you! I don’t have the credits to pay you for this shit! I’m so damn in debt buying my gear, and now? Gone! It’s all gone! I’m soylent!”

Tina shook her head. The man was going into shock. “Lay back. You have lost a great deal of blood. And there is no charge. What sort of law officer would I be, to let one of her fellows die in battle when I could save him?”

“Who the hell are you?” Bandit muttered, but Tina administered a shot of painkillers, and he passed out.

She sighed, removing her gloves and tossing them aside. “Any other survivors?”

“Not a one. They’re Red Eyes alright,” Claire said, coming back over, still scanning the surrounding buildings for signs of a threat.

“This one will make it, probably,” Tina said, picking up her massive shield from where she’d dropped it in her sprint. “How are we for medical supplies? I had to use quite a bit on him.”

“We’ll manage,” Claire said with a shrug. She stuck a toothpick in her mouth, moving around with her tongue for a moment. “So. This is all ShopWiz turf. We’re off the res now. These guys were too.”

“Are the people of Axel still in danger?” Darkness asked, striding forward, her eyes up and alert.

Claire fell in beside her, slowly shaking her head. “Probably. The smart ones will keep their heads down. But we could let ShopWiz handle it. Technically, that’s what the Corporate Charter says we should do.”

“I do not care what the charter says, and we both know ShopWiz security is a bad joke. Their gear is inferior to ours, their training subpar, and their hiring standards pathetic. They will be slaughtered fighting three Crimson Demons.”

“Just making sure we understand the stakes,” Claire chuckled, taking her SMG from its shoulder strap and carrying it at a low ready position. “We’ll get roasted over a slow fire for this, and Swatti won’t be able to cover for us.”

“We could always turn back,” Tina offered, a hint of amusement in her own voice. They walked past a burnt out van, the smell of rocket propellent still hanging in the air.

That got a bark of laughter from Claire. “You’d cry yourself to sleep for a month if we let innocents get hurt. And I suppose I’m an enabler, because I don’t see any reason to stop you from getting our asses in a sling when upper management finds out.”

Tina nodded, looking around the deserted streets. It was eerie, seeing the flickering neon signs, bits of trash and paper blowing in the wind, and carts and shops shuttered but still standing there, waiting for vendors. “How do we track them down?”

“Are you kidding? We follow the damage.” Claire jerked her chin towards the still smoking craters, burning sections of buildings, and even a few corpses.

“Ah. Aren’t Crimson Demons usually known for their subtlety?” Tina asked, frowning at the carnage.

“Apparently, these three have given up on that angle. At least it will make finding them easy,” Claire said, and started jogging. Tina kept up with her easily, her mind grimly focused on the task at hand: They had to stop this rampage, by any means necessary.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Have we lost them?” Aqua panted, slumping to the floor of the shuttered store. Megumin had used Gram to slice them a way inside of the abandoned building, where a few cracked and molded cans sat on dusty shelves, and the floors were stained by dark smears that Aqua hoped was mostly oil or water damage.

Yunyun came over and squatted by Aqua, frowning at her. “Who are y-you, outsider? Why are you w-with my sisters?”

“That’s Aqua, she’s a goddess,” Megumin said, looking through the debris. “And if we did lose them, it won’t be for long. Catch your breath, we have to keep moving. Komekko, can you send out Hoost?”

“Yeah, I got a new thingy!” Komekko said excitedly. Her familiar poofed into existence, looking slightly bedraggled after getting shot half a dozen times. “‘Kay, Mr. Chicken! Use Ethereal Form!”

“Caw!” Hoost suddenly shifted, going translucent to Aqua and the Crimson Demon’s eyes, his feathers gleaming slightly purple.

“Oh, nice, normal people won’t be able to see him now,” Aqua said with an approving nod.

“Yeah but it feels weird, like he’s suckin’ at me with a straw,” Komekko said, holding her navel and grimacing.

“It’s an active ability that drains your mana. Don’t worry, as a Crimson Demon you have a huge mana pool, it will take over an hour for him to drain it from full. Though, um, you have had to resummon him a lot…” Aqua admitted.

“Send him out to keep a watch for us,” Megumin ordered, and then went to sift through the trash. “Hmm, some of this stuff could be used for bombs…”

Sighing, Aqua tried to relax, but Yunyun’s softly glowing eyes were peering at her intently. It was a bit creepy, so Aqua shifted uncomfortably. “Um, hi. Yunyun, right?”

“I don’t t-trust outsiders,” Yunyun said suspiciously, leaning back and frowning.

“That’s OK, I was the goddess of the Crimson Demons! I helped make you!” Aqua said, smiling guilelessly. “You were some of my favorites! Your poses were always so cool, and you wrote the best poetry! Plus, you were amazing fighters, always on the front lines.”

“Wait, you know about Crimson Demon history!?” Yunyun gasped. She scooted even closer to Aqua, her eyes now blazing, her face mere centimeters from Aqua’s. “Can you tell me about our people!? From the before times!? Were we really warriors for justice!? Why do we have the weird barcodes on us!? And what about the legends, could we really do magic!? Megumin and Komekko seem to be doing magic and they said it was magic and I really want to do it can you teach me how!?”

Yunyun was panting by the end of her tirade, and both Megumin and Komekko were frowning over at her.

“You’re still too loud,” Komekko said, stomping one foot. “Stop it!”

“Seriously, haven’t you learned? We’re trying to hide. Do you want to get us killed too?” Megumin spat.

Yunyun immediately shrank into herself, hugging her knees to her chest as tears trickled down her face. “S-sorry.”

“Hey, hey, it’s OK,” Aqua said, sliding over and hugging the crying girl. “And yeah, I can teach you magic. You could be a proper archwizard, like the Crimson Demons I used to know. Would you like that?”

Hiccuping, Yunyun jerked a nod.

“Ok. Grant Status!”

A glowing card appeared, floating down to rest in Yunyun’s hands. She clutched it to her chest, shaking with sobs. “I-tt’s real. It’s r-real. I’m a-a real Crimson Demon. I did it, d-daddy. I did it.”

Aqua nodded, peering at the card. “Hey, that’s a unique skill! Chieftain! I’ve seen it before, it makes your spells even better. You must be the true heir of leadership of the Crimson Demon Clan.”

‘Um, yeah. M-my dad…m-my real dad…I-I was adopted by Yuiyui and Hoizabaro…m-my dad was Hiropon. L-Last Chief o-of the Crimson Demon Clan…I-I don’t remember him, much. I-I always called Hoizabaro d-daddy…”

Looking guilty, Komekko came over and hugged Yunyun as well, though Megumin kept rooting around, her back turned to the others. “Um, it wasn’t your fault. M-mommy said so.”

“It w-was,” Yunyun whispered. She clutched at the card like it was her only lifeline, her hand shaking. “I-I can save our people. W-we’ll find the rest of the Crimson Demons, a-and restore the clan. T-they’re out there somewhere, a-and we can-”

“They’re all dead.”

Everyone turned to Megumin, who was leaning on Gram, her shoulders trembling. “Mom, dad…they’re dead. Don’t you get it? We’re the last ones. You remember the last time we tried to go to a Gathering? What we saw there?”

Komekko started crying, and Yunyun hugged her, looking horribly pained. “T-the others, they were just…just…”

“ARUE’S SKULL WAS MOUNTED THERE!” Megumin screamed, turning around, tears flooding down her face. “HER FAMILY WAS THE ONLY OTHERS WE’D EVER SEEN! THEY’VE KILLED US ALL! AND NOW?! NOW I’M GOING TO KILL THEM!”

“Megumin?” Aqua asked, feeling like a hand was squeezing her chest.

Megumin pointed to Aqua, her entire frail frame shaking with grief and rage. “You see her? She’s our ticket. She’s got power. She gives it away for free, like a crazy person, but with her? Oh, we can do more than just KILL the bastards who hunted us down. We can destroy this whole rotten world! Blow it up! Because who cares! We’re the last ones, and there’s no hope left!”

“NO!”

Megumin was knocked flat on her rear as a blast of blue light filled the small room. The walls were suddenly ripped away, and light, real light, not neon, not fluorescent, not even incandescent, but real sunlight flashed down from a hole in the smog above. Aqua rose up, her hair floating around her like holy raiment as her eyes flashed like the sea in storm.

“There IS hope! I AM hope! As long as you draw breath, there is STILL hope! We can heal this world! And death is NOT the answer.”

Aqua hovered up in the air for a moment, until Megumin stood up and glared at her. “Could you turn that off!? You’re lighting up a beacon for everyone to see us!”

“Let them see us!” Aqua said, feeling the power of the new prayers flood through her, all of the new followers that she had gained in the last few days. “I will be a beacon of hope! I am the goddess of-”

The far wall suddenly exploded as a massive figure clad head to foot in dark adamantois armor barreled through, swinging a fire axe in one hand and bearing a riot shield in the other.

“CORPORATE SECURITY, OFFICER TINA FORD! EVERYONE-”

“ZEPHYR STEP!” Megumin screamed, charging to meet the attacker. Gram rang off the riot shield, and Megumin tried to side step, even as Komekko drew her gun and started firing, her bullets pinging off the shield and armor of her foe.

To Aqua’s shock, the attack lunged sideways, shoulder checking Megumin and sending her flying. Despite Megumin’s recent levels, her use of wind magic to make herself lighter and faster also made her vulnerable to simple physics, and with all that metal on her Officer Ford had to weigh nearly 150 kilos in addition to being over two meters tall.

Yunyun wordlessly snarled and drew a gun, firing as well, though her bullets also pinged off the armor of her foe.

“No! Use your magic!” Aqua cried, grabbing Yunyun’s arm. She took the Adventurer card, looking at it for a moment, then selecting Intermediate Magic. Normally a Crimson Demon would know Advanced Magic, but though Yunyun had a higher than normal amount of skill points thanks to her legacy skill, she would have to make do for now.

“POWER! SURGING!” Yunyun screamed, her eyes actually emitting beams of red light. “BEHOLD! I AM YUNYUN, FOREMOST CHIEFTAIN OF THE CRIMSON DEMON CLAN! FACE JUSTICE, SCUM! FIRE-”

A burst of gunfire sounded, and Yunyun’s shoulder exploded, spinning her about as she hit the ground, a look of stunned surprise on her face. There was another combatant, this one in lighter armor, though she still had on a full helmet. She also had even more guns than the Crimson Demons, and was firing an SMG into the fray in support of her comrade.

“No-no-no-no!” Aqua gasped. She grabbed Yunyun’s shoulder, forcing magic through into the wound, carefully and expertly knitting the bones and flesh back together. “Heal! Heal!”

“I…I’m fine?” Yunyun gasped wonderingly, touching the mended wound. She grimaced, then poked her head up, pointing with two fingers. “LIGHTING BOLT!”

“Oohhhhh~” the attacker gasped, shuddering with…well, that didn’t look like pain, actually.

Megumin staggered to her feet, looking dazed, and swung Gram at the armored foe. This time, the blow was parried, and then the riot shield slammed into Megumin’s face, breaking her nose and causing her to stagger back. Another hit from the axe disarmed her, sending Gram spinning away, and then the corpsec officer drove the butt of the axe into Megumin’s chest. She vomited, gasped for air, and then fell over.

“NO! MEGUMIN!” Yunyun wailed, and leapt forward, slashing her hand down in an arc. “WIND BLADE!”

The riot shield cracked and crumpled, but stopped most of the energy. Obviously surprised, the corpsec officer staggered back, and Yunyun grinned, flames sprouting in her hands. Then a wire shot out, sticking into her neck. Electricity arched through her, and Yunyun screamed before dropping down, twitching and moaning.

Howling wordlessly, Komekko popped up, firing her gun wildly  with one hand, gripping a knife in the other. Hoost flapped down, scratching and trying to peck at the eyes of the gunwoman, but her helmet caused the familiar’s claws to scrabble uselessly against the visor.

Grunting, the armored corpsec officer tossed her shield at Komekko, then grappled with her. She took two stabs and a shot to the leg for her pains, but for all her skill, Komekko was a six year old little girl, and her foe a battle hardened veteran six times Komekko’s mass. Soon, Komekko was pinned, gagged, and bound.

Crying, Aqua stood up, pointing her hands at the attackers. “CREATE WATER!”

A stream of pure water shot out, splashing over the battlefield and giving it a good cleaning. However, since Aqua’s foes were neither demons nor undead, it mostly just cooled them off and made their socks wet.

“Oh for- look if you don’t knock that off, I’ll shoot you! Where is the water coming from anyway?” the gunwoman demanded. She stomped over and slapped Aqua, causing the goddess to stagger. “The hell is wrong with you? You must be the VIP target.”

“Claire,” the hulking armored figure said, coming to stand over the whimpering Yunyun. Her voice was surprisingly feminine, even as she stomped a boot down on Yunyun’s back and cuffed her hand and foot. “They’re just children.”

“Children that nearly killed us, Tina” Claire responded, showing off where several bullets had hit her armor, and pointing to where her partner was still bleeding. Then Claire hesitated. “But, we did attack first…”

“You know Nickles and Farbough would have shot at red eyes first and asked questions later,” Tina grunted. “Stop squirming, child. I do not wish to hurt you.”

“Y-you damn outsiders! You killed my parents! T-twice!” Yunyun wailed. “I’ll kill you! Just like those blackhats! I-I’ll kill you all!”

“Stop!” Aqua begged. “Please, we just want to help! We were attacked by bad people, even if they were just regular mortals.”

Their pleas were ignored, with Claire and Tina continuing their conversation. “If we turn them over to Corporate, you know what will happen,” Claire pointed out.

“We…we could just pluck out their eyes. They would probably survive that,” Tina pointed out.

“Maybe. What about blue hair? She’s supposed to be a con artist. I don’t see how she’s so dangerous. Seriously, a water hose? That’s basically useless.”

“What!? Who’s spreading those lies about the Axis Cult again!? My precious followers would-”

Claire’s fist slammed into Aqua’s chin, and she fell down, dazed and stunned, unable to think as her head rang.

Then she felt something. A chill. And the presence of death.

“No! No, you have to let me go!” Aqua wailed, sitting up. “It’s her! She’s coming!”

“Shut up or I really will shoot you and be done with it!” Claire snapped. “Tina, we can’t just let them go. We’re still in ShopWiz turf, and they have a trail of bodies. But I’m not willing to turn a couple of teens and a six year old over to get their eyes put out and be executed.”

“Neither am I, but…those are our orders…and they are criminals. I hate to break the law but-”

“Then you should never have come here,” a chill voice declared.

Screaming, Aqua broke the cuffs with a surge of energy, turning to find her most ancient foe standing at the threshold, flanked by dozens of guards in heavy armor, bearing those filthy guns.

“Oh fuck me,” Claire groaned, taking half a step back. “Er, look, we’re here on orders from Captain-”

“I do not care why you are in my territory,” Wiz the Ice Witch, CEO of ShopWiz and General of the Devil King said, her tones frosty, rime forming on her purple robes. “You are trespassing. And you have what is rightfully mine.”

“Run!” Aqua screamed at Tina and Claire. “Run! Take the girls and run!” tears blinded her as she ran forward, summoning what little power she had. “TASTE THE FURY OF A GODDESS SCORNED! GOD BLOW!”

“CRYSTAL ICE PRISON!”

Everything turned to ice and pain.

Chapter Text

Thanks to his trip through the void before, Kazuma was familiar with just how long it took anything to happen in space. Even with the relatively (cosmically speaking) short distance between Belzerg and Eris, the typical transit time was still around two days. This was largely thanks to the fact that most large ships didn’t actually land on the moon or the planet, but instead docked at one of the large space stations. In the case of the moon, most cargo was ferried up and down via one of the twin space elevators at the poles, though there were ports for smaller ships like the Faitfore . For the planet, there were four elevators, interspaced along the equator.

There were, of course, additional stations and habitats scattered around the orbit of Belzerg, including a few that had the strange name of O’Neill Cylinders, the origin of their naming being a transplant from earlier times when Belzerg had received more frequent visitors from other worlds. Most of these, however, were abandoned or failed, as inevitably they were impossible to maintain. Life never flourished or grew on any stations for reasons baffled scientists had never been able to explain, but attributed to cosmic radiation.

Thanks to the fact that most highliners were not at all designed to enter atmosphere, it was relatively easy to control traffic. Though smugglers like Dust and his crew were both common and somewhat ignored, mostly because they often conducted business for various corporations. It was nearly impossible for a private citizen to get a ship capable of atmospheric entry, and thus Sylvia tacitly ignored most of them in favor of slapping heavy fines on their patrons. 

In normal circumstances, this was what allowed Dust and his crew to sneak in and out of the moon’s atmosphere. While the moon’s security forces clearly would see them coming and going, their stealth systems could hide them for a few hours, and they could harvest their cargo and leave. At worst, if they were attacked they could plead innocence, and a ShopWiz ship would likely take interest in dissuading the security forces from doing too much. ShopWiz would later eat a large fine, but not one so exorbitant to make the smuggling unprofitable. 

There was also a great deal of traffic back and forth to get lost in. Ordinarily, there were dozens of arrivals and departures every hour, with hundreds of ships in transit. These, however, were not ordinary circumstances. There had not been a halt order of traffic on this scale in living memory of most beings. The last time had been 89 years ago, and the resulting war had caused the destruction of Elroad Entertainment and the death of its CEO, Ragecraft. The exact circumstances of his death were not widely known, but rumors persisted that it had been Sylvia’s retribution for Ragecraft attempting to steal something quite valuable from her. 

Still, even at the glacial pace that things usually happened in space, it was rapidly becoming obvious to Kazuma as he watched the LADAR that things were unraveling rapidly. Ships in transit were slowing, which in and of itself would cost untold billions of credits by the delays. But the stopped ships at the spaceports, or the ones queuing up to unload? That was catastrophic.

Belzerg no longer produced any food to speak of, relying almost entirely on imports from its moon to sustain its population. Every moment that this lifeline was interrupted was a moment that hundreds or thousands died of starvation. Already, corporate highliners were grouping up, and based on the radiation signatures, were gearing up for an assault. Most of them were armed, a few heavily so. The last corporate war had not been fought in space, largely because Sylvia had controlled all the serious weaponry on the moon or in space. This time, however, the other corporations had their own ships, and while they spent most of their time as glorified freighters, it did not take much to add a spiral mounted railgun, a nuclear missile battery, or a few energy cannons that could wreck a station in a few shots, and potentially devastate the lunar surface. 

Kazuma and the Faitfore continued towards the Guild Hauler , which like most highliners was a long cylindrical shape, with slight bulges where the weapons and aft engines were, along with a few maneuvering thrusters. It currently rotated slowly, the engines only a soft idling glow. Turning them all the way off would have left the ship totally vulnerable, and thus it kept a little angular momentum, orbiting Eris in a stable pattern. 

“Just a few minutes, and we’re home free!” Dust said gleefully, patting Kazuma on the shoulder. He seemed to be in a VERY good mood after helping Rin take care of her “problem,” which Kazuma figured was some sort of biological or behavioral conditioning that most carved slaves were implanted with. Part of him was jealous of Dust, but mostly he just wanted to get himself and Alice somewhere safe. 

“Why do you trust Luna so much?” Kazuma asked nervously for about the third time. 

“Ah she’s great! Plus, she knows, you know?” Dust said, winking and elbowing Kazuma. 

Kazuma did not know, but he was increasingly worried that if he admitted that, he would be in deep trouble. He watched with trepidation as the Guild Hauler grew to fill the entire screen; it was two kilometers in length, with a beam of just over 500 meters. The Faitfore disappeared into her open hold with plenty of room to spare, though it was 50 meters long with a 30 meter wingspan to aid in atmosphere.  

The hold itself had been cleared out, with the Faitfore having flown past several drifting cargo containers. Kazuma shivered to see armored shapes lining the inside of the hold, then followed Dust back to their own airlock. Alice was already suited up, along with Rin and Lolisa. Kazuma sealed his helmet on, having already put on the vacsuit. They were simple, somewhat bulky designs, with magnetic boots and clear faceplates. 

“You ready?” Kazuma asked, giving Alice a nervous smile. Her suit was a bit too big for her, with her arms dropping slightly, and her legs having large bags around the ankles. 

“Yes, I think so. I have not worn this ‘space suit’ before. I am…uncertain what Space is. I do not remember learning of it, but…there is so much else I do not recall.”

“You’re doing great, sweetie,” Lolisa said, patting the back of Iris’ suit. Her own was a little better fitting, with a few obvious combat modules on it. Space combat was deadly, as most hulls could be pierced by anything bigger than small arms, and a punctured suit in vacuum was almost always deadly in short order. That didn’t stop people from trying to kill one another though, and there did exist heavily armored vacsuits. Like the kind Kazuma had seen their reception committee sporting. Any violence would likely be brief, and very one sided.

He was right, though as he would later learn, for very much the wrong reasons. 

“Hey, babe, I’ll miss you,” Keith said, coming over to put a hand on Lolisa’s shoulder. He looked insufferably smug, and more than a little possessive, right until Lolisa jerked away from him then slapped his arm away. 

“Don’t babe me, human. You were a mistake. You’re as empty of mana as every man I’ve seen,” Lolisa spat. “And don’t even think of trying to get my chip. I’ll kill you first.”

“Hey, woah, I thought you enjoyed that as much as I did! I know you’ve been looking at me since we picked you up!” Keith said, obviously offended. He tried to grab at Lolisa, but Dust stepped between them, his chest pushing the scrawnier other man back.

Though Dust’s vacsuit added bulk, he already had broad shoulders, not to mention a few extra centimeters of height. “Hey. She said back off. You know the rules: the girls decide who they bunk with. Not you. We can choose. They fucking can’t. You get me?” 

“You only say that because you fuck Rin twice a day! That skank finally put out, and I’m not-” 

Dust’s backhand blow sent blood and a tooth spraying across the bulkhead, and Keith choked and gasped, dropping to his knees. 

“You stay with the ship. Taylor? Keep an eye on Keith. I think he needs a nap,” Dust said firmly. 

“Fuck you, captain,” Keith snarled, slowly standing up and wiping his bloodied lip. 

“Oh? You wanna walk back, Keith? We’re friends, but you don’t push yourself on Lolisa. Or any other woman. You even SNIFF Alice, and I’ll kill you before the girls can,” Dust said, his voice low and dangerous. “Don’t forget: I AM the captain. You might be my oldest friend, but we’re not picking up chicks on the docks now.”

“Fine. Luna’s a bitch anyway,” Keith snarled. “Fucking women.” He stalked off, and Dust turned, smiling widely.

“I, uh, I wasn’t gonna try anything,” Kazuma said, edging away slowly from Lolisa. “I just want to get my sister somewhere safe.”

“Ah you’re a good dude, I can tell. Keith is too. He just, well, he hasn’t been laid in a while. He’s got the hots for Lolisa, always has! Did you really screw him?”

The last was to Lolisa, and she shifted uncomfortably. “I thought…I thought I smelled mana. Supposedly I kicked that habit a long time ago…but…I dunno. It wasn’t my chip. I wanted…someone. He was just the closest, since you’re taken.”

“And don’t either of you forget it,” Rin muttered. Then she straightened. “Look sharp! Popping the lock!” 

Everyone turned back to the door, even as the one behind them hissed shut. Air was sucked out of the lock, and then the exterior hatch opened, showing a welcoming committee of heavily armed ShopWiz CorpSec in power armor. Each of them had heavy weapons, though they looked rather uncertain. At the center was a trim white executive set of armor, with the rank insignia of a ship’s captain. 

Much like navies everywhere, there was a separate ranking system aboard ship. A ship’s captain in the void was the master of her domain, and if a dirtside executive was aboard, they could be overruled. A low level captain, like a small courier vessel, had the corporate rank equivalent to a mid level manager. They would be well advised not to trample over a high level executive aboard their ship, as it could affect their career.  But they were well within their powers to determine the fate of their own craft, especially in an emergency situation.

A high level Senior Captain like Luna, commander of a highliner, was equivalent in rank to a Senior President, or even a District Executive. The only person she answered to was CEO Wiz herself, or perhaps the Station Commander of one of the ShopWiz stations. Aboard her own ship, Luna was the voice of god. And since they were all dead, the buck stopped at her. 

“Captain Sheyka. You and your crew are to report to my quarters immediately,” Luna barked over an open comm line, as the hold was exposed to vacuum. “Lieutenant!”

“Aye, ma’am?” the senior CorpSec officer responded, and the dozen other goons straightened to attention.

“Clear the halls; passengers should have already been confined to quarters, but I want crew gone as well. You post two guards on this ship. No one goes in, or out. Do you understand me?”

“Crystal, ma’am,” the lieutenant agreed, and began motioning. Two guards took up position by the Faitfore’s airlock, while two others bounded ahead through the microgravity to clear the way ahead. Two others fell in behind Kazuma and the others, and Luna motioned them forward. 

As soon as they were through the airlock to the main deck of the Guild Hauler , Dust popped off his helmet and gave Luna a broad grin. “Luna, baby, I found her! We-”

“Silence!” Luna barked, not removing her own suit and stalking forward. 

“But, babe, I-”

“Shut up, smuggler. Or I’ll ventilate you,” one of the corpsec goons growled through an exterior speaker. 

Dust rounded on him in outrage, but Rin poked at him. He quieted, looking sullen.

Alice, however, did not. Her helmet came off, and she tossed her head, her golden hair flowing out down her back. “Captain! I demand to know for what purpose you have brought Us aboard this vessel!”

Somehow, Kazuma could hear a capitol on the “Us” and it baffled him. 

“Girlie, you will speak to the captain with respect,” the same guard growled, raising the butt of an energy rifle. “Or I shall-”

“Silence!” Alice barked. “How dare you speak to Us in such a fashion! Return to your post, soldier.”

The two security officers hesitated, until Alice flicked her hand at them. “We said you are dismissed.”

“Yes ma’am,” they both muttered, bowing slightly as they backed away. Then they froze, looking up at Luna, who had paused, clearly hesitating.

“You…you may go,” Luna said, clearing her throat. She removed her own helmet, and bowed to Alice. “My…young lady. Please…say nothing further until we are in my quarters…”

“You mean no harm to Us or to our Brother, or noble Sir Dust and his crew?” Alice demanded coldly. 

“No, please. Come this way,” Luna urged. 

Alice harrumphed, then looked up at Kazuma guiltily as Luna scurried off. “Sorry, brother. I just…I’m nervous. I don’t like the sea, or ships, and this one is…oh. We are not upon the sea, are we?”

“Uh, no,” Kazuma said, putting a hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Let’s wait and see what Luna does want, we- Lolisa? You OK?”

The succubus was breathing hard, her face flushed. She was down on one knee, her eyes slightly wild. “The Voice…you are-”

“Not now,” Dust hissed, hauling the succubus to her feet. “Luna knows!”

“Knows what? Dust, what did you get us into?” Rin demanded. 

“Just come on, trust me,” Dust urged, and they all followed after Luna. The corridors of the ship were far less utilitarian than Kazuma had expected, with colored tiles set in the floor with arrows helpfully pointing where different parts of the ship were, such as medical, the galley, lounge, and viewing lobbies. Apparently, the Guild Hauler took passengers, and not cheap ones. 

Luna’s cabin door was made of faux wood, with fanciful carvings of plants in twisting patterns. The interior was warm and homey, and rather spacious, with room for a sitting room, a bedroom, and a small kitchenette if Luna felt like cooking herself, or perhaps for a steward to make a private meal. Though it was small for a CEO’s room dirtside, even on a large highliner space was at a premium, and this was the ideal of luxury. Few if any passengers would have such plush quarters, and they would be paying millions of credits to get them. 

As soon as the door closed, Luna burst into tears and dropped to her knees, taking Alice’s hands in hers. “My Lady…you…you’re real! I never thought…I hoped…for so many years! But I never…I never thought…”

And then the captain dissolved into tears, shocking everyone there, save for Dust, who started snuffling and rubbing at his eyes too. “We found her, Luna. I’ve gotten others out, gods, so many over the years. I always prayed, hoped, it would be me, but…”

“Dust!?” Rin asked, sounding half panicked. “What is going on?!”

Lolisa had started crying as well, collapsing to her hands and knees as she trembled. “It’s over…it’s over…please…please…I don’t want to go back to hell…this place is bad…but it’s better than hell!” 

“Hey, back off!” Kazuma said, snatching Alice away from Luna and backing away with her. “What are you doing to my sister?”

“Dust, who is this man?” Luna asked, rubbing away her tears. “Why does he think…?”

“Lady, back off, I’m warning you!” Kazuma said, looking around wildly. They’d left their weapons behind, but maybe…”STEAL!” 

There was a flash of light, and Luna squealed in panic. Lolisa cried out as if in pain and fell flat on her face, while Rin squawked and Dust’s jaw dropped open. Luna, however, went bright red, her hands going to her crotch.

Kazuma rubbed the still warm fabric in his hands, a lecherous grin spreading over his face. Then he blushed and hastily tossed Luna’s panties back at her as Alice glared up at him. “I swear, I was trying to get a gun or something off her! Not those!”

“Jatice, how many TIMES must I tell you that such behavior is NOT FUNNY!” Alice demanded, stamping her foot on the plush carpet. “Father will be furious! How can a prince behave in such a manner!?”

“I…what?” Kazuma said, scowling. 

Alice suddenly blinked, her anger turning to confusion, then fear, and finally tears. Kazuma hugged her as she wept, feeling baffled. 

“He…he’s…what is he?” Luna asked, holding her underwear to her breast. 

“Uh, honestly I dunno,” Dust admitted. “He did something like that earlier. I figured SHE was the goddess…but I dunno. Eris is supposed to be a thief or something, right?”

“No, she’s the benevolent lady of the Moon, the Goddess of Fortune,” Luna corrected. She kowtowed on the carpet. “Lady Eris, I welcome you to my vessel. Please, we must get you back to Belzerg. Everything relies on you.”

“She’s not…who’s Eris!?” Kazuma demanded, though his heart pounded in his chest. He knew that name…from stories his parents had told him when he was little. He barely remembered them, they’d always been whispered in fear, but Eris was supposed to be a god. And those were all dead, weren’t they? “She’s my sister!” 

Alice slowly disentangled herself from Kazuma, then walked over and put a hand on Luna, gently lifting her up. “Good Captain, I am not the Goddess. I am merely…merely…her servant? Yes. I am the Servant of the people and the Sword of the Realm, but I am no god.”

“But…but you have Magic. I could feel it,” Luna said, blinking in confusion as Alice helped her up.

“She’s not a god,” Lolisa said, slowly looking up. She was cowering, Kazuma realized. In fear of Alice. “She is…she is a Belzerg.”

“She’s a planet?” Dust asked in confusion. 

“No, Dust, shut up and listen!” Rin hissed. She hurried over to Lolisa, kneeling and helping her friend up. “Lolisa…what do you mean?”

“Mana. They both…they both have mana,” Lolisa managed. She was drooling, Kazuma realized, and had to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. “But I recognize the Voice. I…I fought…a long time ago…I saw a Belzerg on the battlefield. Her name was…it doesn’t matter. But she was the Queen. She fought alongside the gods. I was young then, and I hid. I can pass for human if I…nevermind. But Alice, she is a Belzerg!”

“That…that sounds right,” Alice admitted slowly. “I am…I am not…I am only the Princess. Not…the throne is not mine.”

Luna and Dust exchanged panicked looks. “But, we’re supposed to be looking for the goddess, or at least her avatar!” Dust said, his tone horrified.

“She’s the next best thing,” Lolisa said quietly, looking at Kazuma and licking her lips. She shuddered and dropped her gaze. “She practically IS the planet. If she has royal blood, then she’s the rightful Queen of Belzerg. The royal family had fled to the moon when the gods were defeated. They held out for centuries there, until Sylvia built a grand fleet and invaded.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. There’d be a record,” Dust protested. 

Luna snorted. “Dust, the Corporations control history, what information is allowed, what is taught. Do you think they’d let the truth of something like that be known?”

“I, um…I know a little bit about that,” Kazuma admitted, and all eyes turned to him. He shuffled uncomfortably, until Alice came and took his hand. 

“Big Brother…what do you know?” she asked, her tone pleading.

“I know…well, it’s not much. But my parents…they said we were something called Japanese. That our ancestors…they came from another world. That they’d fought on the Moon, and barely escaped when it fell, and the last king died and Eris was killed and it became Discord. I thought it was probably just a story…but when they died…I figured…I could go to the moon… and at least I’d die where my ancestors had lived. But I chickened out. I just got a corporate job instead of fighting. I…I’m such a coward…”

“You are an isekai?” Alice asked, tilting her head to one side. When Kazuma stared at her blankly, she clarified, “A hero from another world?”

“I’m no hero, and I’m just a kid from Belzerg,” Kazuma said, chuckling darkly. 

“A moment,” Luna said suddenly, standing and taking out a communicator, her panties still in one hand. She held it up. “Captain speaking. This had better be good, Lan.”

“Captain! We’re getting hailed by ChimeraTech!” Lan said, her voice panicked. 

“I take it they are not calling to invite us to dock and unload our cargo,” Luna said, her voice tight.

“They are demanding we heave to and stand by to be boarded! Apparently, they’re doing that to several ships, all from different corporations! But there’s a bunch of leech craft and strike craft headed our way, and they do NOT sound friendly!” Lan babbled. 

Luna looked at Alice and Kazuma, and her jaw set. “Sound battle stations.”

“Captain!?” Lan gasped. 

“Sound general quarters!” Luna barked. “Send out a general alert: Order 47! All ShopWiz ships to our aid.”

“Captain, that’s practically a declaration of WAR! And if we start shooting-”

“Open a general line to my quarters,” Luna demanded. She walked over to her desk, where a terminal sat. She looked behind her. “All of you, out of pickup range. Over there. And be quiet. Ah, please, um, your highness?”

“It is your ship, captain. I believe you can be trusted,” Alice said, and hastened over to the corner Luna had ordered them too. 

Luna spent a moment arranging her hair. When she found herself presentable, she activated her terminal. “All ships, this is the Guild Hauler of ShopWiz. I have been informed that ChimeraTech is DEMANDING to board the sovereign vessel of ShopWiz, to seize my goods, my passengers, or my crew! This is a direct violation of corporate policy, and I will not stand for it. If any ChimeraTech ships enter into my engagement range, I WILL open fire. ChimeraTech has no right to violate our corporate property. All ShopWiz ships: As Senior Captain in orbit of Discord, I initiate Order 47. Our corporate allies: I encourage you to side with us. They will come for you next. For too long, ChimeraTech  has demanded outrageous taxes and tariffs! No longer will I stand for it! My profits are mine and my CEO’s, and not Sylvia’s! Captain Luna of the Guild Hauler , out!” 

Luna took a deep breath, then sagged against her desk, propping herself up with both hands. “Lan?”

“Sounding General Quarters, Captain,” Lan said softly. “I hope you know what you’re doing…”

The lights suddenly flickered, then dimmed to emergency red, and an alarm began to blare. One that had not been used in anger in eight decades…

GENERAL QUARTERS, GENERAL QUARTERS ALL HANDS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS! PASSENGERS TO YOUR ROOMS! REPEAT: THIS IS NO DRILL! GENERAL QUARTERS, ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS!

“To war then,” Alice said grimly. She stepped forward. “Captain, I will require arms and armor. This is your ship, and you shall fight her. But I will have command of your marines.”

“At once, your highness. We shall burn for planetside. It is of the utmost import that you are brought to safety, or this is for nothing,” Luna said, standing and bowing stiffly. “I must see to my men. I will alert my…marines? That they are under your command.”

“Very good. Sir Dust!” Alice barked. 

“Yes, my lady?” Dust said, instantly at Alice’s side. 

“You shall be the captain of my guard. You are adept at arms?” Alice demanded as she strode for the  hatch, Kazuma hurrying to stay at her side. 

“Yes ma’am. Trust me, Ole Dust is handy in a fight,” he assured her, looking positively delighted. “Me and the girls won’t let anything happen to her.”

“Very good. Miss Lolisa!”

“Y-yes?!” Lolisa squeaked. 

Alice rounded on her, looking the succubus up and down. “You wish to abandon hell, and side with mortal men?”

Looking sick, Lolisa nodded. “I…I’m loyal to Dust now, Your Majesty. Vanir betrayed the succubi…and…and I like humans! I…I don’t want to go back to what I was! Please!” Lolisa dropped to her knees again, looking miserable. “Please.”

“Very well. You shall safeguard my person. But stay away from my brother,” Alice ordered grimly. “Sir Dust! You and Miss Rin guard my brother. It is worth more than your lives.”

“Yes ma’am,” Dust agreed, saluting. 

“Step forward, all of you,” Alice ordered. “You too, Captain Luna.”

All four of the others did, at a motion from Alice, they knelt. 

“Grant Status,” Alice said, extending her hands towards them.

All four shuddered and gasped, with Lolisa moaning in ecstasy. 

“Sir Dust, you shall be a Knight, the first of our Royal Guard,” Alice ordered. “Miss Rin, what are your stats?”

“My…stats?” Rin said, cradling a small card in her hand. Lolisa took it gently, examining it. 

“She’s got high intelligence, pretty good wisdom, not bad dex. She’d make a decent mage or archer. There…there haven’t been any mages in a long time…”

“Then she shall be our Royal Archmage,” Alice declared, and touched a line on the card. “Captain Luna?”

Luna proffered her own card, looking half delirious with joy. 

“Hmm. Ordinarily, I would say you should be a Merchant or Craftswoman with these stats…but in these times, needs must. You shall be a Bard, to extoll your crew to greater heights.”

“I…I will, my Lady,” Luna vowed. 

“Then to your station, and see that your crew knows their duty!” Alice ordered. 

Luna scrambled to her feet, even as Dust and Rin peered at their cards in bafflement. Lolisa stood though, and took a deep breath. “Succubi aren’t really frontline fighters…but I can cast Charm and a few other magics…l-like…like Drain Vitality…”

“Employ it against our foes, and it shall be no sin,” Alice said firmly. She nodded to Kazuma. “Come, brother. We shall arm ourselves. Lead the way to the armory, Sir Dust!” 

“Yes ma’am!” Dust said eagerly, and they ran off as the ship’s lights flickered back on, the alarm finally trailing off. 

Meanwhile, back in the Faitfor, Tailor was looking at his display grimly. “Don’t look good, Keith. There’s a lot of firepower headed this way. If this turns into a battle…”

“Oh, I know who the winning side is,” Keith said from behind Taylor, raising a pistol. “Too bad you’re too dumb to go with it.”

Sensing danger, Tailor whirled. “Keith, no, don’t-”

The gun barked once, and Tailor’s brains sprayed over the consol. Grimacing, Keith shoved aside the body, and wiped off the panel. Then he opened a line. “Hey, ChimeraTech? Yeah, this is the Faitfor . I think I know where what you’re looking for is.”

Chapter Text

Ice crackled, and Megumin took half a step back, her heart pounding in her chest. Aqua was just as she had found her the first time: trapped in a pillar of crystalline ice. Their two assailants, Claire and Tina, looked horrified, with Tina raising her hands and planting herself between Wiz and her partner. 

“M-Megumin,” Yunyun whispered, crawling over to her. “D-don’t move.”

“I think we can get away,” Megumin whispered, licking her lips. “But…but I don’t want to leave Aqua…you take Komekko and-”

“Shhh! Just w-wait,” Yunyun urged. 

Megumin shot her a baffled look, but Komekko was still down and bleeding, while Megumin was barely on her feet, and she didn’t have Gram, the sword having skidded across the room. To her horror, Wiz bent down and picked Gram up, pointing it towards Tina and Claire. “Depart now! Or I shall be forced to act!” 

“Fine. We’ll go. But the kids come with us,” Claire said, pushing Tina aside. 

Wiz’s eyes narrowed. “If it is credits you want, I suppose something can be negotiated later. But their eyes are mine.”

“No, you bitch, they’re CHILDREN! How dare you-” Claire began, but Tina dragged her partner back. 

“We’re leaving. They are, after all, criminals and murderers. We’ll report that you handled it, CEO Wiz.”

“Tina, I am not leaving a bunch of little girls to-!”

“They’re still Crimson Demons. And they’ve killed a lot of people. I’m not letting you die over this,” Tina said quietly. Claire grimaced, but nodded her agreement. Slowly the two NyteTech officers backed away, finally leaving out the hole that Tina had made. 

Megumin swallowed, slowly moving over to Komekko. Her sister was trying to be brave, but tears leaked out of her eyes, and she was clearly in serious pain, and tied up to boot. She was just about to try lifting her despite her own injuries, when Wiz spoke.

“Make sure they’re gone,” she ordered her own goons, and several of her heavily armored enforcers took off after Tina and Claire. She turned to Megumin and her sisters, and Megumin swallowed. 

“Yunyun, are you alright?” Wiz asked, her tone suddenly breathy and worried as she lifted up her skirts and hurried over. 

“I’m fine, Miss Wiz,” Yunyun said tiredly. “Aqua healed me. Um, m-my sisters are hurt though…”

“What!?” Megumin gasped as Wiz reached out a pale, sender hand towards her. She jerked back, horrified. “But Yunyun, she’s a corpo!” 

“I am,” Wiz admitted. “Do you…do you know what I am? I- Oh! Oh no!” 

Wiz turned about, dashing over to the pillar of ice that contained Aqua, who appeared to be suspended, frozen in mid punch. “Get blow torches! Something! W-we have to melt the ice! Hurry!” 

A WizShop guard came over, taking out a knife as he hovered over Komekko, and Megumin snarled, balling a fist and summoning the winds. “Don’t touch her!” 

“Woah, woah, relax, relax!” the female voice in the heavy armor said. It was impossible to tell gender with the full face mask, along with the heavy ballistic plate. The woman popped off her helmet, revealing a kindly face, though one with a scar down the cheek. “I’m Aloerina, please. I just want to cut your sister free. Here. Take a First Aid kit. Yunyun? Why don’t you take the knife.”

Megumin watched, stupefied as Aloerina turned the knife around, handing the hilt to Yunyun, who quickly cut the zip ties off Komekko and removed her gag. Megumin accepted the first aid kit and hastily checked over herself and Komekko. She had a cracked rib, while Komekko had a number of scrapes and bruises, along with a broken arm.  Even as she worked to bind up their wounds, Wiz supervised workers hastily trying to melt the ice, though it seemed to resist their efforts more than simple frozen water should have. 

“A-are you going to be OK?” Yunyun asked, helping to bind up Megumin’s rib. 

“Yeah, but Yunyun, what’s going on? How do you know the CEO of ShopWiz?!” Megumin demanded. 

Yunyun bit her lip. “Um, at first…I-I tried to hide, b-be secretive, a-and get a job. B-but they found me out…a-and Wiz came to find me…Megumin, Megumin it turns out s-she’s not evil!” 

“But she’s a CEO! And she attacked Aqua!” Megumin protested. 

“Um, Aqua was trying to kill her,” Yunyun pointed out. “A-and I think Aqua will be OK…um, I-I think I can get her out of the ice…”

“If you knew magic you could,” Wiz sighed, pacing about nervously around the pillar of ice. “But I don’t have the power to teach others spells anymore, no even you could learn from my grimoires. And while I have mastered Ice Magic…fire now escapes me…”

“Um, I do. Here, step b-back.” A space was made, and Yunyun extended both hands. “Fireball!” 

A roaring flame shot out, melting a large chunk of ice, and there were various gasps of amazement. 

“Magic,” Wiz whispered, putting a hand to her heart. “It’s…it’s really coming back…we might actually save this world…”

“I-I think I can melt the ice w-with one or two more,” Yunyun said, and everyone stepped back a little further. “Fireball!” 

“Megumin? What’s happening?” Komekko asked quietly. “Why…why are the outsiders not trying to kill us?”

“I don’t know,” Megumin admitted, hugging Komekko close. “Everything has been so different since we found Aqua…nothing seems to make sense.”

Komekko nodded seriously. “I kinda like it.”

After two more spells, Wiz took a long step back, biting her lip. “Um, Yunyun, can you and…it’s Megumin and Komekko, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Megumin said slowly, regarding Wiz. “What of it?”

“Can you…can you please calm Aqua down? I don’t…I don’t want to hurt her…but my work isn’t over yet, and, well…I’m still a lich,” Wiz said, her tone sounding mournful.

“I don’t think you are,” Komekko said. “You’re a nice lady.”

“Ah, not…that,” Wiz said, a faint smile brushing her lips. “I’m…a different race. One that the gods abhor. One that…well. I have much to atone for. But the first step is reviving Aqua. Please. Tell her I mean her and you no harm.”

“Um, OK,” Megumin agreed. This still made little sense to her, but she was injured, tired, and thanks to being around Aqua, had a slight glimmer of hope. She still hated all the corporations…but it was just a bit harder to hate a woman who seemed to have just saved her and her sisters. 

Taking Megumin and Komekko’s hands, Yunyun offered them a timid smile. “Um, she seems nice…a-and I think we can trust her…”

“They’re still outsiders,” Megumin said stubbornly, using Gram as a crutch. 

“So is Aqua, but I like her,” Komekko pointed out. “Maybe not all outsiders are bad. Just most of them.”

Megumin opened her mouth, but she didn’t really have a good response to that. Instead, she dropped Yunyun’s hand and picked up Gram in both hands. “JUST COME OUT ALREADY YOU LAZY GODDESS!” 

With a loud reverberating gong, Gram struck the weakened ice, shattering it. Aqua staggered forward, managing to faceplant right into Yunyun’s breasts, and causing the young teen no small amount of distress. 

“Where’s that stupid lich?” Aqua slurred looking around drunkenly. “I’ll kill her!” 

“Um, um, A-Aqua, p-please don’t kill Wiz, she’s um, nice,” Yunyun said desperately, trying to get Aqua’s face out of her cleavage. 

“What!? The Ice Witch!? She’s a lich!” Aqua said, looking around wildly. 

“She’s not, she’s nice!” Komekko argued, but Aqua had spotted Wiz, who was standing a few yards away, looking slightly worried. 

“TURN UNDEAD!” Aqua shrieked, pointing a finger at Wiz. 

“EEEEEEEEEEE!” Wiz screamed, falling to the ground and going translucent, her form flickering as if she were a guttering flame. It was one of the oddest things Megumin had ever seen, though the reaction of the ShopWiz blackhats was certainly normal.

“FREEZE!” weapons were drawn and Megumin raised Gram, determined to sell her life dearly. 

“No…” Wiz gasped, struggling up to her knees, even as she flickered like a hologram on the fritz. “No…she is…she is the only hope…to save…this world…if I die…it’s…worth it…to save you…”

“You know, that doesn't really sound like what a murderous CEO is supposed to say,” Megumin said, frowning as the ShopWiz guards backed off. She looked at Aqua, who was breathing hard, a look of confusion on her face. “You sure you want to kill her?”

“I don’t…wait…what’s that?” Aqua demanded. She strode forward, reaching down Wiz’s neck and causing her to gasp in pain. However, Aqua drew forth a pendant, that of a seven spoked water wheel. 

“I never…stopped believing,” Wiz managed, her entire body trembling. 

“I…but you’re evil,” Aqua said, clutching the pendant in her hands. “Why do you have an Axis Symbol?” 

“You know,” Megumin said slowly, looking at the shattered remains of the ice. “This looks a lot like the crystal we found you trapped in. Aqua…how did you end up in that cavern?”

Slowly, Aqua shook her head, frowning at Wiz. “I…I don’t actually remember. I remember fighting Hans with Matsumoto-”

“Um, his name was Mitsurugi,” Wiz corrected. 

Aqua gave the lich a flat look. “-with my champion, and I remember Wiz joining the battle…we were losing, but I could have taken that stupid slime!” 

“...no. You couldn’t have. You were nearly spent. You were trying to purify Alcanretia’s waters, but Hans had nearly killed Mitsurugi already. Most of your followers were already dead…I…I couldn’t stand to see Hans kill you too. When I was alive…I worshiped you. I never wanted to be a lich…but it was the only way I could see to help the innocent people. The gods were already losing. You were one of the last, Aqua. Eris had already fled, taking the Prince and Princess to the moon. It was only you.”

“I couldn’t abandon my followers! We still had the Crimson Demon Clan, even if the capitol had fallen, there…there were other kingdoms!” Aqua protested. 

Wiz shook her head sadly. “Ragecraft had already suborned the royal family of Elroad. Brydle’s dragons were all dead, and the kingdom would fall in mere weeks. All the other lands had been overrun. You were the last goddess. I didn’t understand what that meant, none of us did. Not even Sylvia. But I couldn’t see you die. So…so I froze you. Hans went off to fight the last of your followers…High Priest Zesta and Mitsurugi took you away, while I…while I…”

“What did you do?” Aqua snarled, raising a fist.

Wiz broke down weeping. “I sent your followers on to the afterlife…they were already dying. Poisoned by Hans. The Devil King wanted me to raise them as zombies…and some of them I did, by accident.”

Snarling, Aqua raised a fist, but Wiz put up a hand. 

“I laid them to rest! All of them! But…but by the time I finished…I didn’t know where you were. I thought it was for the best,” Wiz explained. 

“I don’t know…” Aqua said, still looking angry. She glanced back at Megumin, then let out a gasp. “You’re hurt!”

“I’m fine,” Megumin grumbled, but she felt a real sense of relief when Aqua put her hands on her, and all of her injuries were washed away. 

“Goddess,” a few of the ShopWiz guards muttered, and slowly knelt. A few removed their helmets, looks of disbelief, joy, and raw emotion on their faces.

“I wish we could stay here and talk more, but we cannot,” Wiz said, getting shakily to her feet. “We have to act quickly. The other Generals, I suppose they are CEOs now, will catch wind of the magic returning soon. I think Beldia already suspects, and Sylvia certainly does. She’s shut down all trade from Eris.”

“What!? But then there’s no more food!” Komekko cried, looking horrified. 

“Yes. It’s been brewing for a long time,” Wiz said grimly. “But, I have been preparing. Come.” 

Aqua hung back as Wiz exited the shop, looking uncertain. “Um, Megumin? What should we do?”

“W-we can trust Wiz, s-she’s nice,” Yunyun offered. 

Megumin glared at her sister. “The last time you led the way, you got mom and dad killed. Why should we listen to you?”

Yunyun wilted, and Komekko glared at Megumin. “Megumin! She just helped save us! And momma said it wasn’t her fault!” 

“Hmph.” Megumin turned her back on Yunyun, watching the silent blackhats. “...I think we have to try trusting her. I’m good, but I don’t think I could kill all the CEOs on my own right now. Not after seeing what Wiz could do, or being taken down by two damn pigs.”

“Those weren’t n-normal corpsec,” Yunyun said with a shake of her head. “T-they were too strong, too well armed. M-most of them are just bullies, but they…they seemed like they wanted to p-protect people.”

“They’re still outsiders,” Megumin declared. “The only people we can trust have Red Eyes!”

“Yeah!” Aqua agreed fervently.

The three sisters looked embarrassed. “Um, and you, Aqua,” Megumin hastily added. 

“So what do we do?” Komekko asked, uncertain. “I’m hungry. Wiz is a CEO. She’s got food, right?”

“For now…I guess we need allies,” Megumin admitted. “We’ll go with her…but we stick together! And if things go bad, Aqua kills Wiz and we fight our way out!” 

Reluctantly, Megumin followed after Wiz, the others behind her. She put her hand on Gram’s hilt on her back, and set her jaw. She was the foremost blademaster of the Crimson Demon Clan. And if anything went wrong, she’d cut their way free. 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Chief Swatti stood over the prisoner, her nostrils flaring as the dwarf laughed at her. “You mocking me, Dwarf?”

“F-fuck you, orc,” the dwarf spat, a bit of blood and a tooth flying loose. He was chained to the wall, his body bruised and bloodied. Swatti preferred the old school methods of interrogation, and applied them with a right cross to the dwarf’s jaw, spinning him to the ground. 

“M-Minor Restoration,” the dwarf snarled, suddenly getting to his feet, as a green glow enveloped him. He flexed his hands. “FERAL RAGE!” 

His chains suddenly snapped, and Swatti swore as the dwarf tried to tackle her. She managed to beat him back, but only barely. Taking out a new chain, she bolted the prison down. “I’ll ask you one more time. And then it’s the pliers, shorty. Where is the blue woman and the three Crimson Demons?”

The dwarf laughed, and started to sing, blood and spittle bubbling on his lips.

The Axis Church can get things done!

And because we can get things done,

When stuff goes wrong, it’s not your fault!

Blame society! It’s always their fault!

Disgusted, Swatti stepped back, reaching for her pliers. “Stupid ditty. I’ll make you bleed, dwarf. And you will talk.”

There was a sudden buzz, and the interrogation room intercom came on. “Chief Swatti! There’s an executive hovertank pulling up to the station?”

“Oh? The reinforcements I asked for?” Swatti demanded, turning. “Where are Ford and Shin?”

“They’re still dark, chief. But, it’s the CEO! Beldia himself!” 

“What? Oh fuck me,” Swatti snarled. She hastily toweled herself off, then dashed to the front office, pulling on her uniform jacket as she did. Unfortunately, she was late, and she found a massive black cyborg waiting for her. 

“Ah, Captain Swatti. Tell me. What have you learned?” Beldia, CEO of NyteTech demanded. His body was all black metal, save for a clear armor glass container in the center of his chest, which contained a head with two glowing red eyes in a dark metal helmet. The entire thing was over two meters tall, with huge shoulders and several mounted weapon systems, from three missile tubes, to a chain gun, and even a massive black sword. 

“Not much, sir,” Swatti admitted, saluting. “We know they got into ShopWiz turf. I sent officers in anyway. I knew you wouldn’t want to give up the hunt. They’re my two best girls. They’ll get the Eyes, and that blue woman.”

“So, nothing but failure then,” Beldia growled dangerously, clanking forward. “Perhaps you should be retired, captain.”

Sweat broke out down Swatti’s spine, and she stiffened. “Sir! We have a prisoner. He’s not talked yet, but I’ll break him soon, and we’ll get that priority target’s identity. He’s already mentioned there’s someone called “the Prophet” spreading news of this woman and-”

“A prophet? Is the Church of Serenity involved?” Beldia demanded, sounding irate. “If Serena thinks to steal my prize…”

“No sir! I…here. I’ll show you the prisoner. He’s mad, but no Revenger,” Swatti said. She hurried to a console, and piped in the audio from the interrogation room, putting a visual up on screen. The dwarf was curled up on the floor, and he could barely be heard chanting something.

“...slay the demons, defeat the Devil King. Slay the demons, defeat the Devil-”

“No,” Belida whispered, taking half a step back. “Impossible. It has to be impossible.” 

“Sir?” Swatti asked, uncertain. “He’s just a dwarf. But he knows something. I can break him.”

“ALL LOVE IS GOOD IN THE SIGHT OF LADY AQUA!” the dwarf suddenly sitting up. “BE YOU LOLICON, FURRY, OR HAVE A-”

There was a deafening roar, and Swatti ducked for cover. When she looked up, the barrel of Beldia’s chaingun was smoking, and the screen was destroyed. 

“KILL HIM!” Beldia shouted, backing away. “KILL HIM, AND HUNT DOWN EVERY ONE OF THEM! SLAY THEM ALL!” 

Swatti shook her head, her ears still ringing. “What? Sir, he’s our only lead, the other perps were all-”

Beldia suddenly charged forward, pinning Swatti to the wall, an iron hand choking her. “I said to kill them all. Every last one of them. Wipe out the Axis vermin. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir,” Swatti croaked. 

“Good.” Beldia released Swatti, and she sank to the ground. “If you succeed in this, you’ll be promoted to President of Security. Fail, and I’ll kill you myself. You’ll be given access to every single resource NyteTech has at its disposal. This is what Sylvia is trying to hide. I knew it. She had a god caged all this time…well. Now that bitch is mine.”

“You…want her alive?” Swatti asked, confused. 

“If you can, take Aqua alive. If not, kill her. Whatever you do, do not let the lich get a hold of her. Wiz failed once, but I’ll not have a chance at domination slip through my fingers now. If that damn chimera can harness the power of the gods, so can I. Even a dead god will do.”

“Uh, yes sir,” Swatti agreed, uncertain what her CEO was babbling about. But she did understand a Dead or Alive order. Then she brightened. “Anything I want, sir? Even the mecha corps?”

“Anything,” Beldia growled. “My forces are already mobilizing. Wiz is weak. We’ll crush her, and then there will be only six corporations. It’s too bad. She’s still quite fetching, especially for a lich. The last of my fellow undead.”

Swatti nodded, though she was still quite confused. Then, drawing her service revolver, she went to go take care of that Axis Cultist. 

Chapter Text

Sylvia stood in the hall of their triumphs, gazing at the monument to their will. It had been over five centuries since the Devil King had triumphed, and one hundred years since Sylvia had proven to be greater than the gods. Her treasure chamber was not the sleek steel or plastic of the modern world, but a dark, stony chamber, lit by smoky torches and a few braisers of burning coal. Like in the old days, when Sylvia had been a Chimera that ruled her own dungeon.

Sitting upon the throne of the Last King in Exile, Sylvia gazed around at the rest of her trophies. The most numerous were the ones that brought the most personal pleasure to the Fleshshaper: The jars of Crimson Eyeballs. Touching the necklace they rarely wore, Sylvia smiled, thinking of the last three eyes that had been delivered. That had been mere weeks ago. Over the years, the supply had dried up, and with sightings now rare, perhaps Sylvia had averted that long ago prophecy.

“None of your red eyed rats to kill me now, are there?” Sylvia said, looking over to the state of the Goddess Eris, looted from her temple on the moon. It had once been austere gilded marble, but Sylvia had touched it up, adding garish color, as well as a large black rubber dildo and caked on some makeup. The WHORE in bright red letters across the base had been something their shock commandos had done, but Sylvia approved. 

In the time of your triumph, when you believe yourself king

The daughter of Belzerg shall take back her throne and land

And the muse once thought fallen shall rise up and sing

On that day, the last of the Clan shall slay you, sword in hand

“I’m bitch queen of the universe anyway,” Sylvia growled. She sipped from the chalice that Zestia, last Bishop of Alchanretia had drank from. As was typical of the Axis cult, it wasn’t gold, but rather cheap brass. The step, however, did look like two naked figures, one a loli, the other a shota. Yes, stamping those sickos out had been doing the world a favor. 

“I’ll soon have the princess back in hand,” Sylvia mused, gazing around at yet more of her collection. Various Divine Treasures, long since drained of all their mana, were scattered around the room, along with the flayed skin of several of their isekais. 

Yes, Discordia, her moon, would continue to be the one source of life in the system. One day soon, Belzerg would finally die, Sylvia would stomp down the last of their rivals, and live forever as queen of Discordia. 

Snarling in disgust, she nearly crushed her treasured goblet, but instead drained the last of the wine. Bored. So bored for the last few decades. Yes, triumph was lovely, but where was the challenge after that? What new thing to assimilate or dominate? What new pleasures to find? 

“Perhaps this is all for the best. Some new stimulation, something to shake the rust off,” Sylvia sighed, setting her cup back on its pedestal next to the throne and stretching. A timid knock came at the door, and Sylvia sat up. “Enter.”

Sena crept in, her new alligator tail dragging along behind her. Sylvia had crafted it on a few hours ago, and Sena’s eyes were still red and puffy. Sylvia hadn’t used any sedative or drugs, simply letting her pet howl. The alligator tail was interesting at least. Not something Sylvia had done before. Literally and figuratively. 

“Mistress, there is news,” Sena said, prostrating herself before Sylvia. “We believe we have located the escaped prisoner.”

Standing, Sylvia stretched languidly. “Good, good. Where? And more importantly, who? Was it just the Avatar playing tricks?”

“ShopWiz,” Sena said, still face down on the floor, her voice slightly muffled. “Aboard the Guild Hauler.”

Pausing in their stretching, Slyvia unconsciously took on their most ancient form: that of a three headed beast. One of a lioness, the other of a dragon, the third of a goat, and the head of an asp as a tail. The lion was blinded, the dragon’s horns were cut off, and the goat was missing its tongue. The three forward heads hung limp, as if dead, and the snake head rose up to speak. 

“Truly? Wizsss issss not the one who…” Slvia paused, then hissed in anger. They took on the form of a dusky woman with large breasts, frowning in irritation. “Not the one who I would have guessed. That foolish lich should never have survived this long.”

Unless, of course…it was all an act? Six hundred years of playing the bimbo…it was possible. Unlikely, but possible. Wiz had always been phenomenally powerful, and a woman that even now Sylvia was fairly certain she would lose to in a one on one duel. Which is why Sylvia no longer fought one on one duels with anyone near a peer opponent. Gone were the days where generals had to rule through force. Narcotics and cults of personality were far better tools to control the populace. 

“I only know that we have received a call from a traitor aboard the ship. They confirm that Kazuma Sato and a girl calling herself ‘Alice’ are aboard the guild hauler, and that a smuggler named Dust was the one who retrieved them from the surface,” Sena said, looking up at last. Her expression was hopeful, fearful. “Have…have I served well, Mistress?”

“Call me, Master,” Sylvia said, removing their dress. “And yes. Come and claim your reward, my pet.”

Sena staggered to her feet, eager to pleasure Sylvia once more. A few quick minutes of pain inflicted and pleasure taken. Then Sylvia would deal with these meddlesome fools once and for all. 

“Child of Japan and Daughter of Belzerg. I shall enjoy locking you both away, to power my world forever,” Sylvia hissed as Sena groaned under them. Yes. Soon, all of Belzerg and Discordia would bend over and offer themselves to Sylvia. It was as nature intended. The strongest triumphed.

========================================================

Watching the display in the command center, Kazuma was able to slowly parse just what was going on. Fighting had already broken out, though the Guild Hauler had not yet been caught up in it. Even after less than ten minutes from Luna’s initial broadcast,  one of Discordia’s stations was venting atmosphere and flames, the carcasses of two shattered highliners nearby. They hadn’t even been ShopWiz ships: one had been a Church of Serenity Pleasure Barge, the other a CatsEye Group construction ship. Both of them had been sporting impressive armaments, but nothing compared the the massive fixed emplacements the much larger station sported. 

Luna sat in her command chair, fingers laced before her face, watching the display. The atmosphere was tense, as nervous techs peered at their screens or frantically entered orders. The emergency lighting was off, but there was still a tense, grim atmosphere. 

“Ten seconds until they enter our engagement envelope,” a nervous young tech said, scratching at his long pointy ears. 

“My orders stand, Mr. Greenbough. Fire as soon as they enter effective range,” Luna stated calmly. 

Kazuma went back to watching the display, his heart in his throat. The second ticked down, and then the sweating tech pushed a button.

There was, of course, no real sound. Just a slight shudder and perhaps if Kazuma wasn’t imagining it, a high pitched whine as the laser batteries and rail guns opened up. The Guild Hauler was still hauling ass away from Discordia, towards where the various ShopWiz ships were trying to meet up before heading back towards Belzerg. 

Kazuma was a bit vague on what the exact plan was, as orbital mechanics were not his strong point. But what it boiled down to was fairly simple: the big ships had lower acceleration, but in the long run, could absolutely outpace any of the smaller ships as they both carried more fuel and could accelerate longer and harder. The issue was that you simply could not accelerate all the way back to the planet. If you did, you’d either never be able to slow down enough to make orbit, simply shooting off into the great black void, or you’d turn into a nice bit of flaming rubble when you burned up in the atmosphere, highliners never having been meant for atmosphere. 

Which meant that while they COULD burn hard enough that the smaller craft would be left behind after a brief fight, the reality was that they simply couldn’t afford to accelerate that hard. If they did, when the ship hit turnaround, they would have to decelerate, and be sitting ducks as they had to bleed acceleration, something you very much didn’t want to be doing in a firefight. So better to let the ChimeraTech interceptor craft catch them while they were still accelerating, and thus could maneuver more easily. 

“A hit!” the young elf gasped, and he raised a fist. “I got one of the fuckers!”

Cheers erupted throughout the bridge, with even Luna cracking a smile and nodding in approval.

“Back to your stations!” 

The celebration ended abruptly, as Alice stepped forward from where she had been standing at parade rest beside Luna’s command chair. “That is but one among many. The battle is not over. Maintain your vigilance! Captain Luna!” 

“Y-yes ma’am?” Luna gasped, flinching and looking flushed. 

“This is your first battle?” Alice asked calmly, turning her gaze back to the main display, as the ChimeraTech interceptor craft plunged on. It was a mishmash of small strike fighters, assault shuttles, a few frigates meant for combat, and one mid-sized cargo ship that had a surprising number of missile tubes on it. 

“I…yes, your G-, um, Miss Alice,” Luna said, flushing. She was clearly trying to not indicate that Alice was the one truly in command, but that was hard when everyone was literally tripping over themselves to follow Alice’s every order. 

“I have fought in many battles,” Alice said. Then her face fell. “Though I do not remember them.”

That earned her puzzled looks, and Alice looked as though she were about to cry for a moment. She had these weird moments of seeing like a badass hero out of legend who was absolutely unstoppable, and well, a scared little girl. 

Kazuma rested his hand on Alice’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze, smiling down at her. She looked up at him for a moment, startled, then her resolve firmed. 

“Do not hesitate!” Alice declared, throwing a hand forward. “Show the foes no mercy! Fire all guns, and stand by to repel boarders!” 

For a few minutes, the larger weapons of the Guild Hauler had the superior range, and Kazuma watched as one by one, the enemy was blotted from the display. Either destroyed outright, or too damaged to sustain the breakneck acceleration to overtake the Guild Hauler. 

Then, the first lances of deadly light and streaks of missiles headed towards them. The ship rocked gently at first, the weaker lasers of the enemy unable to do much at extreme range in the initial barrage, the energy dissipated by the Guild Hauler’s armor and shielding. Missiles were picked off by point defense systems, and it seemed the one sided battle would continue.

Then the first missile got through the Guild Hauler’s defense envelope. The ship suddenly bucked, the lights flickering off for a moment, before returning. But alarms blared, and techs shouted in panic. 

“Breach! Hull breach, starboard aft, compartment…Sweet Serenity, compartments 423-467, Alpha to Gamma decks!”

“Seal it off, and get damage control down there!” Luna barked. “Be ready! That won’t be the last hit! And take out that cargo ship! Its missiles are going to overwhelm us the closer it gets!” 

More frantic fire, and the ship vibrated and their pursuers slowly died. The fight dragged on and on, lasting over an hour. By the end of it, the Guild Hauler was only limping along feebly, half its engines gone, dozens if not hundreds of compartments destroyed, half its weapons either exhausted of ammunition or disabled. Most of the enemy was dealt with, but by no means all.

“They could kill us,” Luna hissed, watching the display. “With our shields down at that last breach, one rail round or missile into the hole and our back would break and we’d be nothing but a hulk. So why…”

“She shall not have me again,” Alice declared, and put a hand to her hip, where a sword would have been. She blinked, frowning. “Where is my blade?”

“Lady Alice?” the CorpSec Sergeant asked. He’d remained behind, while most of his fellows had gone off to assist with damage control. 

“Nothing,” Alice said, shaking her head. She turned to Luna. “They are coming after me. The Fleshshaper is a jealous creature: She will not be denied her prize.”

Biting her lip, Luna jerked a nod. “I…I confess I agree with you, Your High- Miss Alice.”

“She knows. Why should I hide?” Alice demanded. “Let them come for the last daughter of Belzerg. Fetch me my blade! They shall not find me wanting!” 

With that, Alice strode away, followed hot on her heels by Lolisa, who looked rather grim, but determined all the same. Kazuma hadn’t ever seen a succubus get dangerous, they were rather infamous for being easy targets. Sure, they were supposed to be seductive and master manipulators, but they were physically weak, and while they’d been known to slit a John’s throat if he got too rough, or shoot someone in the back, they were generally considered pushovers in a direct confrontation.

Those people clearly hadn’t met Lolisa, who had a literal aura of menace about her. Kazuma absolutely didn’t want to get between Lolisa and whatever she wanted to kill…unless maybe she was interested in a quickie, because he was totally down for- no, no, that was the horny aura she seemed to be layering on as well. 

Kazuma jogged up to Alice as she strode down the hall, her metal boots clanking on the decking. She was dressed in the latest power armor, though the model seemed to have been meant for a female dwarf instead of a human girl. “Hey, Alice! It’s not a sword, but…”

Kazuma took the chipped and somewhat shoddy machete out of his pack, handing it over to Alice. A grin bloomed on her face, and she held up the tool. “A fine blade indeed. Thank you, brother.”

Nodding, Kazuma swallowed. “I…I don’t know how much help I’ll be…you’re pretty bad ass little sis, but honestly I’m just a sanitation worker.”

Who would much rather have been a layabout NEET. Kazuma had always clocked out as soon as possible to head back to his little closet for a wank and some drugs, avoiding social interaction for VR porn. 

“You have the blood of heroes, Kazuma Sato,” Alice told him, standing on tiptoe to kiss Kazuma on his cheek. “You shall not fail to live up to it.”

I already have , Kazuma thought, but he forced himself to smile and nod.

After that, it was helmets on. A moment later, Lan’s voice spoke in Kazuma’s ear. 

“We’ve got leech craft making contact in multiple sectors. Starboard after, port fore, and of course, starboard fore, right where our engines are. They get command of engineering and we’re screwed. Your highness, Engineering is the top priority. After that is life support, which the port aft crew are probably heading for.”

“Understood. I shall lead the defense of this engineering,” Alice said immediately. “Brother, you take these noble marines to defend the life support systems. Sir Dust? Can you hear me over this auspex?”

“Loud and clear, your Majesty!” Dust’s voice said enthusiastically. 

“Your group is nearest to that third boarding party. I suspect they seek to take the command deck. Do not let this happen,” Alice ordered. 

“You got it! Come on, Rin! Let’s go kick some ass!” 

Dust’s line went inactive, and Kazuma swallowed. “Uh, Alice…” Swallowing his repeated complaints that he was just a janitor, Kazuma forced himself to smile and give his new little sister a thumbs up. “Stay safe, OK?” 

She smiled and saluted with her machete, then strode off with Lolisa to face a literal army on their own. Somehow, Kazuma felt a little bad for the army. 

He turned to the corpsec goons and swallowed. “Right. So, does anyone want to show me where Life Support is?”

“This way, sir,” the sergeant said, and they bounded through the ship. With acceleration slowing and no real rotational momentum, there was little gravity, they were able to swing through with great ease. It gave Kazuma a bit of an upset stomach to be in micro again so soon, but with the ship still bleeding air and taking damage, he couldn’t complain too much. 

Life support on a guild highliner was one of the most dangerous places on a ship, largely because the main ingredient to support life was oxygen. And since no one had ever been able to get enough plant life growing on a spaceship to recycle the air the natural way, a variety of scrubbers and chemical reactants to turn CO2 back into breathable O2 were used, those were also deadly explosives waiting to be detonated. Still, those paled in comparison to the tanks of liquid oxygen as far as disaster potential went. 

Additionally, seizing life support put the entire ship on a timer. A spacesuit had oxygen in the tanks for a few hours, and after that, it needed a recharge. Whoever controlled that air supply would control the ship, and thus if someone did want to take a big ship, the second best option was to seize life support. 

The main way was, of course, to seize engineering, giving control of the power that was needed to run life support and all the other vital systems. But that wasn’t Kazuma’s problem. 

“Right, so, how do we set up?” Kazuma asked once they reached life support. It was at the end of a maze of tight, narrow corridors, with firing slits that went between long kill zones, and sharp corners to limit the number of attackers that could approach at once. 

“We post two man teams at the check points here, here, and here,” Kazuma’s corp sec goons said, pointing to a schematic. “The enemy will be here any moment. If we had more men, we could do more, but time is limited and so are our resources.”

Kazuma frowned at the map, then paused. He took out his card, and went over the spells he had. Pick Lock probably wasn’t going to be useful. Steal might be, if one of the enemy fighters was a hot girl. But stealing someone’s panties in the middle of a firefight was of questionable value. The others though…Kindle, Gust, Freeze, Spark, Create Water, Summon Earth…and what was this one? Bloom? He didn’t have a lot of mana, so he couldn’t do any of them very much, but…

“Do me a favor. Can we crank up the humidity in these corridors? Like, a lot?” Kazuma asked, pointing.

“Er, yeah, but why would we do that? The condensation will gum up some systems but-”

“Just do it, and quick, OK?” Kazuma’s mind raced, and he grinned. “I think I know how we can put a stop to their little plans real fast.”

A short time later, welding arcs appeared around the far door, even as the humidity began to steadily rise. Kazuma had positioned himself by the first firing slit, and he watched as the door glowed for a bit. “Steady, lads. Just wait. Get ready to fall back.”

“Sir? We haven’t even returned fire,” the sergeant pointed out. 

“Oh, it’s not about fire this time,” Kazuma said, watching the door. “Those are bad ideas next to this much oxygen anyway.”

Kazuma waited, crouching down as the door finally blew open, and heavily armored ChimeraTech blackhats rushed in, weapons thundering. He waited for the first few to get in, then grinned and turned on the water hose someone had found him. Water gushed down the corridor, spraying everywhere and bouncing off surfaces in the low gravity. He added a gust of wind with his magic, and soon everything was absolutely soaked. 

It didn’t slow down the enemy though. They appeared slightly baffled at being suddenly wet, but while the water clung to them, it didn’t really hamper their ability to move or fire. Not yet, anyway.

“FREEZE!” Kazuma roared, slamming his hand down into a puddle of water. Ice rippled out, and soon the corridor and everyone in it was frozen solid, the ice quickly hardening. It didn’t work quite as well as Kazuma had hoped: While the enemy was indeed coated in a thin layer of ice, they also had on power armor for the most part, and at first, they didn’t seem to be all that affected. 

But then, systems began to seize up: space suits were not designed to be operated in high humidity environments, and while they were rated for the cold, they were not rated for a thorough dunking and then being frozen solid. There were screams as servos seized up, or the moisture inside the suits froze, ice crystals piercing skin and filling nostrils and mouths. 

Nodding in satisfaction, Kazuma lobbed a thermal grenade down the corridor, just as he and his team dove for the second checkpoint and slammed the door shut behind them. 

“Sir…what the hell was that?” the sergeant panted, looking back at the door behind them. “How’d you drop the temperature so fast? Not even liquid nitrogen would have frozen everything so quickly. And that ice…it’s like it devoured the enemy.”

“Just a little magic my friend,” Kazuma said with a grin, flexing his hand. Damn, maybe he was a hero, if he could pull stunts like that. 

“Alright, new plan this time,” Kazuma said, standing up. “They’ll expect the ice now. That means we need to come up with something new and exciting to waste them. So here’s what we’re gonna do…”

The next time, the enemy was more cautious, sending in several drones first. Kazuma had his goons snipe those down, and it wasn’t particularly hard. Then they played a bit of grenade tag, until the heavies came in once more. Now Kazuma’s lightly armed security force couldn’t do much against the enemy, but they also hadn’t been paying attention to what Kazuma had been throwing downrange in addition to the grenades. 

Between all the scorch marks, bits of metal and plastic, and deafening noise, no one noticed that Kazuma had been throwing clumps of dirt down range with Create Earth. There was now quite a bit of dirt, which was nicely moist thanks to the humidity Kazuma was still pumping into the area. He created one more clump of dirt, and held it in his hands. “Bloom!” 

What Kazuma had been expecting, he wasn’t really sure. But life germinated in his hands, called forth by the mana he’d supplied. A flowering vine sprouted, something that Kazuma recognized as kudzu. Still feeding the plant magic, Kazuma chucked it against the corridor wall, then planted his hands down on the ground. “Bloom! Bloom! Bloom!”

Kazuma wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting to happen, but the corridor suddenly burst with thick, leafy vines. The enemy began to scream in bafflement, then in pain, as vines burst and wrapped about them, seeking more places to bloom and grow. Soon the entire passageway was blocked by a solid wall of vines, and there were feebly struggling figures who’s armor had become too choked with vines to properly move.

One of Kazuma’s corpsec guards broke cover to reach out and grab a trailing vine of kudzu, bringing it close to their faceplate. A moment later, they popped the visor, revealing the face of a grizzled old orc. She sniffed the leaf with her piglike snout, her expression one of pure incredulity. 

“But…nothing grows in space. It’s the radiation or something. Hard to even get pregnant in the void…how…how did this happen?”

“Pure magic and skill, baby, pure magic and skill,” Kazuma bragged. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Go take care of our problems and make sure no more are coming. Take them a while to get through that stuff. Don’t worry, it’s just kudzu: it’s harmless.”

“If you say so sir,” the orc agreed, putting her helmet back on and taking out a knife. She began the brutal work of butchering the poor sods who had kudzu growing into their noses. 

Turning his back on the grisly sight, Kazua opened a call to Alice. “Hey sis, how are things?”

“Brother? I can hear you over the auspex,” Alice replied, the signal still clear thanks to the ship’s internal systems. “Hmm…what is this? Video…I shall accept.”

A moment later, Alice’s viewpoint appeared on Kazuma’s visor, and he very nearly vomited. 

Dismembered corpses littered the wide hallway that Alice had chosen for her battlefield. Blood, offal, and bones floated in the low gravity. It seemed that Kazuma had been right to pity the enemy army, because Alice alone seemed to have been more than sufficient as a deterrent, despite the fact that at least thirty heavily armed foes seemed to have attacked. 

“We are victorious thus far,” Alice informed, the camera jerking up and down as she nodded. “Those that resisted are dispatched.”

“You…you killed them all?” Kazuma asked, feeling a lump in his throat.

Alice made a disgusted noise. “Of course not. Those that bent the knee were spared.”

The camera panned, revealing about a dozen stunned looking ChimeraTech blackhats, sitting on the floor with Lolisa monitoring them. As Kazuma watched, the succubi bid one of the prisoners to stand. He slowly got to his feet, and then walked over to the succubus, who kissed him. The human man let out a gasp, clutching at Lolisa. 

“Doesn’t that feel good?” she cooed at him. 

He nodded, apparently unable to speak, and drooling slightly. 

“Good, good. Now…let’s talk about your friends. How many more are coming?” Lolisa asked, stroking the man’s chest.

“N-no more here,” the man stammered. “They’re…they’re going after the command deck…”

“Damn!” Kazuma gasped. “Dust, Dust are you-”

“Hey man, this shit is GREAT!” 

A moment later, Dust’s POV appeared next to Alice’s, revealing an equally devastated landscape. There were various fires burning, smoking holes in the wall, and several enemies impaled on what appeared to be large pieces of rebar that had been sharpened on one end. Other corpses were smoldering and burning, or with spikes of ice.

“You should have SEEN Rin!” Dust said excitedly, taking off his helmet and spinning it around so Kazuma could see his face. “She was throwing around all kinds of crazy stuff! Fire, lightning, ice, it was GREAT! Hey, babe, it’s Kazuma, say hi!” 

Rin looked up from where she was slumped on the deck, and gave a feeble wave. “Hey…”

“Lady Rin! Are you well?” Alice asked, sounding near panic with worry.

“I’m good. Just tired. Didn’t scratch me,” Rin sighed, laying her head back down.

“That’s probably the mind down stuff, she must have blown through all her mana,” Kazuma said. He yawned and shook himself. “I’m pretty bushed myself. Heh heh. Bushed.”

“Brother,” Alice warned, her tone suddenly frosty. 

“No, it’s a pun! Look!” Kazuma poked his head around to show the blossoming kudzu. “I figured out how to get plants to grow in space. You just need dirt, water, light, and a bunch of mana.”

“Well yes, obviously. Everyone knows that nothing can grow without infusions of mana,” Alice said, sounding exasperated. “What of Captain Luna?”

“She was great! She started cussing up a storm, and then get this: She started RAPPING! It was so hype, everyone started fighting harder!” Dust declared excitedly. “Next time we’re busting out the karaoke for her!” 

“There is no need for that, Mr. Sheyka,” Luna said, striding into view. She was in armor now as well, though it didn’t appear she’d done much in the way of fighting, as it was still immaculate. “My Queen, I urge you to hasten back here. The enemy has been repelled for now, and we’re drawing away from any pursuit. However…we are far from out of danger. Conflict has broken out everywhere, and alliances are emerging. The path back to Belzerg is not clear yet.”

Meanwhile, down in the hanger, Keith accepted a small package from black armored figures. 

“You gentlemen won’t regret this,” Keith chuckled. “Trust me, they’ll make a run for it, and I’ll let you know when they do.”

“Good,” one of the blackhats said. “Just don’t get sloppy.”

A few others were dragging over corpses, placing them in compromising positions. Another fired at the Faitfor a few times, and the entire thing looked battle damaged. There had been plenty of dead from the initial assault to do some artistry. 

“Hey, give me enough credits to live like a king on Discordia for the rest of my life, and I’ll be as careful as you want,” Keith chuckled. Then he snarled. “And make sure I get a pet succubus. One that’s nice and tame. The kind that sucks you off and calls you master.”

“Whatever you want. Just get us the girl,” the ChimeraTech blackhat said. He looked around. “Right. Let’s get out of here.”

The blackhats snuck off, and Keith went over to the radio. He hyperventilated a bit, then put in a call. 

“Shit, Dust, they attacked the ship! Taylor’s dead! We fought them off, but-”

“What? Holy hell, OK, we’ll be down to help in a minute. Are you ok?” Dust demanded.

Keith couldn’t hold back a smile, looking down at the device in his hands. “I guess I’m fine. Scared the hell out of me, but fine. Wait, fuck!” Keith fired off a few rounds into a blackhat corpse. “Sorry, one was still moving. Yeah, I think I’m fine. But this is bad news, Dust.”

“Don’t sweat it. Shit, Taylor…we’ll be down soon!”

Keith sat, regarding the corpse of his former friend. “No hard feelings, right? You’d do anything to get a head, wouldn’t you?”

Taylor, of course, answered with the silence of the grave. 

Chapter Text

Thanks once again to The Grand Cogitator and DR_Feelgood for beta reading.

Aqua had never been very good at hating the undead. Oh, sure, she cleansed them and purged them along with the rest of the other gods and goddesses, but Eris had always been the real crusader between them, her passion burning with holy fervor to wipe out every single one of the unholy abominations and send them back to the afterlife where they belong, their bodies returned to rest. 

But Aqua? Well…she’d usually just felt sorry for them. It was fun to kill them and show off how powerful she was, her mere presence hurting the undead and even her tears enough to slay a zombie with a single drop. But Aqua had always felt bad for them. They were ugly, and hurting, and they weren’t really in control of themselves most of the time. Most low level undead were basically puppets of whatever power had raised them, and Aqua was personally offended by that. People should be free to make their own choices and have fun! 

So she’d cut the strings, put the undead back to rest, but she’d felt sad about it. She’d not really liked the undead, but she’d pitied them. 

Now though, now she was riding in the back of a limo with the worst undead abomination of them all…and stealing nervous glances at her. 

Wiz the Lich. One of the Seven Generals of the Devil King. The Frost Witch. An immortal force of evil who spread terror and destroyed armies. Though Aqua couldn’t remember actually seeing Wiz defeat any gods or divine champions, or actually really do much of anything in combat. She’d run the prisoner camps and farms for the Devil King, which was an important duty to be sure, but she’d had a fearsome reputation as a woman who’d betrayed the Light and the Gods in exchange for power and immortality, going from one of the strongest wizards of the forces of Light to a General for the Devil King in a swift and sudden betrayal.

Aqua scooted closer to Wiz, who smiled at her nervously. The woman paled, though Aqua didn’t know if it was fear or just the holy presence of a god weakening the lich. “Yes, Lady Aqua?”

“Why?” Aqua asked. 

Wiz was quiet for a moment. “There’s a lot of questions you could be asking…I’m honestly not sure which one, or how to answer…”

“Just…start with why you become a lich. Why? You were a powerful adventurer who stopped countless monsters. You were one of my followers! So why…why’d you betray us? Betray me?”

Aqua felt tears welling up in her eyes, and sniffed, wiping at them. She found a lace hankie pushed into her hands, even as Wiz’s skin sizzled and hissed from the contact with the holy water, the woman’s own eyes filling with tears. 

“I never wanted to…It’s a long story but…my friends…they were in grave danger. My Adventuring party. They were going to die. I was…I was dying. I’d been cursed by Beldia, trapped in a dungeon chamber, unable to get out, and I knew my friends were in trouble, that they too would die soon,” Wiz said quietly, her eyes glazing as she looked into the distant past. 

“Then, Vanir came to me. He just appeared. Said he had a way out. A way to save my friends. I wanted to refuse him at first. To say no, to remain true and pure. But my friends were in danger…”

“But you had to sacrifice an innocent life to become a lich! That's how it works!” Aqua protested. 

She sensed Megumin stirring, while Komekko was still hungrily eating her way through the snacks they’d been given by Wiz’s driver. Yunyun was listening carefully as well, looking nervous and worried as she looked back and forth between Wiz and Aqua both. 

“The life I sacrificed…was my own,” Wiz said quietly. “Vanir kept me alive as I ate my own heart. He gave me the potion too…I didn’t ask what was in it…”

“You seriously ate your own heart?!” Megumin demanded, looking horrified, while Yunyun sniffled and covered her face with her hands. 

“I’ve been hungry before, but not that hungry,” Komekko mused. “I like rat hearts though.”

Aqua and Wiz both made disgusted faces at that, sharing a look of horror. 

“Ah, I’ll give you some of my home baked cookies when we get to headquarters. They’re much nicer than rat hearts,” Wiz said, sounding fairly faint. 

“Ok!” Komekko agreed, and began licking the wrappers of the snacks to get any last remaining calories off. 

“Did…did you save your friends?” Yunyun asked, looking worried. 

A tear trickled down Wiz’s face, and she drew out another hankie to blow her nose. She carefully folded it, then rested her hands in her lap. Aqua knew the answer before Wiz could answer. “No. By the time I was revived from the ritual…they were already dead.”

Megumin snorted derisively. “That’s why you don’t bargain with the corporations.”

“Or demons,” Aqua growled, clenching her fist. She might pity the undead, but she really did hate demons. Aqua adored creating things, especially art. But demons? Demons just destroy what should be beautiful and fun. 

“As to the other why..” Wiz sighed, and touched the Axis pendant around her neck. “I never stopped believing. I knew that the war was lost.”

“Lost!? But you were winning!” Aqua protested. 

Wiz gave her a sad smile. “You ever wonder how Zesta always knew where to fight? When the forces of the Devil King were coming? How Mitsurugi persisted, when so many other champions were assassinated?”

“Duh, because my followers are super awesome and smart!” Aqua said, puffing her chest out.

“Uh, I think Wiz is implying she was a mole,” Yunyun offered, giving Aqua a pained smile.

“Huh? No, she’s a lich. Not a mole,” Aqua said, wrinkling her nose. 

Megumin groaned. “She means a spy.”

“Oh. Oh! It was YOU?!” Aqua asked, shocked. 

Wiz nodded, looking pained. “I should have done more. But…someone had to protect the humans we captured. I…I couldn’t let the other generals wipe them all out…I had to save as many as I could…and when it was obvious the Devil King was going to win…I did what I could.”

“But…aren’t you evil?” Aqua asked, still thoroughly baffled by this. “Is this like…a plot to betray the Devil King and take over? What happened to him, anyway?”

“He is dead,” Wiz said quietly. “At least I hope so. For his sake.”

“Well that’s good, but if he’s really dead, why is everything so awful still?” Aqua demanded angrily. “Why haven’t things gone back to the way they should be?”

“Because you weren’t here,” Wiz told Aqua. She looked out of the window of the limousine as it flew through the air, approaching the headquarters building of ShopWiz. “We’re nearly there. After all this time…maybe someone actually can heal this dying world.”

“But why is it dying?” Aqua demanded. “Why is everything so awful?”

“B-because of the capitalist overlords that have trampled the people under their foot, using t-the means of production to subjugate the working class, a-and exploiting the environment to enrich themselves at the c-cost of the good of all.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Yunyun, with Wiz and Aqua both looking baffled, while Komekko nodded seriously and Megumin rolled her eyes. 

“You’re STILL on about that? Come on, Yunyun. Those were just weird stories from that book my dad had,” Megumin huffed. 

Stubbornly, Yunyun shook her head. “No! The Red Revolution w-will come, and it will be the Crimson Demons w-who will lead the workers of Belzberg to freedom!” 

“And everybody will have lots to eat, and no one will be killed for their eyes!” Komekko agreed happily. She then pressed her nose up to the window, frowning. “But right now I think we’re going into the capitalist overlord’s fortress. Are we gonna blow it up?”

“Sounds good to me,” Megumin said with a cheshire grin as the limousine touched down on a landing pad, which immediately began to seal over them to keep out the acid rain (and sniper fire). Various corporate flunkies rushed over as Wiz stepped out of the limo, all of them immediately babbling. 

“My lady, the situation in space has deteriorated further! We need you to-”

“-NiteTech pushing into our territory and building up for an assault-”

“-half our food rations looted by this insane new gang called the Axis Cult-”

“-water supply suddenly contaminated, all our crops are dying again!” 

“What’s wrong with the water?” Aqua demanded, stepping out of the limo and frowning. Unlike most of the people she’d met so far, these were all clean, in nice clothes, though they were definitely the wrong getup for her fantasy world. Most of them were wearing some form of formal suit or business dress that looked like something out of Japan in the 21st century, with not even the neat sci-fi bits and bobs on them that Aqua liked in the more fun anime. 

“Who are you?” one of the flunkies demanded, frowning as they shoved Aqua to the side. “Out of the way, I need to speak to the CEO!” 

“Hey! I am the goddess Aqua and I-”

“CRIMSON DEMONS, EVERYONE RUN!” a fat little man with glasses screamed as he saw the three sisters exit the limo. Komekko hadn’t put her goggles back on, those having been lost, and she was glaring at the man, who was frantically trying to get away from the little girl. 

Megumin instantly drew her sword, while Yunyun raised a hand and a fireball blossomed over her palm. That drew a few screams and cries of panic from the corporate drones.

There was a blinding flash of cold blue light, and frost suddenly covered the landing pad. “SILENCE.” Wiz stood tall, holding up a glowing wand of ice, her eyes glowing with the pale light of the long vanished glaciers. 

Everyone froze, and not just because a few of them were suddenly rimed with ice. Many of the executives present had never seen Wiz use magic, and those who had were shocked to have her display it so openly. 

“The Crimson Demons are my guests, and allies. Some of you have known I long attempted to shelter them, but in the past, they always refused. These have agreed to take sanctuary,” Wiz said calmly, lowering her hand, but keeping a grip on the wand. “This is Aqua. Goddess of Water and Healing. She is the last drop of hope for this world. The final dream that our people can once more breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live lives of peace.”

Wiz turned to Aqua, then bowed. “Lady Aqua, there is so much for me to do. I will need to brief my people, but first…Rain, you said the water supply is contaminated?”

“Yes! That last bit of clean water we were able to siphon off the south west sewage line has totally vanished! Our crops are going to die without it!” a panicked looking woman who was wearing a lab coat and carrying a clipboard said, shoving her way forward. She looked less like an executive, and more like someone who had an actual job. 

“It might have been that line that was connected to Aqua. I never thought..” Wiz sighed and shook her head. “I wouldn’t have been able to free you anyway. Once my sealing spell took hold…you were hidden from my sight, so I could never betray you, even accidentally. But please: we need a miracle. Can you go with Dr. Rain? With the situation in space…our food supplies will soon be cut off.”

“I’m not a goddess of the harvest,” Aqua said, feeling very uncertain. “But…I could make clean water…”

“You have a technique for purifying water? We’ve tried removing all the chemicals, but most water has been recycled so many times, and there just isn’t enough clean water left to sustain large scale agriculture, not to mention the nutrient problem we run into,” Rain said, hurrying forward and studying Aqua from head to toe. 

“Well, I mean, I can purify it, but I can also just make it,” Aqua said. 

That earned her a roll of the eyes, even as people muttered and moved away as Megumin and Komekko stepped up to Aqua’s side, glaring around at the others. Yunyun nervously trailed after them, adjusting her goggles, pulling them off and on. 

“Yes, we can burn hydrogen to get water but there’s frankly not enough oxygen as is, so that just creates another issue,” Rain said in exasperation.

“Huh? You can’t burn stuff to get water, that’s just dumb. I just make it,” Aqua said, planting her hands on her hips.

“What!? You can’t just MAKE something from nothing! How stupid are you?” Rain demanded. “Don’t come here and claim you can just-”

Aqua, irritated and confused, and just generally tired with life at this point, pointed a finger at Rain. “Create Water!” 

A firehose of water shot out of Aqua’s finger, obviously appearing from thin air. Rain was knocked into several corporate suits, who were then bowled over by the pressure of the stream. They skidded across the floor, pushed along by the water until they hit the edge of the security dome.

“I’m not stupid,” Aqua huffed, lowering her finger and splashing over to where the dazed Rain was laying in a large puddle of water. “Any low level priest can use a simple Create Water spell. It’s not that hard.”

“You…you can what?” Rain asked, dazed as she blinked and slowly sat up. 

Aqua held out her hand, and a glowing form appeared in her hand, which she proffered to Rain. “Just join the Axis Cult! I grant all my followers loads of useful spells like that! Plus, there’s access to Axis Brand Soap, which is guaranteed to clean up all sorts of corruption, and-”

“LADY WIZ!” a panicked voice said, and Aqua turned to see Wiz being supported by several guards. She was breathing hard, and had gone slightly translucent. 

“Please…please sign the form,” Wiz gasped. “She really is a goddess. She needs your prayers. I’ll be fine, I just…can I have some life energy, please? No, yours won’t do…I need…”

“Y-you can have mine,” Yunyun said, hurrying over. Several people glared at her, but no one was crazy enough to get in the way of a Crimson Demon, especially not one that apparently could light things on fire with a gesture.

“Drain Touch,” Wiz croaked, and her color returned quickly even as Yunyun slumped over. 

“That’s enough, thank you. Your mana is very potent,” Wiz sighed, standing up again and gingerly edging away from the massive amount of holy water Aqua had just created. 

“What did you do to Yunyun!?” Megumin snarled, stomping over and supporting her sister as she nearly teetered over. 

“I-I’m OK. I just…I need some rest,” Yunyun whimpered. 

Komekko had stolen some snacks from various pockets, and hastily proffered them to Yunyun, who nodded her thanks. 

Aqua was distracted from the scene by Rain ripping the parchment out of her hands and signing it. “If you can make me clean water so we don’t all starve to death, I’ll absolutely worship you or do whatever you want,” she said desperately. 

“Great! I prefer bubbly as my offerings, but I like art too,” Aqua said happily, and produced more fliers. “Who else wants to join the Axis Cult!?”

There were only a few takers, but Rain hastily led Aqua, Megumin, and Komekko to an elevator to the ground level of the ShopWiz complex. Yunyun left to rest, while Wiz hurried off to deal with the mounting crises. 

“We keep the plants in greenhouses, well shielded from pollution and radiation. We have an excellent air filtration system, and use only the cleanest water. Sadly, we haven’t been able to produce near enough food to feed everyone, and we’re still reliant on Discord, which is of course controlled by ChimeraTech,” Rain babbled as they rode in the elevator. “But with what’s happened, we can’t guarantee that we’ll have a steady supply of food, and we don’t have enough stockpiled. Wiz is always trying to feed more mouths than we really can.” 

“People shouldn’t go hungry, that’s not nice,” Komekko declared, nodding seriously. 

Rain blinked at the little girl, her red eyes glowing softly in the dim light of the elevator. She grinned nervously. “Er, yes. I, ah, I never knew Lady Wiz was friendly with Crimson Demons, but…”

“As long as she stays friendly with us, I promise to kill her last,” Megumin said, and gave Rain a dazzling smile. 

The scientist tittered nervously, then shuffled her feet. “Ah, how, exactly, um…did you make the water, Miss Aqua?”

“I’m the goddess of water, duh. I made all the water on Belzerg,” Aqua said simply. 

“That doesn’t sound very scientific…” Rain said as the doors to the elevator opened up.

“Science is dumb and boring. Magic is much more interesting, because it’s like art, which is pretty and fun!” Aqua declared. She looked around, then gasped in delight, hurrying over to the window, where fields of green plants could be seen below. “Finally, something that’s growing!” 

Megumin and Kommekko hurried forward as well, with Megumin having to give Komekko a bit of a boost so the shorter girl could see into the fields below. There were rows and rows of carefully cultivated plants, each of them spaced precisely apart, separated by lines of string and flagged markers.. Workers in sterile clothing tread carefully upon the path between the plants, spritzing them with water, gently tending to leaves and sprouts, or placing bits of fertilizer. Others were measuring the soil with various instruments. Light was provided by glowing overhead lamps, and bits of condensation could be seen on the window. Pressing her nose to it, Aqua could feel that it was quite warm.

“Why don’t you give them real sunlight?” Aqua asked, not taking her eyes away from the greenery. “And don’t those people have to be careful? Won’t the tomatoes attack them?”

“Tomatoes…attack?” Rain shook her head. “Er, we can’t expose the plants to the open air, and the sky is too polluted for us to get easy access to sunlight at an elevation the plants will easily grow at.”

“Are tomatoes dangerous? They taste really good,” Komekko asked. 

“Yes,” Aqua said at the same time as Megumin and Rain said “No.”

“What!? Everyone knows that Killer Tomatoes are vicious creatures that will attack anyone on sight once they’re ripe!” Aqua argued. 

Megumin and Rain exchanged a puzzled look, while Komekko just nodded in acceptance. 

“Er, are you thinking of some sort of animal?” Rain asked. 

“Hmph. Are you at least growing some mackerel down there?” Aqua asked. 

Rain shook her head sadly. “We do have some fish tanks, but we mostly grow catfish.”

“Hmph. We’ll I’m just going to fix that,” Aqua huffed. “I love tasty mackerel, especially freshly picked!”

“Are you really someone that can help grow food?” Rain said in exasperation as Aqua turned and headed towards a security door. 

“Hey, open up, I want to check on the plants and show you that tomatoes really are dangerous!” Aqua declared, rapping her knuckles on the door. 

“Er, should we let her in, Director Rain?” a voice asked over the intercom. 

“Yes, Lady Wiz said to have her help, and she seems to somehow be able to create water. Perhaps it can help us grow the plants,” Rain sighed. 

“Wait, are those Crimson Demons?! We can’t open the door with them there!” the panicked voice said.

Megumin snorted in derision, then walked over and jammed Gram into the door frame. The magical metal easily punctured even the reinforced security door, and with a wrench and squeal of metal Megumin carved a large enough hole for a person to squeeze through. “Just be happy I don’t have a breaching charge on me, for this pathetic door is no obstacle to a Crimson Demon!” 

“Please don’t do that! We have a clean room inside, we can’t let any contaminants into the farm!” Rain said, panicked and waving her arms frantically. 

After squeezing through the now wrecked door, Aqua found several cowering scientist types, none of which seemed to have any interest in stopping Megumin. Rain hastily keyed them into the next room, which was a decontamination chamber of some sort, where they were supposed to change clothes and shower.

“I can just do this,” Aqua said, and raised her hands over the group. “Purification!” 

The sparkling blue lights of Aqua’s spell made Rain blink in shock. “I…don’t think that qualifies as clean room safe…”

“Hmph. Well, let me see the stupid plants already. This isn’t a nice bath. I want a proper onsen later!” Aqua declared. 

Reluctantly, Rain let them inside, deciding correctly that any damage the contaminants they brought in would be far less than the damage Megumin and Aqua could do if they were argued with. 

After a long corridor where large fans blew out a high pressure system to keep any last hazards and pollution out, Rain let them into the farm field. Aqua wandered around for a bit, cringing workers and scientists shying away from Megumin and her giant sword, as well as Komekko and her glowing red eyes.

“I don’t get it, these plants feel sick,” Aqua said, frowning. “Have you properly infused them with mana?”

“With what?” Rain asked. She glanced at one of the workers, who shrugged in confusion. “Do you mean fertilizer?”

“Well, this fertilizer isn’t right. It doesn’t have any mana at all,” Aqua said, poking at a wheelbarrow of synthetic fertilizer. “It won’t make the plants grow well at all.”

“Well, maybe you could try doing something useful,” Rain said in exasperation.

“Not a harvest goddess,” Aqua muttered. Then she brightened. “Will you all promise to worship me if I give you a lot of food right now by making the plants grow?”

“Lady, if you could bring in an extra harvest, I’d fall down and kiss your feet,” one of the workers said. 

“I already told you I’d worship you if you give us clean water, and I am a woman of my word,” Rain said, nervously adjusting her name tag. 

“Right. Megumin, get ready! The plants are sure to attack as soon as I make them grow,” Aqua said.

“I’ve heard of mutant plants that feed on human flesh before, especially on Discord,” Megumin said, unslinging Gram and raising it. 

“Come on out, Hoost! You get ready to fight too!” Komekko declared, saving her hand.

The raven appeared, larger than it had been before, and let out a squawk. “Would it kill you to give a guy some birdseed or something, Mistress? Man’s gotta eat, you know.”

There were various screams of panic, and someone got a rake to try and shoo the bird away. 

“Hey! Be nice to Mister Hoost!” Komekko barked, pulling a gun to emphasize her point. 

The farm workers backed off, looking nervously at the large and slightly glowing bird.

“Since when could he talk?” Megumin asked, even as Rain cautiously advanced to study Hoost, who had landed on Komekko’s head. 

“Boss Lady leveled up and gave me some skill points. So I got stronger,” Hoost explained, and flexed a wing. “See? Check out them muscles!”

“Hee hee. He’s super smart, like me!” Komekko said. “Miss Rain, do you have any bird seed?”

“Uh, not on me,” Rain said, looking rather dazed. “Where did…this is all so strange…”

“Alright, I’m ready!” Aqua said, holding her hands up to the sky. “I’ve got more followers, so I can do a little weather control.” She bit her tongue and squinted, and a moment later, dark clouds billowed out of her hands, rapidly filling the farm, which covered several acres for just this complex. The workers looked on, astonished, and a moment later, it began to rain.

Not a torrential downpour, but a steady drizzle that increased to a fair soaking over a few minutes. Everyone muttered in astonishment, until Rain barked orders, and they began to hurry about with vials and flasks, collecting samples of the water and testing it.

“Zero contaminates?!” a worker gasped. “This stuff is so pure…is it even real!? We can’t ever get water this clean, no matter how many cycles we run it through!” 

“It’s got some sort of weird energy in it,” another added, waving an electrical wand over a puddle as it let out a whining sound. “It’s not radiation, but…it could be harmful?”

“Only if you’re a disgusting undead or a filthy demon,” Aqua huffed. She blinked, then blushed. “Um, don’t let Wiz in here while I’m making it rain, OK?”

“Director! Director, look!” someone shouted, pointing. “The plants! They’re growing!” 

“I know that, they’re supposed…to…oh my,” Rain gasped, and covered her mouth with both hands in shock.

Even as everyone watched, the plants began to grow. The crops here were a mixture of squash, beans, and corn, forming a three sisters diet and a well ordered garden. Soon the plants bore fruit, and continued to increase in size, until the corn stalks were nearly three meters tall and as thick around as a man’s chest, while the beans were climbing wildly up to the ceiling, even covering the lights, and the huge squash were swelling to near comical sizes. 

“Uh oh,” Aqua muttered. “Um, everyone…you might want to leave…they’re gonna get ripe soon.”

“Why…why would we leave? This is incredible!” Rain laughed, hugging a giant squash and stroking the rough surface. “This is more food than we’d normally harvest in a year! Three cheers for Lady Aqua, our new goddess!” 

The farm workers all cheered, but Megumin raised her blade. “This isn’t good.”

“Corn?” a soft voice said, as one of the ears of corn near Aqua opened up, revealing a small face with buck teeth.

“Um, I, uh, I gotta go,” Aqua said, heading for the exit. 

“Corn! Corn! Corn!” a chorus of voices called. 

“Uh, director…do the vegetables usually talk?” a worker asked. 

“QUICK!” Aqua wailed, producing dozens of forms. “Sign them! I’ll give you all classes! You’ll have to fight for your lives! Megumin, start harvesting, now, before we’re overrun!” 

“Hoost!” Komekko called, pulling out a knife and stabbing the baby corn in the face. The vegetable screamed, shook, and then went still. But the other ears on the stalk began to shake violently.

“Way *urp* ahead of you *burp* boss,” Hoost called, frantically pecking away at the corn. “I’ll *burp* handle this bunch.”

Snarling, Megumin began to savagely slice and dice, activating her Zephyr step and sprinting around the now overgrown farm, slashing vegetables off their vines, or hacking the rumbling squash as it started to jump up and down. 

“Um, everyone, please calmly take a form,” Rain said nervously, grabbing several papers and waving them. “I, ah…I think I’ll go with Mage…”

There was a scream, as a swarm of little beans flung themselves off the vines and attacked a worker. 

“Beeeeeannnnns!” the vicious vegetables screamed as they bit and nipped at the worker.

 Aqua hurried over as the worker swatted at them with a trowel. “Quick, join the Axis Cult, it’s the only way to survive!” 

The worker managed to scrawl their name in blood, then let out a bellow. He ripped off his shirt as his muscles bulged. “TRAVIS SMASH!” 

“Oh, berzerker, nice!” Aqua said, nodding as the red faced and frothing man began to punch beans, squash, and even corn into submission. “Good choice for farm work.”

Before long, most of the workers had converted to the Axis Cult. A few fled, and others died as the vegetables attacked in waves. Fire balls, hacking shovels, and fists of fury pounded, as the battle was waged for over an hour. Security forces arrived, and were pressed into the harvest, and by extension the Axis Cult.

“No guns or lasers! We can’t damage the crops too badly!” Rain ordered, directing the battle in between firing off bolts of lightning. “Quick! Harvest the dead produce and cart it away before it goes to seed in this magic rain!”

In the end, the Battle of Farm 0138 resulted in nearly 58 tons of produce harvested, far more than the small farm was expected to produce in only a few hours. The injured and dead were lined up, with Aqua coming over to inspect them.

“They died heroes,” Rain said, weeping over the body of a worker who had half her head bitten off by rampaging corn. “Their efforts will not go to waste! We will feed so many with just this food, and their names will be written in the annals of ShopWiz! They died not just for Science, but for our glorious goddess, Lady Aqua!” 

There was a lusty cheer, and Aqua blushed as Megumin elbowed her. “You know, if you’d been smarter about this, those people wouldn’t have had to die.”

“Yes, but…I have so many followers who are believing in me now, and praying so hard,” Aqua said, nodding to a security guard who was hugging a scientist. They were weeping tears of sorrow and joy, and both of them thanking Lady Aqua for the food.

“Well, they were just Outsiders,” Komekko pointed out. “So it’s OK.”

“Yes…but…I can’t just let them stay dead,” Aqua said, and knelt by the woman Rain was weeping over. She touched the woman’s face, and it was instantly restored, causing others to gasp. “I’m sorry, I should have warned you all that corn is so deadly…rise again, and walk among the living, to harvest more vegetables.”

“Lady Aqua, Samatha is dead,” Rain said gently, putting a hand on Aqua’s shoulder. 

“Yeah and let me tell you, dying freaking sucks!” Samantha said, sitting up and causing Rain to let out a scream and jump back. “Ugh, that hurt so much! And I was stuck in such a boring place! Apparently, heaven and hell are closed, can you believe that!?”

“Um, there probably aren’t any gods working the psychopomp shift,” Aqua admitted. “Sorry about that, but I’m busy right now. We’ll get to it soon.”

“She can bring people back to life?!” someone gasped. 

“It’s a miracle!” 

“PRAISE AQUA!”

“I LOVE YOU LADY AQUA!” 

“That’s right!” Aqua said, jumping up and producing two fans, which she posed happily with. “No one dies today! We have lots of food, so let's have a party! The Axis Cult knows how to work hard, but we know how to party hard! Nature’s Beauty!” 

As the water from Aqua’s fans sprinkled over the dead, they all began to sit up, exclaiming in shock and surprise. Word soon spread, along with footage, of a blue haired woman raising the dead, and declaring herself god. And, since she clearly had the feats to back it up, no one was arguing with her. 

But footage like that gets leaked onto the net. And before long, Belida was at the head of an armored column, watching as Aqua danced and laughed.

“Get me Hans,” Beldia snarled to one of his generals. “It seems that damned slime didn’t finish the job after all.”

Chapter Text

In the vast black void of space, even the relatively short distance between a planet and its satellites is tremendously expansive and mostly empty. Even with the constant traffic of thousands of ships between Discord and Belzerg, it was actually rather rare for two ships to pass within visual range of one another due to the very nature of orbital mechanics: the optimum path to intercept the other body was to aim where it would be, not where it was, and thus ships coming and going did not take the same paths. Differing accelerations of ships also meant that they would take slightly different angles, which could result in a distance of dozens to thousands of kilometers apart even if they were bound for the same destination and left at similar times. 

The end result was that most traffic was actually spread out over a circle around the planet, with ships on a relatively flat plane but on vastly different trajectories. This was normally not a problem, and actually a good thing as it largely made collisions a statistical impossibility. 

Now, however, the Guild Hauler was in an increasingly desperate situation, with enemies on all sides, and allies far distant from them. They could not run, as their destination was known and their acceleration hard capped by the need to decelerate at their turnaround point, and they could not hide. While a small ship like the Faitfore could be equipped with systems that reduced their emissions and lowered their profile on LIDAR and RADAR, the Guild Hauler was simply far too massive. It was possible to “run dark” so to speak without active sensors transmitting, and that would make them harder to spot, but when your initial vector and velocity were known that was worse than pointless. 

And so, Kazuma watched in helpless horror as the battle slowly, painfully unfolded all around him. The alliances had shaken out quickly, and brutally. NyteTech and Santomon Chemicals had quickly joined together and were actively hunting all other factions, though they were paying special attention to ShopWiz ships. ChimeraTech had found willing allies in Masked Media and the Church of Serenity and was also focusing on ShopWiz targets. 

The smallest faction by far, the ShopWiz ships were standing alone. The Cats Eye Group ships were their only possible allies, though that was more because the other two factions were nearly as gleeful in destroying Cats Eye Ships as ShopWiz, though several battles were taking place between the two larger alliances as well. 

“Holy hell,” Kazuma whispered, looking at the main display on the bridge.  “How do we survive this?”

He, along with Alice and Lolisa, were standing on the main bridge, where the atmosphere was tense and nervous. Luna was currently resting after a 12-hour watch, and without her crew morale was falling apart. She had been humming or singing, which had a soothing effect that Kazuma could tell was definitely not natural, but had certainly been appreciated. 

“More importantly, how does life survive on Belzerg after this?” Lan asked, slumping in the command chair. She’d been given the watch when Luna went to bed, and despite having just come off an 8-hour rest cycle, looked exhausted already. “All the shipping is getting blown to hell. Half the stations are damaged or destroyed. How is anyone going to eat?”

“I confess I am somewhat ignorant of the current state of affairs, but are there not farms or herds on the planet?” Alice asked, motioning to the display. “Should not the rulers of the world be able to feed their peoples?”

“You’ve been asleep for a long time, your Grace,” Lolisa said quietly, looking at Kazuma with hungry eyes. He shifted nervously, and she blushed when she noticed her staring and looked away. “The former Generals poisoned the world when they won. With no gods to renew the world, mana ran out. Magic was gone. With the land increasingly ruined, the water foul, and the air toxic, the food started running out a long time ago.”

Alice looked disturbed at that, and glanced at Kazuma. His nod caused her expression to darken. “Then clearly, they are unfit to rule.”

“All the royal bloodlines were wiped out,” Lolisa said, hanging her head. “I…I didn’t help with that, I was stationed in Axel. It was a little town at the edge of nowhere, then.”

“The town of New Beginnings,” Alice confirmed. 

“Axel?” Kazuma asked, frowning and shaking his head. “That’s where I’m from. It’s a dead-end town. The only corporation is ShopWiz, and everyone knows they’re the most worthless…uh…I mean…”

“We know our reputation,” Lan said with a sigh, shaking her head. She looked faintly green at the moment. “We’re the weakest Corporation by far. Everyone says our CEO is an idiot. Even us.”

“Don’t sell Wiz short. She’s the one who’s going to save the planet.” 

Everyone turned to see Dust stride onto the bridge, looking worn, but still with a smile on his face. “After all, she’s the one who sent me, the hero, to find Queenie and Kazuma!”

“Queenie?” Kazuma asked, raising an eyebrow at Dust, though Alice looked slightly disturbed. 

“Of course! She’s going to be the Queen, right?” Dust said, smiling at Alice.

“I…” Alice turned back to the display, staring at the planet. Her expression hardened. “Yes. The throne requires a ruler. I do not know how but…I cannot let my people starve.”

“I did manage to make some plants bloom,” Kazuma said uncertainly. “Just kudzu, but…”

The crew shifted in their seats, turning to look at Kazuma and Alice, expressions of hope on their faces.

“Yes, Basic Magic is often employed by farmers,” Alice agreed. “It can provide soil and water, both rich in mana to aid in the growth of crops. There are more advanced agricultural spells, but those are the basics,” Alice agreed. 

“Actually, we’re already feeding that Kudzu into our systems. It’s edible with the right treatment,” one of the officers said. 

A light turned on in Kazuma’s head. “Alice, could YOU cause food to grow?”

“Of course, one of my duties as princess was to bless the harvest. Royal mana always results in the strongest…crops…” Alice put a hand to her head, looking dazed, and Kazuma stepped forward to put a hand on her shoulder. 

She took a deep breath and collected herself, then smiled up at him and said in a soft voice, “I apologize. These things come to me, and I have brief flashes of images, of sound, of intense emotion…but I cannot remember all the context. It is as though I have lost myself.”

“That sounds pretty scary,” Kazuma admitted. “But don’t worry. I’ll look out for you. And I can tell you right now: if you can grow food, you’ll never be poor or lack a job. People are desperate for food. Hell, whole gang wars have been fought over a truckload of expired rations.”

“As I said, it is a ruler's job to see to the needs of her people.” Alice turned back to the display, her hands clenching into fists. “If I am truly the last Belzerg, then I will assume the throne, and see to it that the people are provided for, as per the ancient contract.”

“You can remember something it seems,” Kazuma said, giving Iris a lopsided grin. When she looked at him questioningly, he added, “You remember your sense of duty.”

She beamed happily at him and turned to the crew. “Continue towards the rally point! We shall not let these servants of malice prevent us from returning home and saving the people from starvation! Let them flee before our might!” 

Something in Alice’s words seemed to hearten the crew, and the mood improved considerably. Then Alice turned back to the plot, a confident look on her face, but she leaned in close to Kazuma. “I do not understand this sort of naval combat. How good are our chances?”

“I’m not an expert in space fighting either, but it doesn’t look good,” he admitted. “We’re outnumbered, and there’s a lot of enemies between us and Belzerg.”

Alice nodded but didn’t shift her expression. She continued to exude confidence and strength, and Kazuma had to admire her for it. 

After a few hours though, it was increasingly obvious that they were going to be intercepted by a pack of NyteTech and Santomon Chemicals ships, two of which were even larger than the Guild Hauler . Tonnage wasn’t everything, as none of the ships were purely military in construction and were closer to Q Ships than anything else. Still, it didn’t look good. When there was less than an hour to contact, Luna came back onto the bridge, looking exhausted, but at least a little better than she had before. She’d had less than six hours of respite, but that appeared to be all she would get. 

“It’s a battle we cannot win,” she bluntly told Alice. “We cannot run nor hide. If we try to slug it out, we’ll end up as debris floating in the void. And frankly, your Grace, you dying in a space battle is simply not an option.”

“What would you have me do, run and abandon you and your men? How can I run, and where to?” Alice demanded, glaring at Luna. 

“Yes,” Luna said bluntly. “You’re the last, best hope that Belzerg has. Us? We’re literally expendable. There are a million corporate drones ready to replace all of us. But not you. The world is literally dying because your family left, because the gods died. And if there’s even the slightest bit of hope that you can save the world, I am willing to die to give you the chance to do it.”

“Perhaps you are, but are they?” Alice demanded, gesturing broadly to the crew. 

Dust stepped forward, and nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I’ve dedicated my whole life to doing. If I gotta die so that others can be free…that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

There was silence after that for a long moment, then Lan cleared her throat. “I’ll be honest…life sucks. Like yeah, we keep on trying and living, but the world is dying. Everyone’s out to get as many credits as they can before the end, but we all know it’s coming. It’s pointless and stupid in the end. But…but if there were actually hope to make things better? Yeah. I guess if you gotta go…that’s something worth dying for.”

The rest of the crew silently nodded. One man stood up and saluted Alice, then spoke. “I got a family back home. I earn enough to keep them fed and clothed, but I know that there isn’t any hope for my kids when they grow up. If I could give them that, give them you…yeah. I’d be worth it.”

Tears were running down Alice’s cheeks now, but she nodded. “I see. Captain Luna, what is your plan?”

Luna sighed heavily. “We have to get you out on the Faitifore . We’ll give you as much cover as we can. We’ll make enough noise that they won’t see you leave.”

“I see.” Alice turned to Dust, ignoring her still damp cheeks. “Can you do this, Sir Dust?”

“I mean, technically, yeah. The Faitifore ’s got a seriously good stealth system, but we don’t have a pilot. Taylor’s dead, and while Rin or I could fly if we have to…we’re not on his level.”

“Can you fly?” Alice asked Kazuma seriously

As much as he wanted to say yes, he shook his head. “I’ve never flown a real ship. Rin or Dust would be a better bet than me.”

“Very well. Captain Luna, we require your best pilot,” Alice said, turning to Luna. 

“Lan,” Luna said instantly, and several heads nodded. 

For her part, Lan looked relieved, but also nervous. “I mean, it’d be pretty shitty of me to leave after saying all that stuff about being willing to die…”

“You’re the best hope of them getting to the surface alive. True or not?” Luna asked the younger woman. 

“I mean…Frostflower is pretty good,” Lan said hesitantly.

“She never worked as a smuggler, and you did,” Luna said firmly. “It has to be you.”

“I…” Lan licked her lips and looked to Alice, her expression absolutely miserable. 

“Any blame is mine, Lan. I command you to act as my pilot and to help me escape. I am the one abandoning this ship, not you.”

Lan looked incredibly grateful at the words and hastily stood. “I’ll go prep the ship then. Come on, Dust. You know the old girl better than me.”

“Wait,” Alice said, stepping forward. Lan paused, looking uncertain and fearful, but Alice gestured. “Kneel.”

Slowly, Lan did so, and Alice drew her machete. It had been heavily used but had been reforged in the Guild Hauler’s machine shop. Now it looked like an actual sword, more of a saber than the long knife it had been before. It was all of black metal, sharpened to a lethal cutting edge, and with a metal hilt wrapped in a rubber grip. She tapped the flat of the blade on Lan’s shoulder and chanted, “Grant Status.”

Lan gasped, her eyes going wide, and a small spaceship made of light flew around her head. 

“I grant you the Unique Class of Pilot; may you fly ever towards freedom, and serve Us well,” Alice pronounced. “Now rise, Pilot, and go to your steed.”

Slowly, Lan stood on shaky legs. “Yes, your Grace.” Then she ran to Luna, embraced her, and ran off, her body shaking slightly. 

“I, uh…should I go see to her?” Dust asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I’ll do it. And check the ship,” Lolisa said. “We don’t have much time.” 

After one last farewell to the bridge crew, Alice headed down as well. She paused on the way to Grant Status to a few key ship’s officers and several of the marines, and Kazuma asked her why she couldn’t do it for everyone.

“Truth be told, I am near my limit already,” Alice admitted quietly. “Granting someone status takes a considerable amount of mana. My reserves are vast, but not unlimited.”

“Good to know. You got enough juice left if we get in a scrap?” Kazuma asked. 

Alice nodded. “Yes. I have made sure not to do so much as to endanger myself. If I did, their sacrifice would be for naught.”

Once they were aboard, Rin and Keith came and informed them of some bad news. “We found a tracking device on the ship. Two, actually. I think we got both of them, but I’m not sure.”

“They must have planted it when they came into the hold and killed Taylor, the fuckers,” Keith said with a disgusted shake of his head. 

“Why do that though?” Lan asked, looking concerned. “Why not just sabotage the ship?”

“The Flesh Shaper is wiley, and knows I am here,” Alice said, her expression grim. “She would not let a prize go so easily.”

“My guess too,” Rin said, shaking her head in disgust. “There’s still a bounty out on my and Lolisa’s heads.”

“Sylvia and Vanir are jealous and dangerous. Don’t underestimate either of them,” Lolisa said quietly. “I think Sylvia knew what was going to happen to Belzerg, and somehow figured out to make Discord bloom instead.”

Kazuma’s blood ran cold. “The tanks. The tanks were extracting mana…She has to get Alice back. Without her…”

Lolisa looked pained as well, and nodded in agreement. “Discord dies. I think you’re right. It explains a lot. I never really thought about it before. I was too busy…” She absently put a hand to the back of her neck and winced. 

“Much evil was done, even to the former allies of the Devil King. I am glad you fight on our side now, Lolisa,” Alice said gently.

Lolisa looked down, blushing. “Thank you, Your Grace. I never thought I’d swear loyalty to a Belzerg, but…honestly, this feels like the first good thing I’ve done in maybe my whole life. And I’ve been alive a very long time.”

After that, Lan finished her checks, and pronounced the ship ready to fly. “I can sort of feel the ship. I have some, uh, weird things I can do now, and it’s like jacking into the ship, but more? Anyway, the ship says she’s fine and wants to make her papa proud.”

“ Fatifore can talk?” Dust asked, blinking in perplexity. 

“Sort of? It’s more of a feeling,” Lan said, looking uncertain. “I’m not used to this magic stuff. But, well, color me surprised you treated your ship right, Dust.”

Tears filled Dust’s eyes, and he patted a bulkhead affectionately. “You tell my baby girl daddy’s proud, and we’re almost home. She’s done so good. Just a little more.”

“Wow, just when I think you couldn’t be more of a moron,” Keith said with a snort. “Seriously? It’s a ship, Dust. Not a person.”

“She says thank you, and that she doesn’t like Keith because he’s an asshole. Or, well, a ‘big jerk’. I’m not really sure, it’s more emotions than words. It feels like she just woke up honestly,” Lan said, furrowing her brow. 

“What a bunch of freaking clowns. Come on, let’s get going. I don’t wanna die today,” Keith said, and turned to go see to some tasks.

“What a freaking asshole,” Kazuma grumbled, not bothering to lower his voice. Keith stiffened but ignored him. “Oh, sorry, Alice.”

“He has not made himself overly endeared to Us either,” Alice sniffed. “Come, Rin. Is there aught I can do to help prepare for our departure?

Dust went to the cockpit with Lan, which left Kazuma in the hold with Lolisa as the hatch sealed and the ship's engines warmed up. He glanced at her, then looked away. Succubi were universally smoking hot, and Lolisa hit all the right buttons for him. She had a cute, sort of ‘girl next door’ vibe, looking more wholesome than Sex on Legs like a lot of succubi did. Still, he didn’t know how to talk to women, and the idea of being around a cute succubus made him nervous. 

“I, um, I wanted to apologize,” Lolisa said, glancing at Kazuma. She blushed, and wiped the corner of her mouth. “I…I don’t mean to hit you with the whammy. Sorry. It’s just…It’s been so long since I had mana, and I’m so hungry…”

“We’ve got plenty of food, why don’t you get something to eat? I’ll join you,” Kazuma offered, then kicked himself. She was so out of his league. 

“I, ah, I’m not that kind of hungry. You, er…you might call it horny,” Lolisa said, looking away from Kazuma and hugging herself. “And I can’t. I’d lose control. I know it. I…I remember the last man I really took, and…it still makes me sick to think about it. I…I liked Richard. But I was starving. He was willing, but…it’s not fair. Not right. I…I won’t…I can’t…not when there’s real hope for you mortals again.”

“Wait, so you mean…” things slowly ticked over Kazuma’s mind, and he blushed. “Oh, uh, I didn’t realize. Is it like Rin and Dust? I mean, I’m not actually volunteering! It’s just, I mean, you’re cute, but-”

“Kazuma. Please. Stop. I…I can be your friend. That’s all. I fed off the prisoners we captured. It’s not the same as actually taking a man, but…I won’t starve,” Lolisa said, shuddering, her back still to him. “And trust me. You don’t want anything to do with me.”

“Why, because you’re chipped?” Kazuma asked, feeling himself flush. “Fuck those guys. You’re not worthless because of what they did to you. They would have done it to all of us if they thought they could make two credits more than if they didn't.”

“No, it’s…” Lolisa half turned, her expression pained. “You don’t know what I am, do you?”

“You’re a succubus,” Kazuma said, frowning in confusion. “Right?”

“You don’t know what that means. I…” she licked her lips. “I’m sorry. Please. I need…I can’t…” She turned around and fled. Kazuma half raised his hand and almost spoke, but then he lowered his hand back to his side.

What was the point? He was just some loser. At least she hadn’t told him he was disgusting. Friends was something, right?

“You keep telling yourself that,” Kazuma muttered, and went to see if he could be helpful. Not that he expected a janitor’s skills would be of much use. 

The Faitifore departed the Guild Hauler without much fanfare, sliding out of the compartment along with a great deal of cargo. It was supposed to look like the ship was getting rid of any excess mass to allow for better maneuverability during combat, something Lan said a lot of other ships were doing. 

“It’s technically against corporate regulations, but in a brawl like this, people are getting desperate. A lot of old grudges, and a lot of money to be made salvaging hulks,” Lan said with a shake of her head. “So damn stupid and greedy. The whole world is crazy.”

After a short time, Lan ignited their engines, there wouldn’t be much in the way of visible light emitted, or a radiation signature. They were in the wash of the Guild Hauler ’s much more massive and “noisy” engines, and with the battle going on, the small emissions that the Faitifore put out would be essentially invisible.

They pulled away from the impending battle, and Kazuma wished he could send one last farewell to Luna and the others, but it was impossible. 

“Eris, Lady of Fortune, watch over your sons and daughters this day. Give them luck in battle, and misfortune to their foes. Let your light guide us through this dark night, that the next day might dawn the brighter,” Alice prayed, her voice soft, but firm. 

It wasn’t like any of the prayers Kazuma had heard before. Prayers to Regina, the deity of the Church of Serenity, always involved some sort of transaction. You also basically had to pay off a priest to even have a hope that Regina would hear you, and the requests she granted were nearly always nasty. Prayers were said in spite and anger, not hope. Kazuma had to admit, he liked this sort better, even if he wasn’t one to pray.

“Hold together, Luna, hold together,” Dust whispered, pumping his fist in the direction they’d come from.

Over the next hour, the battle unfolded. Slowly at first, a few long-range pot shots as the parties slowly danced together, the Guild Hauler trying to flee, the enemy trying to cut them off. They were coming in at an oblique angle, one that would give them maximum time on their intercept to really maul the Guild Hauler . 

Then the smaller craft surged forward, most of them blotted out by the Guild Hauler. A few made contact, but there was no sign of what happened aboard, aside from one small explosion that blew out a compartment. It was nail biting stuff, and Kazuma knew that the worst was yet to come. 

Then, the other highliners got into range. The first was a Santomon ship, one that was even bigger than the Guild Hauler by almost 100 meters. It was bulkier as well, and its massive railgun’s first shot tore a huge chunk out of the Guild Hauler . The ship, already damaged, limped on, and returned fire. The slugging match continued at extreme range for several agonizing minutes, until suddenly, a massive fireball bloomed from the Santomon ship, and it cracked in half. 

“They hit life support!” Dust cheered, and the crew of the Faitifore whooped in excitement. The Guild Hauler was continuing on, damaged, but alive. 

Then the two NyteTech highliners found their range. The barrage of fire they exchanged was brutal, and this time, the Guild Hauler was just too damaged. She was losing acceleration, half her weapons were destroyed or offline, and the ship looked like it had been put through a blender. Kazuma felt his heart sink, as the ship slowly died.

Then, a transmission came, and Lan put it on screen. It was Luna, and she was singing, belting out a song while she stood on her bridge, fire and dead crewmembers all around her. 

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Suddenly, the Guild Hauler swung about on a crazy turn that practically ripped the ship in half. Luna yelled in triumph, her song cutting off as the compartment was breached.

“What’s she doing!?” Dust shouted, holding a sobbing Rin tight in his arms. Kazuma was crying too, holding on to Alice as she wept into his chest as well.

“Winning,” Lan said grimly. “Damn. You did it, you crazy bitch.”

As Kazuma watched, the two other ships tried to turn, but their battle had brought them close to the Guild Hauler . The sudden turn had torn the ship in half and killed her, but Luna had known what she was doing. The front half of the ship headed right for one of the NyteTech ships, which dodged out of the way, made easy by the crazy spin of the wreck.

But the rear half still had power somehow, and shot forward with its lower mass, right for the other highliner. It too tried to dodge, but it was going too fast, and was too close. The aft of the Guild Hauler plowed into the NyteTech ship, and for an instant, a new star bloomed in the sky as the ships slammed into one another and vaporized. It was so bright the display automatically dimmed, and the canopy shuttered itself to block out the glare. 

When it faded, the Guild Hauler was completely gone, and the second NyteTech highliner was limping away, losing power and venting atmosphere from dozens of damaged compartments.

“She did it. We’re home free,” Lan rasped, sniffing and wiping her nose on her sleeve. “Rest in pieces, you bastards. Thanks, Captain.”

There was a moment of silence as Kazuma and the others mournfully watched the display, then he jerked. The surviving enemy ships were changing course. Right for the Faitifore .

“It’s a coincidence, right?” Kazuma asked nervously.

“They’re probably just aiming for Belzerg like us. I’ll alter course slightly, they’ll miss us by a million clicks,” Lan said confidently, and altered their trajectory.

But the enemy ships matched the course correction, and Lan swore. 

“Fuck. They’re after us. How do they see us?! How-”

She stiffened. “Faitifor says someone’s broadcasting onboard!” She looked around wildly. “There’s a stowaway!”

Dust and Kazuma darted from the cockpit, but even as they did so, they heard a cry of pain.

“YOU ASSHOLE!” Lolisa shrieked. A moment later, they found her with Keith pinned to the wall, a small transceiver in her hands. 

“Keith!?” Dust gasped. “What-”

“Fuck you all!” Keith laughed. “You’re a loser, Dust! You always bet on the wrong side! And fuck you, bitch! You should have let me have my reward! I’ll make sure they turn your chip on, and give you to me as my-”

“Keith,” Lolisa said, her voice suddenly reverberating slightly. Kazuma and Dust staggered, both of them moaning, but not as much as Keith, who was staring at Lolisa, drooling. She kissed him, full on the lips, and Kazuma felt a surge of anger and jealousy. Why wasn’t that him?!

“Keith. You love me, right?” Lolisa crooned, stroking his cheek. “Tell me. What did you do?”

“M-made a deal,” Keith stammered. “A-Alice and K-kazuma. They wanted both. S-sold them out, promised me a b-billion each. I’ll live like a king…”

“But why?” Dust groaned, panting and wiping his forehead as his sweat floated away in the microgravity. “We were friends…”

“You should have shared Rin,” Keith said dully. “Or let me have Lolisa. Not fair you got all the-”

Dust sprang off the bulkhead, his fist slamming into Keith’s jaw so hard blood, spittle, and a tooth came out. “THEY’RE FREE, YOU BASTARD! THEY CHOOSE! BECAUSE WE CAN SAY NO! THEY CAN’T!”

“Uck ‘oo. Self-righteous prick!” Keith spat, blood and foam spraying. “I’ll be ‘ich, and you’ll be-”

Lolisa pulled Keith to her, and kissed him again, more deeply. Kazuma felt that raging jealousy, and found himself floating forward, wanting Lolisa to do that to him. 

Then he saw Keith deflating. His skin lost its color, and he started to age and shrivel up, his hair floating away as it turned gray. Starting, Kazuma jerked back, horrified. Lolisa saw, and pulled herself off of Keith, panting. There was a wet spot on Keith’s pants, and Kazuma was pretty sure the other man hadn’t wet himself. He was moaning in pleasure, reaching for Lolisa.

“That’s right. More. Give me more. I deserve it,” Keith croaked.

“No. I’m not going to dirty myself by eating you,” Lolisa spat. She pushed herself away from Keith. “Throw him out the airlock, but I’m not eating him. I’m done with that.”

Suddenly, Lolisa saying she was horny and hungry was a lot more ominous sounding in Kazuma’s head, and he shied away from her. She saw, and tears filled her eyes. “I wouldn’t…not to you! You have to believe me! I…oh hell…I’m a demon! STAY AWAY FROM ME!” With a flap of her wings, she shot out of the compartment. 

Kazuma saw Alice in the doorway, watching Lolisa go. The little girl shook her head, uncertain. “I have not seen…she stopped herself. She really has had a change of heart. Odd, to consider a demon more of an ally than this creature.”

Alice moved forward, hovering in front of the mostly insensate Keith. She regarded him for a moment, then looked to Dust. “What does throwing him out the airlock mean?”

“We put him out into space. He’ll be dead in moments,” Dust explained.

Alice nodded. “Activate his transponder, then do so. He will be rewarded as a traitor deserves.”

Feeling sick, Kazuma helped Dust activate the transponder, then towed Keith to an escape pod. They locked the man inside, with Dust giving him a kick for good measure. “More than you deserve, asshole.”

“You gonna kill him first?” Kazuma asked. 

Dust hesitated. “No. Besides, it might, you know, have a biometrics signature. Maybe he’ll lead them off us. When they see…maybe they’ll recover him, maybe not. Shit man. He was my friend. Or…I thought he was…”

“Yeah…” Kazuma nodded and hit the eject button. The escape pod shot away, and he said a prayer of his own. 

Please, let them follow it.

About 10 minutes later, the enemy ships altered course to track the escape pod. Everyone breathed a long sigh of relief.

“We’re home free,” Lan said, chuckling nervously.

Kazuma felt a sinking sensation. “Please, please tell me you didn’t just trip a flag…”

Half an hour later, a laser shot out, and destroyed the escape pod. And the enemy ships began to close on the Faitifore again. They were less than two hours out.

Chapter Text

Exhausted, bloodied, and empty handed, Tina watched as the first hovertank pulled out of the Axel Security station, armored blackhats marching alongside it, drones hovering in the air above it. The sleek, black, ominous lines of the armored carapaces of all three gleamed dully in the neon lights of the city, and another tank rumbled off the transport, ready to be loaded. 

“All this for a couple of little girls?” Claire muttered, looking confused and irritated as they stood outside the station. Her armor was scorched, as was her hair. Both of them had not come out of that exchange favorably. “Even for Crimson Demons, this seems a bit much.”

“It’s what’s happening in space,” Tina said with a heavy sigh. “We heard on the radio, remember? The Second Orbital War has kicked off.”

“We all knew it was coming. Damn ChimeraCorp keeping all the food to themselves,” Claire grumbled. 

“YOU TWO! GET OVER HERE!” 

At the bellow of The Chief, Tina and Claire both straightened and turned, saluting crisply despite their injuries. “Ma’am!” 

Swatti stalked over, wearing her old power armor. It was an exo-suit that had several dark stains on it that at first looked like rust, but further inspection proved they were definitely not. The armor itself had dark green plating with a lime green underside and was emblazoned with Swatti’s clan marking, which consisted of an iron gray fist with the top half stained red with blood.

“You two girls look like hell,” Swatti grunted, looking down at the both with a frown. “Which is about what’s to happen here.” 

“It’s war then?” Tina asked, feeling her heart sink. 

That earned her a nod and a scowl. “Seems like it. I don’t know if that business in space started it or what, but it’s going to be bad. We’re fully mobilizing against ShopWiz. As you can see, the heavies are already here, and Santomon is staging on the other side of Axel.”

“Chief…they were just kids. Do we really need to fight a war to take the eyes of little girls?” Claire asked, sounding exhausted. 

“You’ll shut up and do what you’re ordered. They killed our people, or did you forget? No? Good. Now. The CEO wants to talk to you.”

That made Tina and Claire both look around, feeling frightened. No one wanted to talk to Beldia. Besides, he had a…reputation. One that Tina did find exciting, and perhaps at another time she would have been excited at the thought of being forced to perform lewd acts by her boss. Now though…now she wasn’t certain she wanted a part of this. 

“I thought we signed up to protect people,” Tina said, meeting Swatti’s eyes. “Not to terrorize innocent civilians.”

Expecting a chewing out, Tina braced herself. Instead, Swatti’s eyes darted from side to side, and she licked her lips, sniffing the air with her snout. “Between you and me kid…I don’t like this either. Picking up perps and stopping gang wars is one thing. Fighting another corp, blowing up all the food…it’s going to be ugly, and without much honor. Now shut up and smile, because you’re my best, and the boss wants to see you.”

With that, Swatti turned and stomped off. Tina looked at Claire, who schooled her face into a neutral expression but nodded. Taking a breathTina put her arms around Claire and gave her a quick squeeze. She wasn’t surprised when Claire rested her head on her chest and hugged back in turn. But they could stand that way only for a moment before they broke apart and turned as one to face their next trial. 

The Security Station had been completely overhauled. A number of walls had been ripped out, and the floor and walls had been given a hasty buffing that had left them clean and shiny, but with obvious scouring marks. High-tech monitors, processors, and other gear were everywhere now, as were blackhats in dark armor with heavy weapons, their faces obscured by dark blast masks with white skulls etched into them. Most of them were as tall or taller than Tina, and they stood absolutely rigid and motionless, not even shifting slightly. 

It was eerie and unnerving, and Tina wondered if the rumors she had heard that the highest echelons of NyteTech’s elite forces were actually cyborgs, or even more disturbing, androids. There was no denying what Beldia was, however. 

The CEO of NyteTech stood at the center of this new nexus of power, his hulking armor nearly scraping the ceiling. If his head had rested atop his shoulders instead of in the tank at the center of his chest, it wouldn’t have fit without hunching over. In addition to the cannons and missiles, he now had a massive black sword that he held by the pommel, blade touching the floor. Where it rested, a spreading puddle of rust and rot sprouted, as something about the metal tainted and corroded everything around it. Tina shuddered but snapped to attention and saluted. 

“Sir! Officers Ford and Shin, reporting for duty!” 

The cyborg CEO half turned toward them, the head floating around in the tank so that the baleful red eyes regarded them. “So. You are the ones that failed in their mission. Give your report. In detail.”

“Sir!” Tina barked, and trembling slightly, began to do just that, with Claire chiming in to provide details from her end. They spoke of loading up, following the trail of destruction, the bodies they found, and so on. To Tina’s surprise, Belida interrupted her as she was describing the injured operative she’d saved. 

“Had he been injured with magic, or a weapon?”

“Magic?” Tina asked, feeling uncertain. “I…I’m not certain what you mean, sir.”

“You know perfectly well. Were the injuries caused by a weapon, or by powers you can’t understand or explain,” Beldia growled, taking a clanking step forward. His head was at eye level for Tina, and the rest of him towered over her. 

“I’m not certain…” Tina said, looking up and shaking slightly. Would he pin her to the wall? Torture and violate her? The thought was distressing, but also exciting.

“Not sure about him, sir. But Ms. Wiz did some things I sure as hell didn’t understand, and so did the one they called Aqua,” Claire reported, standing shoulder to shoulder with Tina. 

Belida shifted his gaze and frame. “So. You heard her name then. Describe her to me.”

“Blue hair, beautiful, shot water out of her hands, got frozen by Ms. Wiz,” Claire reported. 

“She has returned,” Beldia muttered, his head floating away from them in the liquid, his gaze unfocused. “How? It’s been over 1,000 years…this should be completely impossible. But Wiz froze her… why?”

“I don’t know sir. We left when it was clear ShopWiz had the situation in hand. We were on their turf,” Claire explained. “What they did with those kids and Aqua…I don’t know. But I assume they put them on ice for…something.”

“Yes…so, it was Wiz you saw using magic then. Perhaps she’s recruiting Crimson Demons, trying to rekindle their magic,” Beldia muttered. “That would be a disaster. But Aqua…Wiz should have killed her on sight. Unless…unless the rumors about Sylvia are true…”

“Uh, what rumors, sir?” Tina asked, feeling lost. 

Beldia looked up, as if surprised to see them there still. “Ah. What of Axis Cultists? Did you meet any?”

“Cultists? From the Church of Serenity?” Claire asked, and she and Darkness shared a confused glance before turning back to face Beldia, who had stepped so close they had to resist the urge to lean away or step back themselves. 

“What does it mean when I say, ‘You can run away from unpleasant things! That doesn’t mean you’ve lost!’?” Beldia growled, his red eyes boring into Tina and Claire. 

Swallowing, Tina cleared her throat. “No offense sir, but it sounds like nonsense to me.”

“We know we lost, sir. You don’t have to rub it in. We won’t fail you again,” Claire said, sweat beading on her brow. 

Beldia smiled and suddenly laughed, patting Tina and Claire both on the shoulders. “It is! Good, good. You’re still loyal, then. You know, I could use two knights with such… assets…as you.”

Tina flinched as cold metallic hands reached down and squeezed her rear, even though they didn’t do more than scrabble along armor, and when they trailed up to unfastened her armor. She shivered as Beldia fondled her breasts, then glanced at Claire and shook her head. Her partner was seething and looked ready to murder Beldia, but hastily wiped her face clean of expression when she saw Tina’s panicked look.

“I don’t even feel anything anymore, but I remember,” Belida chuckled, doing the same to Claire, which made Tina want to spit nails herself. “If I can capture Aqua, drain her mana…I could make new knights. I’ve looked at your service records. Impeccable. Beyond reproach. So very, very rare these days. Corrupting pureness such as yours…that used to be a hobby of mine.”

“S-sir?” Tina stammered. “If you must…take me, not Claire.”

“Ha ha! Yes, that’s it, exactly!” Beldia laughed, stepping back. “But I can barely raise a zombie these days, forget a higher level undead like a Death Knight. But with mana…Yes. Yes you would make excellent knights of mine. Just like Sir Tenlee here. I raised him, oh…1500 years ago?”

The blackhat in question turned his head, and raised his blastguard. Tina stared in horror. There was a skull, one decaying, rotting eye, and a hole from which a maggot wiggled. “I serve eternally, master.” His voice was like the rattle of bones in a dry tomb. 

“You do, you do. Wouldn’t you two like to live forever? Ah, time enough for that later. Yes…one last goddess to claim…the ultimate prize,” Beldia laughed again, and pointed. “Go. Bathe yourselves, and come back wearing something lacy under that armor. We move out at 0900 hours.”

Feeling dirtier than she ever had before, Tina picked up her armor and scurried out with her face flaming red, with Claire right behind her. They dodged the now horrifying blackhats with their macabre masks, and made straight for their squad car, then headed straight home, hardly daring to breathe or speak. When they arrived, they tossed their gear in the corner, then headed for the shower.

“You first, or me?” Tina asked, pausing in the middle of stripping off her sodden and bloodstained undershirt.

“Get in there,” Claire said, shoving her forward, and Tina reluctantly complied, stepping into the small closet and turning on the hot water. She still couldn’t decide if being molested by Beldia turned her on, or horrified her, or both. 

When she turned to close the door behind her, however, Claire slipped in as well. Her eyes were downcast, and she was hugging her arms to her naked chest, trembling slightly. “I don’t want to be alone. I feel…dirty, Tina.”

Feeling her heart in her throat, Tina nodded, and made space for Claire. It was close confines in their shower, especially since Tina was a giant of a woman and Claire wasn’t petite either: both were muscled and scared from years of service, with sturdy frames. Tina privately thought one of the reasons she didn’t have a boyfriend and wasn’t likely to get one was that she had the physique of a gorilla. 

Claire didn’t keep her distance though, stepping into the shower and leaning her head between Tina’s breasts, much to Tina’s befuddlement. She knew perfectly well that Claire was a lesbian and more than complimentary of her, but this was far more forward than her lifelong friend had ever been.

“I need a hug,” Claire said quietly, her voice almost drowned out by the spray of the shower on her head. 

Gingerly, Tina wrapped her arms about Claire, only for Claire to grab onto her and cling for dear life. She increased the pressure and rested her chin on Claire’s head. 

“Tina. Are…are we evil?” Claire asked, looking up at Tina. Claire’s eyes were red, and it was hard to tell the tears from the water spraying on her face. “We work for a monster. We hunt children. That woman, Aqua…what evil did she do?”

Tina swallowed, unable to formulate an answer. Tears filled her own eyes. At last she managed, “I don’t know. But I don’t…I don’t want to end up like one of those…”

She couldn’t finish the sentence, but Claire jerked a nod. “If that’s what immortality looks like…I hope I die young.”

“Claire! Don’t say such things!” Tina chided, horrified. 

“Why!? Who cares, Tina!? Who would care if I died? If the line of Symphonia was wiped out, once and for all?! Would the world be a better place?! What kind of protector am I, to make little girls scream and cry when I approach!?”

“I would care,” Tina said softly, putting a finger under Claire’s chin and lifting it up. Claire looked away and tried to lower her chin again, but Tina grabbed it and made Claire meet her eyes. “I’m your friend, Claire. And…and I…” 

She couldn’t say it. She wanted, no, needed, Claire to be the one to take that step first. 

“...I love you,” Claire whispered. Tina gasped and shuddered, but didn’t let go. She expected Claire to kiss her, but she didn’t. Instead, she turned her back. “Not…not anything more. Not now. Just…know that I love you, Lalatina Ford Dustiness. You’re the only reason I have to keep trying. But right now…I feel…so dirty. Please. Wash my back.”

Nodding, Tina did so, washing more than Claire’s back, but her hair, her arms, her legs, even…well, the rest of her. Then she let Claire do the same for her. They used an entire month’s worth of hot water and soap, and how they would pay for it was anyone’s guess, but they needed it oh so badly.   

When they were both clean, Tina turned the water off and hugged Claire again. They stood there, shivering and dripping wet, feeling no less dirty when they’d stepped in it. No amount of hot water and soap could wash away a lifetime of sin and pain. Not this water, anyway. 

“I think I might love you too, Claire,” Tina said quietly.

That earned her a snort. “I thought you weren’t a lesbian. You like men, don’t you? A big strong man, to spank you and call you a bad girl.”

“That’s…perhaps,” Tina admitted. She kissed Claire’s forehead and closed her eyes. “But you’re the only one I care about in the world too. If you’re the only person I protect…that’s alright. And, well…for you…maybe we should be more than friends.”

Claire laughed, and broke away, scrubbing at her eyes as she hiccuped and shook. “Hell of a time to say it! Why couldn’t you do this years ago? Now…now we’re both going to die, and, well..I just…I feel too dirty right now, Tina. Especially for you.”

Tina could only nod, her throat too raw to speak. She felt filthy as well. Normally, she didn’t mind feeling degraded. But right now…she felt worthless. 

They dressed, then lay down for a short nap. They awoke only four hours later, but it was time. On a whim, Tina dug out their safe, and removed their amulets. She looked at hers, the winged shield of House Dustiness, a sigil she barely knew the meaning of, the house that had been broken and forgotten. She was a disgrace. 

But, for the first time ever, she put the amulet on, tucking it under her undershirt. She gave Claire’s hers as well. “We may as well. I don’t think…I don’t think we’re coming back here, Claire.”

“No. No, I guess not,” Claire agreed, looking at her fiery blade pendant for a long moment. She held it to her forehead for a moment, then tucked it under her own shirt. They put on their armor, and went to their hovercar, getting in where they sat for a long moment. 

“Well?” Tina asked, swallowing and looking to Claire

Claire put on her helmet, and strapped it down tight. “Well what? We still have a job to do, and people to protect. There’ll be a war. The people of Axel still need us. We’ll do what we can.”

Nodding, Tina put the car into gear, and lifted off into the air, heading for NyteTech Security Headquarters, tears running down her face. She held out a hand, and Claire took it, squeezing it tight. 

Whatever came next…they’d do it together. 

After the Battle of Farm 514, as it had been deemed, Aqua began to go around to various other farms and summon forth water that instantly caused the crops to grow. This time, however, she was a little smarter about it (or rather, Rain was) and bestowed classes and powers on the workers BEFORE the crops turned murderous when they ripened. Within hours, ShopWiz had harvested enough food to feed Axel for months, and had more clean water than had existed on the planet for years, as well as a formidable farming force. Which in Historical Belzerg was the same thing as a highly trained elite military force since farmers had always been the highest level and most powerful citizens in their communities. 

On a normally functioning world, producing a few thousand tons of vegetables and providing clean water for a town would be seen as nice, or perhaps a mildly lucrative venture, and not a revolution. To the dying planet of Belzerg, it was enough to launch a new religion. To go from a hopeless, tortured existence dying slowly of toxic air and heavy metals in your food and water, or  quickly from being beaten to death and harvested for your organs or shot in a gang war, to  experiencing better food and water than you’d ever had before in your life, but also incredible new powers, well… to say that the reborn Axis Cult was full of Zealots was an understatement. 

It would have been more than enough to provide the populace with clean food and water to ensure a rabid following. Aqua went beyond that. She healed the sick and injured, including what should have been terminal cancer or lost limbs. She created works of art almost by accident, painting a mural of the Battle Farm 514 during a lunch break with nothing but some paints she mixed with a few things laying around. So beautiful and striking was the mural that battle hardened mercs broke down and wet at the sight of it, swearing themselves to Aqua. 

And of course, she raised the dead. 

Samantha and the other casualties of Farm 514 were just the start. Aqua was taken to the morgue by an incredulous chief medical officer, where the recovered corpses of the NyteTech blackhat strike team were being autopsied. Megumin took one look at them, and turned to Aqua. 

“Ok, look. Helping these Outsiders? Fine. ShopWiz is helping us and I get you need more followers. But you can’t seriously be thinking of resurrecting these guys! They literally have been trying to kill us, Aqua! What will you do if they come back to life and try to kill you again?! I’ll have to put them down, and we’ll be right back to where you started!” 

Aqua bit her lip and looked at the bodies on the cold steel tables, covered with white sheets or lying there with their armor half cut off. Behind her, the head medical examiner argued with Rain. 

“I respect what you think you saw, Director Rain, but what you claim is an utter impossibility! Those people were merely injured, and appeared dead! Rapid regeneration of wounds is possible, if expensive and difficult. But once brain function ceases, you cannot bring the dead back as anything but a cyborg puppet!” 

“And I’m telling you that they were DEAD, Steven! I saw someone with their head cut off, stand up and walk away with no impairment of brain function!” Rain shouted, her face beet red and her eyes sparkling with passion. 

“You exaggerate!” Steven the Medical Examiner turned to Aqua, his jowls trembling. “Look, I don’t know what stunt you pulled, or why Ms. Wiz believes your chicanery, but that will not pass in my medical office! Bringing the dead back to life is IMPOSSIBLE.”

Slowly, Aqua’s expression went from hesitant, to a pout, with her lip stuck out. She shot a glare at Megumin, then walked over to a table where an orc woman lay. Half her chest was missing, and she was clearly not only dead, but had been so for some time, the blood having congealed and rigor mortis already setting in. “Is she dead?”

“That one? Yes, obviously. I just examined her myself. We’ll pull out the tech in her and use it to improve our- what are you doing!?”

Screwing her face up, Aqua put a hand on the corpse and began running her fingers over the wound. Muscles and organs regrew, and even scratches vanished, and a tattoo of a bloody fist reappeared. In moments, instead of the nearly blown in half orcess, there was a whole body that looked like it was sleeping. Aqua pointed. “Is she still dead!?”

“How…” Steven went over and looked over the corpse, muttering. He got out a stethoscope and listened to the heart, then quickly hooked up some wires and did a scan with a full medical array. “Yes. No heartbeat, no brain activity. She’s not even a vegetable. She’s dead. Though how you repaired the tissue…I don’t…”

Aqua put a hand on the orc’s head. “Daughter of battle, be reborn! Resurrection!” 

“MOMMY!” the orc screamed, and sat up, panting, her eyes wild. She looked around breathing heavily, confusion on her face. Steven met her eyes, let out a moan, and his eyes rolled up in his head. He fell to the ground with a loud thump, and lay still. 

“What…where…YOU! You’re the one I was hunting!” the orc growled, her tusks trembling as she pointed at Aqua and Megumin, her eyes narrowed in anger. Megumin had Gram out, and was poised to strike, but the orc suddenly wilted, putting her head in her hands and weeping. “I was hit…the missiles! Hurt so bad, then I was…nowhere. I had no body! I wanted to scream, to cry, to beg, but I couldn’t! And then…and then a voice…it was…it was you! You called me back…”

Aqua nodded, putting a hand on the orc’s shoulders. “I did, but you have to promise not to try to kill me or my friends again, OK? I know orcs work for the Devil King, but-”

“Devil King?” the orc looked up, confused. “I work for NyteTech Security. I’m Brunhilda Swattisdotter. The Devil King is just a bedtime story.” 

“But are you going to kill Aqua?” Megumin growled menacingly, her eyes glowing with a sinister light. 

Meeting Megumin’s gaze, Brunhilda slowly shook her head. “No, I…she saved me. How…why? I was…I was your enemy…”

“I have no enemies,” Aqua said gently. “Not amongst mortals. I fight only evil. Are you evil, Brunhilda?”

The orc shook her head mutely, then slowly got down off the bed and knelt, wrapping the sheet that had shrouded her corpse about her like a toga. “Aqua…you…you’re what I’ve been looking for my whole life without me knowing it. I, Brunhilda Swattisdotter, swear to serve you faithfully for the rest of my days.”

“Then rise, and join the Axis Cult!” Aqua cheered, and helped the much larger woman to her hooves, handing her a sign up sheet. Brunhilda scrawled her mark immediately, then gasped. 

“I…I am a Warrior! I am a Warrior of the Axis Cult!” Brunhilda roared. She grinned, then her expression suddenly fell as she looked around the morgue. “These men and women…they were my brothers and sisters in arms. Please, Lady Aqua…I know they were your enemies, but…please…”

“I told you, I don’t have enemies!” Aqua said, then turned and clapped her hands, just as Rain was helping a groaning Steven back to his feet. “Alright everyone, time to wake up! Nobody dies today!”

All at once, the wounds of the dead closed, and they all sucked in a breath, opening their eyes. There were various shouts and exclamations, and Steven could only goggle as Brunhilda went around passing out Axis Cult sign up sheets and proclaiming the glories of Lady Aqua. The goddess turned to him, an impudent grin on her face. “Well? Do you see now? Raising the dead is easy for a goddess like me!” 

In response, Steven fell face first onto the ground, though intentionally this time. “You’re amazing, Lady Aqua! I worship you! All praise and glory to Lady Aqua and the Axis Cult!” 

While that was happening, Megumin noticed that one suit of armor was still laying still in the corner. She nodded to it, and Komekko frowned at her. Together, they went over, then slowly raised the visor. The interior of the armor was nothing but burned out ashes, with not even bones left. Most of it was actually gone, and the chunks that remained were nothing but carbonized bricks. 

“That was Maddie the Elf,” Brunhilda said behind Megumin, which made her jump and turn with a glare. The orc wasn’t angry though, just sad, and went over, putting a large green hand on the blackened helmet. “She got hit by three missiles at once. Not even enough left to fill an urn. Bad way to go. Lady Aqua, can you?”

Aqua looked divested, and began to cry, coming over to touch the helmet. “No. There’s no body. I can’t…without a physical body to tether her soul to this world, she’s gone completely. There’s nothing for me to rebuild. And…and if they’ve been dead for more than a day or two…the soul will pass on anyway, and I can’t bring them back.”

“So…is that how you lost the war? The CEOs destroyed so many bodies you couldn’t bring people back?” Megumin asked. This didn’t change anything for her really; she’d always known she was going to meet a violent end one day, all Crimson Demons did. She just wanted to cause as much damage as possible on her way out. 

“No,” Aqua said quietly, more tears running down her face. “Gods can die too. And when we die…there’s no bringing us back. All my friends…my family…they’re gone. Forever.”

Brunhilda stiffened. “Then we must do everything we can to safeguard you, Lady Aqua! Let us become your elite Cadre of Bodyguards! I would give my life a thousand times to protect you!”

“That's my job, pig. Back off,” Megumin snarled, using Zephyr Step to put herself at eye level with Brunhilda. 

If she had been expecting a fight, Megumin was disappointed, Brunhilda looked her over consideringly, then nodded. “You Crimson Demons are the best fighters in the world. Everyone knows that. If anyone can keep Lady Aqua safe, it’s you. You might be runts, but you beat us in a straight fight when we had you outnumbered. We will entrust Lady Aqua to you.”

“I…yeah! And you’d better believe it!” Megumin snapped, not used to anyone, especially not an outsider, trusting or respecting her. 

“As for me…Lady Aqua, I have family back in NyteTech. Please, let me go to my mother and the rest of my clan. They should know that you live! That they fight for the wrong side!” Brunhilda pleaded, falling to a knee to put herself at eye level with Aqua. 

“That sounds like you want to be a traitor,” Komekko said, flipping her knife in one hand as Hoost turned a baleful gaze on Brunhilda from his perch on Komekko’s head. “You know what we do to traitors?”

“Peck their eyes out!” Hoost cawed. 

Brunhilda looked horrified. “No, never! I would rather die! But the world must know of Lady Aqua! I know if people just knew the truth, they’d see how amazing and beautiful Lady Aqua is, and worship her!”

“No member of the Axis Cult ever betrayed me! Not even Wiz, 'cause she was a spy!” Aqua bragged. She hesitated despite her words and licked her lips. “But, Hilda…if Beldia catches you…he can rip your soul out. Not even I can bring you back if that happens…”

“To save my family and clan, to spread the sacred word of Lady Aqua…I am ready to die. I already did once for nothing but filthy money. To die for Lady Aqua, how could there be greater glory?!” Swatti demanded, and the other risen mercs all roared their approval. 

Hanging her head to hide her tears, Aqua nodded. “Then…then go. And know that I love you, each and every one of you. And it’s OK that you like to do that thing with the dogs, Karl. As long as they consent, all love is good in the eyes of the Axis Cult!”

Karl wilted as everyone looked at him. “I, uh…yes, Lady Aqua. I’ll um, get consent…”

“Great! Then go do it, because the Axis Cult gets things done!” Aqua cheered. The mercs shouted, then picked up their damaged gear and went off at a trot. 

Aqua watched them go, and Megumin looked at her. “ You’re sending them to their deaths, you know.”

Aqua nodded miserably. “Yes. But…at least now…they have at least one drop of hope.”

Megumin considered that then shrugged. “No red from my eyes if some Outsider mercs die. And if they help take down NyteTech…good for us.”

Patting Megumin on the back, Aqua gave her a sad smile. “It’s OK, Megumin. We’ll find some hope for you, together. You’ll see.”

Then, as if she forgot to be sad, Aqua smiled and bounced off to throw a party for her new converts, even as her enemies closed in. 

“Forget about tomorrow if it might be sad, and live for today! Take every moment for yourself to be happy, it might be your last!” 

Foolish words in most times. But on Belzerg? A rallying cry of hope. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 16: Knight of the Living Dead

It had been a long time since the Corporations had gone to war. Not that there weren’t constant low-level conflicts, security forces and contractors clashed all the time over resources, real estate, and petty grievances. But the massive war machines of the Corporations hadn’t been deployed on Belzerg in generations. Now, the streets quaked, the citizens cowered in fear, and the Generals of old marched to battle once more. 

The first pocket of resistance that the NyteTech forces faced was an illegal chop shop (meaning that it wasn’t corporate sponsored) that was home to a clan of dwarves, but had been fortified in the past day or so and reinforced by dozens of squatters. The hover tanks rumbled up, and without warning, simply opened fire on the makeshift barricade. The security forces didn’t even really care, taking a few pot shots and joking about picking off stragglers. A few of them took cover behind the tanks, but most didn’t expect more than pot shots with stolen or home made guns. 

They were not prepared for what they got. 

The first dwarf, buck naked and frothing at the mouth, jumped out of a hole in the ground and ran towards the line of tanks, two rusted hammers clenched in his fists. “SLAY THE DEMONS! DEFEAT THE-”

Three different NyteTech security officers shot the dwarf, one in the head, two in the center mass. The rounds were heavy enough that the kinetic force from the rounds stopped the dwarf cold in his tracks and sent him pinwheeling to the ground. The officers laughed, and looked elsewhere for targets.

Then the dwarf screamed, “DEFEAT THE DEVIL KING!” got back up, and charged the lines again. He did so far faster than anyone should have been able, and the shocked CorpSec officers didn’t respond quickly enough. By the time they did, the Axis Berserker was among them, and he tore through half a dozen standard officers and two heavily armed and armored blackhats. When a hovertank opened fire with its coaxial machine gun, the dwarf didn’t even notice the bullets, which were biting into his flesh, but doing far less damage than they should have. 

Then the berserker tackled the tank. The tank was thrown back far enough that it slammed into the ground, though it was sturdily built and well armored enough that it wasn’t badly damaged. Then the berserker tried to rip the barrel of the tank's main gun off. He actually managed to dent the metal before he was so riddled with fire that even a berserker's legendary damage resistance and massive health pool couldn’t help him survive.

He had, after all, only been level three. But he did make an opening. And the Axis Cult was never known for playing defense. 

A mass of rabid zealots charged the lines, all of them shouting praises to Aqua, wielding makeshift weapons, and laughing maniacally. While CorpSec officers were used to violence and shootouts, they were not used to having fire balls, wind blades, and balls of acid conjured out of nowhere to hit them. A more well-disciplined force would have held, and a better informed one would have known that a bunch of low-level mages and priests would run out of mana in under a minute of fighting and that those berserkers only got one rage a day that lasted only two minutes at most. 

Corporate Security was a bunch of bullies used to having the edge in numbers, equipment, and training. They were also very much not used to fighting a foe that was so determined and motivated to fight that they would throw themselves at tanks to have even a small chance of killing just one more of their foes. 

The lines broke, and while a few blackhats held out in pockets, the vastly numerically superior NyteTech forces turned and ran, and the hover tanks found themselves unable to deal with magically empowered opponents easily. They panicked and began firing on each other, doing far more damage and causing much more destruction than their opponents ever could have managed. They did also prove that HE shells and plasma bolts could cut down even a berserker, damage reduction or not, but it was a complete farce. 

For a few minutes, it looked like the cultists would prevail, and that the advance of NyteTech would be utterly stymied. 

Then the Death Knights waded into the fight. 

Beldia was a seasoned campaigner against the Axis Cult, and he knew their strengths: Incredible power, unbreakable morale, no regard for casualties, and a zealous aggression that often overwhelmed their foes. But he also knew their weaknesses. No real coordination, a complete lack of tactical acumen, and relatively few numbers. Once he saw that the Cultists were getting bogged down and running out of steam, he sent in his elites. 

The Death Knights did not make a sound as they rose up from the long shadows in the undercity. The first Axis Cultists to fall to their black blades didn’t even see their deaths coming. When the priests and mages did turn towards the new threat, the blackhats, used to fighting foes that didn’t just roll over, counterattacked. The cultists hadn’t even considered that they were over extended, and the enfilading fire from the flanks cut them down where they stood. 

In total, the battle had lasted only mere minutes, and the enemy was completely wiped out, to the last man. But the previously inexorable advance of the NyteTech forces had been stopped, and their morale shaken. If a bunch of corpless scavengers could do this, what would real opposition do?

Before his troops had time to fully grasp the situation, Beldia strode onto the battlefield. He had kept his distance, having learned his lesson against Axis Cultists a long time ago. There was very little left on Belzerg that could threaten him now, but even a low level priest was a greater risk than he was willing to take. Still, he could sense the energy, and an opportunity. 

Taking out his black sword, Beldia extended it over the battlefield. Thanks to the Axis Cult, this place was now rich with mana. Drawing upon dark energies that hadn’t been profaned in centuries, the General spoke a single command to his fallen troops.

Rise . 

With a groan like that of an opening coffin, the fallen NyteTech forces slowly got back to their feet. Skeletons that had been broken knit back together, and spirits that had been attempting to cross over into the choked afterlife were re-bound to their mortal forms. Dead eyes stared at their CEO, minds muddled by death unable to process what had happened. 

“You see? They cannot hope to stop us! With our new ReLife technology, even should you fall in battle, you will rise again, now immortal and unstoppable!” Beldia declared. “No matter how many times you fall, I shall bring you back to crush our foes!” 

There was a moan that half sounded like a cheer from the newly minted undead, and their living counterparts gave a shaky shout themselves. Then, at their general’s command, they advanced once more. 

Turning to one of the Death Knights, Belida gave one other order: “Burn the Axis. Don’t leave anything for Aqua to raise.”

Flamethrowers were brought out, and the corpses incinerated until there was nothing left but smoldering ashes. Beldia turned toward the buildings of ShopWiz, and grinned, clenching a gauntleted fist. A black necrotic aura formed in the air around the metal, slowly corroding it.

“So this is the power Sylvia had all this time. Well. Her loss…my gain.” Laughter like the echo of the grave rang out, and Belida boarded his personal hover tank. He’d crush the Axis Cult, and do it properly, unlike that damned slime. Then…well. They would see how long the others lasted against the endless ranks of the dead. 

For hundreds of years, the Crimson Demons had worked alone. Occasionally, they had worked with allies and friends, but over time that became less frequent as the betrayals mounted and the Clan became increasingly paranoid and suspicious of outsiders. When your eyes were worth a literal fortune, it was tough for even the most upstanding of individuals to not turn you in. Having seen for herself time and again people betray her and her family if they caught even a glimpse of red eyes, Megumin was naturally inclined to distrust and hate anyone who wasn’t in her immediate family. 

Which was why it was so odd that she was having to work harder and harder to keep her guard up around Aqua. It wasn’t just that Aqua had helped her and been kind to her, or even that she’d given Megumin hope she didn’t realize could exist. Aqua was just so…innocent. Guileless. Megumin didn’t think Aqua could lie if she tried, and even if she did it would be easier to see through than Komekko’s attempts at prevarication. 

It was nearly impossible to understand how someone like Aqua could ever survive. People SHOULD have been taking advantage of her kindness and loving nature at every turn. But instead…

“Here, try it on!” Aqua said, smiling brightly and holding out the outfit to Megumin. She took it, examining the piece. It was in black and red, and made of leather, and not the fake stuff. Megumin had no idea how much this much genuine animal hide would cost, but it had to be millions and millions of credits. 

“And Rain just…gave this to you?” Megumin asked dubiously. “For me?”

“I told her I needed materials to make you a set of armor! Normally, crafting armor isn’t my domain, but I decided to think about it as a fashion statement, and then I just got inspired! It will be super durable, and give you some nice buffs! After all, it’s a legendary item crafted by a goddess!”

“I don’t know,” Megumin said hesitantly. Sure, Aqua had made her clothes before, clothes that were much more comfortable and fit better than  cast off rags they replaced…but this was a kingly gift. “Am I gonna like, owe you, or something?”

“You can make me an eyepatch! I always liked getting them from the Crimson Demons,” Aqua said happily. 

“But…you have both your eyes, and you could heal if you lost one, right?” Megumin said, feeling puzzled and slightly dizzy at the idea of getting this for a measly eyepatch. 

“It would be special because it was a gift from a friend! Even if it’s not an eye patch, maybe we could just hang out and get some drinks sometime!” Aqua said, still smiling as though she didn’t have a thought in her head. 

Despite herself, Megumin found she was having to scrub back tears. “F-fine. I’ll see if it fits…”

Stepping into the room she’d been given, Megumin stripped off her clothes, took a hasty shower with real water, then dubiously started to put on the armor. To her shock, it fit her perfectly, fitting snugly to her body while still being entirely comfortable. She examined herself in the mirror, and at first was quite taken with it. The mostly black armor had an eye pattern on the chest that looked similar to Crimson Demon eyes, and flattered her form rather nicely while still being tasteful. However, she then realized that the armor did nothing to hide the fact that she was still as slim as a boy despite being sixteen. She blamed the lack of nutrition. 

She flexed a bit and moved around, and to her shock, the armor did more than not impede her movements. Indeed, it enhanced them, making her steps lighter and swifter and her strikes with Gram surer and harder. When she looked at her Adventurer’s card out of curiosity, she saw that the armor offered a huge bonus to all her stats, but especially her Strength and MP, with the bonus effect of extending the duration of all her enhancement spells. It also offered a long list of resistances to various types of damage, including physical damage. 

Feeling slightly self-conscious, Megumin stepped back out, only to find Yunyun and Komekko waiting with Aqua. 

“Wow, Megumin! You look super cool!” Komekko said eagerly, running up to her and grinning. “How do I look?!”

Teary eyed still, Megumin knelt and gave her little sister a big hug. “Completely adorable.”

Indeed, Komekko was now sporting a wide brimmed witch’s hat with red eyes sewn into it, along with a set of robes that matched Megumin’s in color palette, but had red ravens embroidered on the hem. It also fit Komekko perfectly, and Megumin was certain it also had some crazy bonuses to stats that didn’t make any sense, but actually worked anyway.

Then Megumin stood and turned to Yunyun, who was fidgeting nervously. A scowl crept over Megumin’s face as she saw that Yunyun’s outfit wasn’t shy about the fact that puberty had been far more generous to her than most girls. The outfit itself had a great deal of lace and ruffles, though the shortened skirts that came down only to Yunyun’s calves probably meant it wouldn’t hinder her movement at all. It was far more ornate than either Megumin or Komekko’s outfit, though it did suit Yunyun perfectly. 

“Um, A-Aqua said these are the t-traditional robes of the Chief of the Crimson D-Demons,” Yunyun stammered, blushing and looking down. “M-maybe…maybe you should be the Chief, not me…a-after what happened…”

“No, it looks good on you,” Megumin made herself say, giving her adopted sister a smile. Then she gave her a hug. “It’s…it wasn’t your fault, Yunyun. We’ll get our revenge.”

Wordlessly, Yunyun gripped Megumin in a tight hug, and a moment later, Komekko latched onto them too. The last three members of the Crimson Demon Clan silently cried together for a few moments. 

Then, someone else joined the hug, making all three of them start in shock. 

“Hugs are nice,” Aqua said happily. “I’m glad you three made up! Sisters should be friends!” 

“Uh, yeah, I guess we have,” Megumin said, and on an impulse hugged Aqua as hard as she could. “Thank you. For everything.”

“You’re welcome!” Aqua said, apparently oblivious to the moment. “Now, let’s go kick Beldia’s stupid boney ass!”

They headed out of their chambers and down several halls and elevators to the ground floor, where the forces of ShopWiz were assembling. Megumin spotted treaded tanks, assault walkers, heavily armored hover cars with mounted guns, and dozens of blackhats in heavy armor, along with a large number of security forces. 

It would have been impressive, but Megumin was also well informed enough to recognize they were nearly all armed with last gen equipment. Treaded tanks did have some advantages over hovertanks, but with the debris and rough terrain of the cityscape, and the multiple layers, they were simply inferior in most situations. The walkers had similar problems, and the armored cars were basically target practice for NyteTech forces. ShopWiz blackhats would be skilled, but not to the degree NyteTech operatives were, and their gear wasn’t as good. 

“Are we seriously supposed to fight NyteTech with just this?” Megumin said, looking around with a critical eye. “This is a bunch of junk.”

“It’s what I have. I spent too much money and resources on keeping people alive, and not on my military forces.”

Megumin turned to see Wiz stride out, looking pale but not at death’s door anymore. She was wearing the same purple robes, though now she had on a dark mantle, and was wearing a hood with two curved horns poking up at the side. Next to her, a book with icy blue runes on it floated, and she was flanked by Rain and a bare chested man with a blue waterwheel freshly tattooed across his body. 

“That’s not really the sort of thing a CEO does,” Megumin said, frowning. “You seem pretty bad at this.”

Wiz laughed, and actually smiled at that. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I think most people think of CEOs as monsters…and we all are, of one sort of another. Maybe I’m just bad at being a monster.”

“I…I don’t think you’re a monster,” Aqua said, shifting from foot to foot and looking down, her forehead wrinkled. “It doesn’t make any sense, but…then again, neither did there being good lizard people. I guess…we’ll just have to work together.”

“Thank you, Lady Aqua,” Wiz said. She turned, and gestured to the assembled forces. “Your army awaits.”

“My army!? But…but I’m really bad at leading armies!” Aqua cried, taking a step back and sounding panicked. “I always had Zesta or Mitsurogo do it!”

“Mitsurugi,” Wiz corrected. “And, well…don’t you have a champion now?” She turned to Megumin, who blinked in surprise. 

“Me?! I don’t know how to lead armies! I can slay any foe you show me, but not lead an army!” 

“Um, I-I don’t really know much about leading armies either,” Yunyun said nervously.

“I’m six,” Komekko added, which was enough of an argument on its own. 

“Ah, yes, um…I was having Mr. Hauz Warez, my chief of security lead the army,” Wiz hastily explained, waving her hands in reassurance. “He’s, ah, been trained for that. I just meant…” 

“We all are here to serve you, Lady Aqua,” Warez said, kneeling before Aqua. “I was one of the ones you blessed at the farms. We are all eager to serve.”

“Oh.” Aqua considered that then produced two paper fans which spouted water, jumped up on the railing near her, and posed on one leg. “I only have one command for my valiant troops! Slay the Demons!” 

“DEFEAT THE DEVIL KING!” the ShopWiz forces roared back, and Aqua giggled and did a few more party tricks, including somehow juggling eleven balls for several minutes and pulling a few extinct species out of a hat to the audience’s awe. None of them even knew what a dove or a rabbit was. 

Reports were already coming in of attacks by NyteTech forces all along their border, and Santomon Chemicals was massing security forces as well. Warez had determined that the only possible way to survive was to hit one force and drive them back before they had time to coordinate an assault and crush all of ShopWiz under their boot heels. Since NyteTech had already mobilized, they were the priority target, and the army surged into motion. 

Traveling back through the city, Megumin looked around warily for more people taking pot shots, but this time, the civilians and shopkeepers had been cleared out ahead of the upcoming battle. It left Axel eerily quiet, save for the tromp of boots on cracked pavement and the rumbling of the tanks. 

Then, ahead of them, they heard a distant thunder. Aqua went pale, and let out a horrified cry. “They’re killing my followers! We have to do something!” 

Hauz Warez looked over, shifting the absolutely enormous axe he’d gotten from somewhere on his shoulders. “We can’t advance any faster than we are. I’ve got scouts out, including some with that interesting new ability that makes them invisible, and we’ll make contact soon. NyteTech is reducing a squatter camp on the outskirts of the undercity. It’s tragic, but it’s buying us time.”

“But, but we have to help!” Aqua protested, tears in her eyes. “I…I can feel the necrotic energy! He’s raising the dead!”

“Well, that’s not so bad,” Yunyun said, though she sounded uncertain.

“No,” Wiz said quietly. “Belidia is a dullahan. He’s raising an army of zombies. There’s enough residual mana now for him to manage that. They’ll just be low level undead, but…”

“But it’s evil and we’re the good guys, so we have to stop him!” Aqua declared, pointing forward. “Let’s charge!” 

“Aqua, what happened the last time you ran a battle?” Megumin demanded, putting herself in front of the goddess. 

“Um…” Aqua shrank back, looking guilty. “W-well, I…”

“You lost the last war. Let this guy figure out how to use the army.” Megumin hefted Gram and looked to where the sounds of distant fighting echoed. “And I’ll sweep up the rest.”

The advance continued in an orderly manner, with Warez maneuvering the army into a position that stood above the lower portions out ahead of them, and had several less decayed buildings as cover positions. 

“I thought we were supposed to be hunting them,” Megumin said, glaring out at the darkness of the undercity. She could see just fine of course, but the various passages and ruined buildings obscured her view more than a couple hundred meters out.

“Never let your opponent choose the ground you fight on,” Yunyun said, looking around. “This location has a low ceiling, which limits the effectiveness of the hovertanks. At the same time, that’s solid bedrock above us, so a sustained bombardment won’t just bring the roof down on our heads. And though there’s cover past 100 meters, those tunnels will create natural choke points, and we’re holding positions above us too, right?”

“I’ve got a full battalion of tanks, and most of my assault cars and anti-air up above us on the surface,” Warez confirmed, looking at Yunyun with interest. “You seem to have a pretty good head for this stuff.”

“W-well, um, I…I did study battle tactics, to, um…one day lead the Crimson Demons back to greatness,” Yunyun admitted, cringing nervously. 

A part of Megumin wanted to snort at that nonsense, but when she looked out at the army, and over at Aqua and Wiz, who were having tea next to a parked tank of all things…she did feel like maybe, just maybe, they could do this. 

Giving Yunyun a quick hug, she said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure you will one day.”

Yunyun beamed at her, and they settled in to wait. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long. 

“Enemies!” Komekko suddenly called, pointing to a ruined section of piping leaking foul sludge of some sort. “There! Hoost can spot ‘em!”

“ZEPHYR STEP!” Megumin cried, and raced off in that direction. She covered the hundred and fifty meter distance in moments, her eyes seeing through the camo cloak in the darkness and finding a squad of blackhats. Her sudden movement caught them off guard, and they swore and fired at her when she was mere meters away. She managed to dodge that, then she was among them, swinging Gram with a fury. 

The first foe she took out was in thick and heavy NyteTech power armor, but her magic blade cleaved through it easily, slicing through the torso diagonally and killing the blackhat instantly. Her next cut was low, slicing her foe at the knees, and sending them toppling over, gushing blood. 

To her shock, the next of her foes swung a dark, rusty blade at her, and when she parried it, Gram rang like a bell, and the other sword didn’t part. She even found herself forced back, the counter stroke nearly taking her head off. 

Swearing, Megumin danced back as her opponent advanced. When she saw the white skull on the visor, her blood ran cold. Beldia’s personal guard. 

Another of the survivors fired at her, and Megumin was forced to dodge again, even as she had to parry another attack by the elite. He didn’t pursue her out of the sewer pipe though, retreating back, his blade held high.

Snarling, Megumin went in again, activating her stealth ability and swinging furiously. Somehow, her foe knew right where the attack was coming from though, his blade rising unerringly to strike her. The other blackhat fired, and Megumin cried out, bullets striking her leg. She staggered, and had to retreat again as the elite struck out at her. Her blow this time was clumsy, Zephyr Step unable to help her as much now that she was wounded, and her opponent was inhumanly strong. Thankfully, her armor had held, and while she was bruised, she was able to recover quickly, and she wasn’t losing blood. She wasn’t sure how many more rounds she could take though, and she clearly couldn’t overpower this foe. 

Stepping back out of the pipe’s entrance, Megumin hoped the elite would follow her, but they continued to fall back, more rounds snapping out and forcing Megumin to take cover at the side. Feeling frustrated, she unclipped a grenade she’d made, and tossed it into the tunnel. After the blast, she raced in, but there was no trace of her foes. She briefly considered pursuing them, but she didn’t know these pipes, and Aqua was still behind her.

Grimacing, she fell back, even as a team of ShopWiz operatives raced into the tunnel to pursue. Returning to the command post, she shook her head. “I got two, but one of Beldia’s Death Knights was there. He was too strong, too fast, even for me. I didn’t think anyone could keep up with me now that I had these powers, but he could. His tech must have been insane.”

“Not tech. Magic,” Wiz said grimly. “Death Knights isn’t just a title. They’re powerful undead, ones that have held together all these years even with all the mana drying up. It’s incredible you survived at your level.”

“Wait, they have magic too?!” Megumin gasped, turning to Aqua in horror. “But-”

“They always have,” Aqua said, clenching a fist. “Don’t worry, Megumin. If that filthy undead rears its head again! I’ll cleanse them right away! Oh, um, no offense, Wiz…you don’t stink too badly, honest.”

“It’s alright, I would prefer to see them pass on as well. Someday…when everyone is safe…I’d like to rest myself,” Wiz said, looking exhausted. She shook her head, but put a hand on Megumin’s shoulder and smiled. “You did well. Don’t try to fight the Death Knights, not yet. You’d need to be at least level 40, and it would help to have a team with you.”

“Level 40?!” Megumin took out her card and looked at it. She was level 12 now, apparently having gone up again after that scuffle, but still… “I have more points…teach me another spell! One that could kill a Death Knight! Something to make me stronger!” 

“Oh, I’d love to! I have several powerful Strength Enhancing spells!” Wiz said eagerly, digging out a grimoire. “Let’s see…Heroism, Boar’s Endurance, Bullfrog’s Strength…”

“Ugh, I hate giant frogs,” Aqua said, making a face. “They’re so icky.”

“C-can I learn some new spells?” Yunyun asked curiously, proffering her card. 

“The traditional Crimson Demons would save up for advanced magic. You need 30 more points for that, but you do have good skill growth, so it shouldn’t be more than six levels for you,” Wiz said. “I’d be happy to let you copy some of my custom spells from my book once you learn that, but I do have some powerful Intermediate spells you could use!” 

Megumin ended up learning Bullfrog’s Strength from Wiz and Blade Flurry from Aqua, which would hopefully give her a better chance against stronger foes. It wasn’t long after she’d finished and Yunyun had copied down some of Wiz’s custom magic that should help during the battle. Growing bored, Aqua started a performance before all the troops, doing shadow puppets with a spotlight that had everyone clapping.

“That’s dumb, and a waste of time. She’s just making herself a target!” Megumin complained. 

Wiz shook her head, looking thoughtful. “Check your status on your card.”

“Huh? What would…’Inspiration?’ ‘Blessing?’ Wait, my stats went up by 25%!? And I can’t be ‘Feared,’ whatever that means,” Megumin muttered. 

“She’s a goddess. Her performance will grant the army powerful status effects,” Wiz said, smiling happily. 

“I like the puppets, they’re funny!” Komekko laughed, clapping excitedly. 

Watching the show, Megumin grudgingly admitted those shadow puppets WERE really good. “Well…it’s not like she’s doing it on purpose I bet.”

“Uh…n-no comment,” Wiz said, looking flustered. 

Megumin smirked, but didn’t have time to enjoy her small victory. General Warez got a call over the radio, which looked rather odd with his bare chest and giant axe, and he raised a hand. “Scouts have made contact! The enemy will be upon us in minutes! Make ready!” 

Swallowing, Megumin went over to Aqua, and ushered her back. 

“But my show! I have to finish!” Aqua wailed. 

“Shh! The enemy will be here soon, and we don’t need you getting shot by a sniper,” Megumin hissed. “This is all for nothing if you go down!” 

“But…but I’m going to fight! These are my followers!” Aqua declared, clenching her fist. 

“And the best way you can fight is to heal the wounded and raise the dead. My job is just keeping you safe,” Megumin said, motioning to Yunyun and Komekko, who hurried over to her. 

“I…I guess,” Aqua agreed, looking dejected. 

“Don’t worry, you’re a great healer! That’s pretty important in a fight,” Komekko said seriously. “That’s why I always had the first aid kit! Here, you can use mine!” She dug out an old metal box, which was decorated with two red eyes, and a picture of Komekko and her family, including their parents, which gave Megumin a pang of sorrow. 

“Thank you. I’ll treasure it,” Aqua promised, clutching the box to her chest.

Before long, scattered fire could be heard in the tunnels as the ShopWiz scouts and screening forces engaged the enemy. For long minutes, the sporadic fire slowly intensified. Then the tanks and heavy guns opened up, shelling various locations where the enemy had to appear. The first few shots just raised up dust and scattered rocks, but then one hit something, and there was a secondary explosion. A hover tank careened out into the open, burning and damaged. A second hit blew it in half, and there was a hearty cheer.

Then two bolts of plasma arced into the ShopWiz ranks, and one of their tanks and an armored car exploded in bursts of flame. 

Megumin swallowed, and said a brief prayer as Aqua sobbed in horror. She held the goddess back, hissing, “No! Stay here! They’ll bring the wounded to us.”

 Even as she did so, she could barely hear herself as the great cavern resounded with fire, screams, and filled with choking dust and smoke. 

The Battle of Axel had begun in earnest. 

Chapter Text

Looking out the viewport, Belzerg looked so very close. The planet had grown from a small brown and white dot to nearly filling the entire field of view. The toxic and polluted waters that had been the oceans could barely be made out under thick layers of suffocating clouds, and the endless wastelands and massive cityscapes could be seen, lights occasionally gleaming in the darkness of the night half of the planet. 

Even so close, the planet was too far. The Faitifore was actually decelerating, despite being relentlessly chased by enemies. If they approached too quickly, they’d either shoot right past the planet or if they tried reentry, they’d burn to cinders in the atmosphere. Which meant they had less than an hour until the enemy reached them. 

“Why haven’t they shot at us yet?” Dust muttered, staring at the display as sweat ran down his brow. Fully a dozen enemy attack craft were barreling right for them, and there was really nothing standing in their way. “We’re sitting ducks with all the acceleration we’re bleeding.”

“They want her,” Lan said, jerking her chin towards Alice as her hands gripped the yoke so hard her knuckles were turning white. Kazuma wondered if her hands had locked up by now. 

The images of the tanks in the basement of ChimeraTech flashed through Kazuma’s head. “Well, they can’t have her!” 

He turned to Alice, his mind racing. “Hey, could you teach me any other skills? Or any of us? I leveled up a bunch, surely there’s a way…or…something?”

Alice’s brow furrowed. “I suppose, but what skill would you have me teach?”

“One that could, I don’t know, hide the ship, or speed us up, or SOMETHING!” Kazuma said, scrubbing his hands through his hair. 

“I…perhaps? An Adventurer can learn any skill, though their usage of it is impeded by their poor stats,” Alice said slowly. She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow. “I think…perhaps…no, Teleport would not work…”

“Teleport?” Kazuma asked, perking up. “That sounds perfect!” 

She shook her head. “You would need to register a location, and it would not work with a moving vehicle. You do not register the vehicle, but where it is. Besides, to move to the planet with a Teleport, you would first need to be upon the planet to register it.”

“Ok, so Teleport is out, but there has to be, like, some sort of cloaking device, or something!” Kazuma said, holding up his Adventurer’s card. “I’ve got…15 points! That’s enough for something, right?”

“It is, but…” Alice took Kazuma’s card, frowning at it. “You have Basic Magic…hmmm…I suppose…there is Illusion Magic.”

“Illusion Magic?” Kazuma asked, and his mind started racing. “What’s the range?”

“Visual range. Once you create an illusion, it lasts a certain amount of time based upon the caster’s level and MP,” Alice explained. “You are level seven, so it would last seven minutes normally, though since you are an Adventurer it would last only half that time due to the penalty.”

“Right, right,” Kazuma rubbed his chin, then looked to Rin. “...but she’s a Mage. Does she have a level penalty?”

“No, of course not. And, since she is a mage, Rin could spend extra points to enhance her spells, something an Adventurer can’t do,” Alice said with a shake of her head. 

“Uh, I have 10 points on my card,” Rin offered, holding hers up. “Does that help?”

Kazuma rubbed his hands together, a slow grin spreading over his face. “I think I have a plan.”

On the bridge of the NyteTech Highliner Black Horse, Captain Ital watched the display as the numbers slowly ticked down. His interceptors would soon be in range, and then it was only a matter of time. They had to take this smuggler alive, the CEO was willing to pay one hundred billion credits for the passengers. Even with that split amongst the other ships, that amount of money had Cap. Ital’s mouth drooling at the very thought. He’d walk away with at least a billion himself as the senior captain, which was ten times his current net worth. With that kind of money, he could do whatever he wanted. 

As he watched, the fleeing smuggler suddenly made a dramatic course change, and for a brief instant, the display flickered slightly. 

“What was that?” Cap. Ital asked his senior tech. 

The dwarf woman shrugged. “They’re burning their engines hard. I had the sensors turned up to their highest sensitivity so we could register them. They’re damn hard to see, mostly we have them on visual tracking only, so the sudden burst of energy screwed with the equipment. We have them locked it. They might try to go dark after a moment to hide, but they won’t get away with that. I have them too solidly for that.”

Nodding, Ital watched, and sure enough, after just over three minutes of hard burn, the ship cut its engines, and faded from the screen. His tech snorted in derision and shook her head. 

“As if I’m that green. Give me a moment.” She fiddled with the readout for a few moments nonchalantly, then suddenly frowned. She swore under her breath, then started a full scan. “Just a moment, they’re being tricksey. No need to panic, we had them fully locked on visuals, there’s nowhere they can go.”

But the seconds dragged into minutes, and sweat broke out on the tech's brows. 

“Sir, incoming hail from Darkfallen . They’ve lost the target, and are requesting targeting updates from us,” his comms officer reported. 

The Darkfallen was an older freighter, not an advanced highliner, and had sensors several generations older, so that wasn’t too surprising.

“Can we give them a fix?” Cap. Ital asked his tech, but she shook her head grimly. 

“Tell them to network with us. Get all the other ships to network with us, we’ll do a hard scan,” the tech said. “Multiple angles. Nothing can hide from us with active scanners going, and we know the volume of space they’re in so we can saturate it.”

However, before that could happen, the target suddenly flickered back to life, showing the smuggler on live feed again. Cap. Ital relaxed, and his tech breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Well, the fools tried to hide from us, but it seems their efforts were futile. Continue,” Ital drawled, leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers. It was less than fifteen minutes to intercept now. 

However, only two minutes later, his tech swore, and he looked at her sharply. “What is it?”

“We’re not getting a return!” she said, pointing at the on-screen view. “Not even the faint echoes I was before! They’re there on visuals, but…something’s wrong!”

“What!? How?” Ital demanded, coming over to frown at the view screen. 

“It’s like it’s a hologram, a solid light projection, instead of an actual ship! But it’s got none of the usual indicators, and no one’s ever been able to get a hologram to work without it setting off LIDAR and RADAR because of the amount of energy needed to keep it working!”  She said, desperately working the panel.  “Plus, they’re moving too fast for a hologram to stay stable. Chameleon cloaks have the same problem. Sure, they’ll fool a visual, but you have to stay perfectly still or you can pick them out, even against a dark background, and they’re superimposed over the planet now which would make it basically impossible. Plus, to cover an entire ship in that much material…you couldn’t do it. It’d take a scratch from a micrometeor or something and be useless!” 

“Find them! Get those interceptors out there!” Cap. Ital roared, and clenched his fists so hard his nails bit into his palm. This prize would not escape him. 

A minute later, the ship flickered out of existence again, and Cap. Ital very nearly had his techs thrown out of the airlock.

With a groan, Kazuma collapsed, floating helplessly in midair, gasping for breath. “That’s it…I’m totally tapped…no mana left…”

Far away, the illusory Faitfore vanished in an instant and the drone’s view Kazuma had been watching returned to the plain blackness of space. 

“They’re still off our ass!” Lan gasped, leaning back in her seat with a groan. “Rin, how are you holding up?”

“I’ve got two minutes left on this cast, then I’ll renew it,” Rin said, shaking her head with a sigh. “But I’m getting close to tapped out myself. I can do it maybe two, three more times, then I need a rest…”

“You did well, Big Bro,” Alice said, smiling and patting Kazuma’s hand. “Truly, I did not know such things were even possible with these miniature flying golems.”

“Well, we got away, for now,” Kazuma groaned, closing his eyes. “How much longer until we make planetfall?”

“Couple more hours, though we’re hardly home free then. War’s broken out on the ground too and ShopWiz is under attack by NyteTech. That’s gonna be fun to fly into,” Lan giggled nervously. She unstrapped herself, floating free and shaking her head. “I need to use the can. Alice, can you take over for me?”

“Yes, of course!” Alice agreed eagerly, and slid into the pilot’s seat, looking like an excited school-girl. 

Smiling, Kazuma floated for a few more seconds, until someone took his arm. “Let’s get you to the rack for some shut-eye.”

His heart fluttered, and he opened his eyes to see Lolisa gently pushing him through the hatch and down the corridor. She smiled down at him, blushing faintly. “You did well, Kazuma. That was smart. Using not one illusion, but two? And a drone…I have never heard of such things being done, even in old Belzerg.”

“Yeah, well, when my hide is on the line, I tend to be creative,” Kazuma said, trying to be as casual as possible when he couldn’t really move and a beautiful woman was touching him. This wasn’t quite one of those VR scenarios, but…

Lolisa nodded. “I think it’s because you care so much about Alice. Even if you’re not blood siblings, I can tell you care a lot for her. I can…sense it. Your love for one another.”

“Wait, really? I know Succubi are supposed to be sensitive, but,” Kazuma blushed, thinking of the other things he’d heard about them. 

“We’re empaths. The better to…never mind. Anyway…thank you.” They reached the bunks, and Lolisa helped Kazuma into one, then strapped him down so he wouldn’t float away. “You don’t have long, but sleep while you can. You should be able to regain enough MP to move with a power nap. I haven’t had a lie down in… well, a long time. But you’re right on the edge of it.”

“No goodnight kiss?” Kazuma teased, then immediately regretted it. 

Lolisa blushed and looked away. “No. I’m afraid… that’s how we feed, and, um…no. I-I…I need to go. Goodnight!” 

With a flap of her small wings, Lolisa took off, and Kazuma groaned, laying back and thumping his head against the bed in frustration. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Still, he was so exhausted, he drifted off in only minutes. 

He dreamed of his family, of his sister. Sisters. Iris was there, was was Lia. So were his parents, and they all lived in the magical land of Japan, where the skies were blue, the water was clean, and there was plenty of food. 

If only that could be true someday…

The air was stifling. Tina tried to swallow, but found her throat was too dry. She fumbled for her canteen at her belt, and took a few sips of precious water. She passed it over to Claire, who took a swig herself. Her partner looked weary and hollow-eyed despite their hours of rest, and she was far from the only one. 

They were in a cramped, dark compartment, packed in with the other members of what remained of the NyteTech Axel Security forces. The air smelled of grease, sweat, and fear. Tina was hunched over in her armor, a shotgun in her lap, and the fire axe and shield strapped to her side, her body encased in heavy armor. Claire was pressed up next to her, but so was Chief Swatti. There was hardly room to move in the APC, though thankfully the ride was smooth thanks to the fact that it was a new hover model instead of a wheeled or tracked vehicle. 

Currently, Swatti hand a thick finger pressed to her ear, which were flicking back and forth in irritation, her muzzle set in a grimace. There was a faint buzz that Tina could hear from the comm, though she couldn’t make out any words. She felt a pressure on her shoulder and saw that Claire was leaning on her, eyes closed in exhaustion. Perhaps it was physical, or emotional, but either way, her partner looked utterly exhausted. 

Bending down, Tina lifted the visor of her helmet and tilted it back, resting her forehead against Claire’s. They set together for a few quiet moments, but then, the buzzing in Swatti’s ear ceased. 

“Right, maggots! Listen up! Our job is to secure the flanks! We’ve got a nest of these new cultists. They’re gutter rats and corpless criminals. This is a weapons free, I repeat, weapons free operation!” 

There were mutters at that, mostly of surprise, but Tina sat up in disgust as Claire’s eyes opened in anger. “Chief! Permission to speak freely!” 

“Granted, Ford, Shin,” Swatti said, looking…weary? Her eyes were red, but it didn’t seem to be stims or blood lust. Like the Chief had been crying. 

“Ma’am, those are just civilians! Unarmored, barely armed! They’ve loaded us for bear. I thought we were fighting real enemies! This seems…wrong,” Tina stated, and Claire nodded in agreement. 

“Damn right. I signed up to help people, to enforce justice, not gun down kids.”

“Oh shut the fuck up,” someone else snarled. “Would you rather fight ShopWiz armor and blackhats?”

“Yes,” Tina said, and turned to meet the eyes of each of the other officers. All of them looked away from her, in shame or embarrassment. 

“You do what you’re ordered. These people are crazy. Turn on your helmet feeds,” Swatti ordered, and Tina put hers back on. 

A few moments later, an image popped up. A naked and screaming dwarf, frothing at the mouth, charged out of the blackness of the undercity to utterly obliterate a line of heavily armed NyteTech security forces. Then the dwarf tackled a tank, taking fire all the while. He was only put down after several seconds of sustained fire, but then more raving lunatics charged out of the dark, and the camera feed was interrupted by a burst of flames, then static. 

“They’re carved, or something. Drugs, nanotech, who knows. But they’re all extremely dangerous. They might look like street trash, but they’re as dangerous as blackhats or armored combat drones. Think someone on froth or plex, but worse,” Swatti said, her tone low and serious. 

“I…I guess,” Tina said, her shoulders slumping in defeat. At least they weren’t being sent to slaughter children. 

The others nodded, though now they were grumbling about their “soft targets” not being so easy. 

Swatti leaned in close to whisper in Tina and Claire’s ears. “These fuckers killed my girl. That fat sow couldn’t fight her way out of a cardboard box, but even with our gear she still got iced. Watch yourselves. Don’t take it easy on these fuckers because they look innocent and fluffy. Understand?”

“Yes ma’am, Tina and Claire muttered, and Swatti nodded, leaning back. The Chief did look like she was in pain, and Tina understood now. This was revenge. She closed her eyes and tried to think of it that way. It iddn’t make her feel any better. 

After what felt like both forever and far too soon, Swatti shouted at them, and Tina tightened her grip on her weapons. She butted helmets with Claire one last time, and then the ramp dropped. She charged out, weapon lowered, as the gun atop the APC roared. 

An instant later, heat and pressure washed over Tina, and she grunted as she was rocked back by a detonation on her shield. She couldn’t see through the glare, but she raised her shotgun and fired blindly. It was a semiauto, but she used only three of her ten rounds. She was using shot instead of shells, as her aim was never good at the best of times, but she moved forward, even as an officer behind her screamed in pain, going down to another blast of flames. 

Stomping forward, Tina caught sight of a giant shape barreling towards her. She set herself, angling the shield, but even so was pushed back as a lizardman with a club made of a bent sign pole with a block of concrete bigger than her chest crushed her shield. Bad aim or no, Tina could hit a target that big and that close, and she blasted the reptilian beastman in the chest. He gurgled as blood oozed out of the gaping wound, but took another swing at Tina. This one was weaker, but she was still knocked off her feet. 

Behind her, Claire opened up with an assault rifle, screaming as she fired. The lizardman went down, and Tina grabbed a shield from a fallen officer, surging back to her feet to cover Claire. Around her, more lizardmen attacked, half a dozen brutes who were clearly hulked out on some drug, their eyes and…hands? Why were their hands glowing, or their weapons? They must have smeared it with some sort of luminescence, but it pulsed with an angry blue glow. 

“SSSSSSLAY THE DEMONS!” a lizardman howled, even as Chief Swatti clubbed him down with the butt of her shotgun, then blasted him in the leg. 

“DEFEAT THE DEVIL KING!” the rest of the lizardmen screamed in response, but they were soon cut down. There had been only eight of them, but the twelve-man squad of security officers was down to Tina, Claire, Swatti, and two others from another division she didn’t know. 

Still, two more APCs were unloading, and more heavily armed security forces poured out. They were in the middle of a broken-down waste treatment plant, with a building next to a series of pipes right before them. It had been abandoned for some time, but it was now boarded up and reinforced by plastic, wood and…glowing barriers? They had to have some crazy tech to manage that, but it didn’t look like the security fields that Tina had seen before. 

Gunfire snapped overhead, and bullets pinged off the chipped concrete and Tina’s armor. She raised her shield and grimly advanced forward, unable to do anything else. Another fireball arced towards her, and she cried out in pain as it hit her shield. She could feel her skin burning, smell cooked hair, but she didn’t drop her shield. Claire fired back, and Tina pressed up to the barricade, holstering her shotgun and pulling out the fire axe. 

The barrier was made of flimsy plastic, and went down in only a few blows from Tina and Swatti, even as the defenders shot at them with guns or threw balls of flame from their hands. Tina couldn’t process what was going on, but she pressed forward, trampling the barrier and using the axe to strike at her foes. One woman raised an arm to block the blow, but Tina’s axe cut through flesh and bone to bury itself in her chest. She gurgled and died, and Tina felt sick as she walked over her corpse, wrenching the axe free and fighting another man with glowing hands and crazed eyes. 

Beside her, Swatti swore and battled a heavily armed orc, this one in what appeared to be stolen NyteTech security armor. Everyone was shouting, and the smell of blood, feces, and gunpowder filled the air. Claire gunned down Tina’s opponent, and she raised her axe again to kill the one hurling fireballs at her. 

Then she froze. It was a female lizardman, one with a basket on her back, with a baby in it. Beside her, a little dwarf girl with a scavenged pistol fired at Tina, the bullets too low caliber to be much danger. 

“Hilda?” Swatti suddenly said, her own gun falling from numb hands. “But…you…”

“Mom!? What are you- Surrender, right now!”

Behind Tina, Claire groaned, her gun falling silent. She too was facing mere children, hiding behind the skirts of an old lizardman woman who was armed only with a sharpened bit of rebar. “No…no…I can’t…”

“DRIVE OFF THE CORPORATE DOGS!” a woman's voice shouted, and a familiar blonde girl in blue robes with a shawl wrapped about her head strode into the room. “FLAME STRIKE!” 

Tina raised her shield again, dropping her axe as she tried to cover Claire. “Cecily?! What are you-”

Cecily turned, her eyes full of fury. Then she saw Tina and Claire. “You!? You’re the ones…”

From behind, a massive explosion suddenly went off, and Claire was tossed into Tina’s back. Both of them went tumbling to the ground, and something hot bit into Tina’s shoulder. She fell facing backwards, and caught sight of their APCs burning. Someone must have had explosives. Dead security forces littered the ground, as did the bodies of the cultists they’d been sent to fight. NyteTech was pulling back to regroup, but they’d return, Tina knew it. 

Boots appeared in front of Tina’s face, and she blinked, then looked up. Cecily stood over her and Claire, her expression grim. “Well. I had hoped for better from you two. You seemed like decent sorts, but you’re still corporate dogs.”

Rolling over to put herself over Claire, who was burned, bleeding, and only half conscious, Tina looked around. Children Old women. Cecily. She didn’t see crazed cultists. She saw people clinging to life, struggling to survive. Swatti was kneeling, her eyes glazed and unfocused, the orc in blackhat armor standing over her, helmet off, a pistol pointed at her own mother’s head. 

“Give it up, girls,” Swatti rasped. She closed her eyes. “I’m the one in charge. Kill me. Let them live. We…we failed. There is no honor here…”

“There was never any honor in serving the corporations, mother,” Hilda spat, her eyes full of pain and anger. “You know that.”

Ignoring it all, Tina tried to cradle Claire in her arms, but her right arm wouldn’t work. She looked down to see blood streaming down her armor, soaking the floor around her. There was a shard of shrapnel in her shoulder. That wasn’t a flesh wound: She’d be lucky to live, and if she did, she’d lose the use of her arm, probably need to have it amputated. But she couldn’t afford a prosthetic.

“Please,” Tina whispered, stroking Claire’s singed hair. “We…I…surrender. We can’t…what have we done…”

Cecily hurried over to the smashed barricade and peered outside. She shook her head. “They’ll be back again. We don’t have much time.” She turned back around, coming to kneel beside Claire. “You gave me food, said you wanted to help people. Well, now’s your chance. Will you keep fighting for the corporations that enslaved us, or will you accept the love of Lady Aqua?”