Hell Hath No Fury Like A Big Sis Scorned

“S-She bid me goodbye at the entrance! ‘Goodbye, my sweet starling,’ remember?” Engel cried.

“No,” Lysandra countered sharply. “That’s what she said to me.”

“I—I don’t understand.” Engel’s voice was cracking now as her bronze frame trembled.

“Did these savages tamper with you?!” Lysandra spun on us, hand raised. Hell hath no fury like a big sister scorned.

“No, lady,” Daisy cut in flatly. “We aren’t capable of operating your technology—let alone manipulating it.”

“I k-know that for certain!” Engel blurted. Never hesitated to come to our defense, that girl. “The amount of times Daisy got basic technological concepts wrong drove me up the wall!”

“So the truth finally comes out…” Daisy muttered darkly.

“I don’t remember, sis,” Engel said desperately, “b-but my friends have nothing to do with it. I—I am certain!”

“That’s not what the guardsmen who accompanied me will think.” Lysandra’s eyes narrowed.

“…Cheese and crackers.”

“Why’s that a bad thing?” I asked weakly.

“O-Our Mother was an Elder Council member who volunteered to accompany Engel after they declared her an abomination to life,” Lys explained.

Engel gasped, tinny voice breaking. “And i-if they came looking for me, th-they figured they’d find her…”

I paled.

“Mother is needed back at the Mausoleum. Things have gone from bad to worse—if you can believe it, Engel! There are rumors the Elders are conspiring to seize power and—quote—‘conquer the outside lands.’ Please, Engel, I need you to remember where she wen—”

The rest of her speech was drowned out.

For the soldiers arrived.

Steel clashed against wooden floor. Voices bellowed as armed figures stormed through the entrance.

“SAVAGES!” one of them cried. “EVEN THE AIR SMELLS OF YOUR FETID ODOR! HOW DARE YOU INVADE OUR SACRED GROVE!”

Weapons gleamed as the Fusche guards fanned out, surrounding us.

“THE FETID CREATURE KNOWN AS ENGELKLEIN VON MAXIMOFF SHALL BE TAKEN OFF SAVAGE HANDS!”

“Guardsmen, stand down!” Lysandra protested. “Elder Maximoff will show you a fury you’ll not soon forget if any harm comes to Engelklein!”

“WE ACT IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR PEOPLE; AND IF WE HAVE TO IGNORE THE ORDERS OF OUR CROWN PRINCESS… THEN SO BE IT.”

“Cotter, we need to run!” Yuree-El shouted. “Now!”

“No! We can do this! We are not about to leave Engel to die!”

“COTTER!” Engel’s metallic voice cracked as she flung out her arms. “Leave me with them! You don’t know what we are capable of!”

“And what if they take you?” I fired back. “What if the Mountain Elves lock themselves away forever, and we lose our only lead on East Gate’s chaos? What if they’re the ones behind it all?!”

“This was never about Engel,” Daisy said quietly.

“Daisy, how can you say that?! Of course it is!”

“That’s not what I meant.” Daisy snorted. “It’s not like we have anywhere to run anyway…”

Cryptic as ever!

“Sister?!” Engel wailed. “Please, stop them!”

The guards raised their weapons. Their captain’s voice carried like a hammer blow:

“Under reasonable suspicion of savages conspiring against our immediate harm, we motion to act upon this immediately. You are now all declared enemies of the Fusche people—the Mantlers of Responsibility. Prepare yourselves… for death.”

“Not if I have any say about it!” Piper roared.

She gave a battlecry and lunged for the captain, her full length slamming forward with speed that made the ground quake.

But one guard moved with inhuman speed. His gauntlet shot out—straight for her neck.

“GRKK!!!”

“A LAMIA! I THOUGHT WE PURGED YOUR FETID KIND FROM THE FACE OF SCHONEWELT!”

Like she was nothing more than a rag doll, he hoisted the one-ton lamia off the ground. Piper thrashed, her coils tearing into the stonework, her claws peeling at his grip—but the fingers held firm.

“No…!” Py Pir cried. The guard was crushing her throat! “P-Please…”

Then, with all the might of a mechanically powered arm could muster, the guard held her by the throat as he walked toward…

Oh no. The railing. The abyss!

“Let her go!” I screamed. “We didn’t do anything to you!”

I reached into myself for power, for strength, for our…

[SALARYMAN POWER: GROUP COHESION FAILED!]

WHAT?!

“A LAMIA IS NOT A SHE, SHE'S AN ‘IT’. THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND. THEY ARE YOUR ENEMY,” the guard sneered. The hand extended outward, dangling Py Pir over the edge! “WE ARE DOING THE WORLD A GRAND FAVOR.”

“Unhand her you cretin—ARGH!!” One of the guards smashed their hammer into Yuree-El midstride!

[SALARYMAN POWER: GROUP COHESION FAILED!]

“N-no! I can’t do…!” Daisy was trying with all her might to reach into herself for power! Their armor was blocking our magic?!

[SALARYMAN POWER: GROUP COHESION FAILED!]

“It’s okay…” Py Pir croaked with a smile. “I will be back before you know it.”

[SALARYMAN POWER: GROUP COHESION FAILED!]

[SALARYMAN POWER: GROUP COHESION FAILED!]

CLING!

For a moment, the whole world stopped. My heartbeat seized. I got to say a millisecond stretched into eternities… as the guard let go.

Py Pir falling down…

Down…

Into the abyss.

What more appropriate reaction in this situation than to scream? “PY PIR!!!!”

“SISTER!!!!” Yuree-El’s scream rattled the walls.

Daisy jabbed a finger at them, rage tearing at her throat.

“YOU MURDERED SOMEONE OVER SOMETHING THAT DIDN’T HAVE TO BE ESCALATED!”

“Best lay down and spare yourself a less embarrassing fate,” the captain sneered. “Poor Engel, manipulated and scorned by a dirty lamia.”

I cried all the while. What did Py Pir do to deserve that fate?!

“Cotter…” Daisy’s voice was tight with pain. “I’m trying to manipulate their organics, but their armor blocks me. So… I have to resort to teaching these fuckers a lesson..”

She raised two fingers, and like a puppet on strings, Lysandra’s body jerked violently.

“What’s happening?!” Lysandra shrieked, eyes wide.

“Sorry about this, elf…” Daisy muttered.

SALARYMAN STATUS SCREEN: REQUESTING…

~SALARYMAN POWER: GROUP COHESION!~

I stared at the screen before mentally motioning with little hesitation.

ACCEPT

“EEEK!!”

Lysandra’s arm twisted against her will. Her hand dove into her dress and pulled out an ornate Mountain Elf knife. Daisy forced it against her sister’s throat, the steel gleaming inches from her pale skin.

The guards roared. “UNHAND HER! Unless you want to be quartered where you stand, witch!”

“Hostage for a hostage,” Daisy snapped. “Only fair.”

The captain’s eyes narrowed as the soldiers simply geared up to go.

“GRAB THE AUTOMATON!”

Engel’s amber eyes widened, cogs whirring in panic. “What?!”

Shit. “They’re not going for us!” I spat, chest heaving. “Protect Engel!”

The chamber exploded into chaos.

Steel clashed as Yuree-El dove headlong into a pair of guards, his spear whirling arcs of light. Sparks leapt as her weapon scraped chainmail.

Daisy staggered back, dragging Lysandra like a shield, her own knees shaking under the strain of control.

Engel clanked in confusion, trying to shield her chest with one bronze-plated arm while reaching out helplessly with the other.

Boots thundered. The guards surged like a tide, voices melding into one war cry.

One leapt onto a table, kicking plates and goblets across the floor. Another tried to flank Engel from behind, axe raised. I lunged, freezing his wrist mid-swing with a [Standard Frostbite].

“GAH!!”

The soldier’s friend didn’t take kindly to that and immediately leapt to avenge him.

“YOU FUCKERS KILLED MY PRINCESS!”

Yuree-El covered me as she drew her sword and clashed with the man’s.

It just gave me enough time!

[SIGNATURE MOVE: WHITE FLAME!]

It hit the guardsman square in the chest!!

He flew back from the impact and hit the rune wall behind him, the structure of the whole thing collapsing under the armor’s weight.

One of them decided that enough was enough after that move. He unslung something heavier that looked suspiciously like a gun. A crossbow.

“Haven’t had the chance to try this thing out.” The click of the mechanism locking back sliced through the chaos. The guard’s grin widened. “Let’s see if this baby can disable that damnable von Maximoff…”

The string soon snapped forward with a vicious twang.

A neon blue bolt tore through the air, slicing past sparks, shouts, Daisy’s gasp…!

It was aiming straight for Engel’s chest!!

“NO!!!” I roared.

My legs moved before my mind did.

I shoved forward, arms wide.

The bolt met me mid-stride, and just in time to cover the fleeing Engel!

A white-hot lance of pain seared through my left arm.

My breath ripped away like it was nothing. I collapsed against Engel’s plated frame. I heard only the dull echo of his gears whirring faster in panic.

“Dying like this is… poetic,” I muttered blearily.

“Grk…!” Blood came out my mouth. “But… my friends…”

The girls were going to die if I didn’t get back up and helped. They would be overpowered, their bodies will be like pin-cushions…

But there was no strength left in my legs.

They were going to die because of my suggestion we should keep looking, keep poking, to not waste a given opportunity.

It was far too late… but I suppose I saw the error of my ways. And that error was paid with blood.

And their fates will carry me to a sleep that will last for eternity. This was the tragedy Malmagos talked about, I suppose.

The boy who ran too fast. 

Maybe this story of mine... perhaps I had to give it time to breathe.

The world tilted sideways. My blood sprayed across bronze and stone.

The last thing I saw was Daisy’s horrified eyes.