Meeting the Demon Queen (2)

--Gatix--

The scope revealed the knight dropping into a heap of limbs and metallic plates. With the shot fired, I scanned the surroundings. Always wise to ensure there was no unwanted attention. The battle still raged in the distance, but if they heard the shot, they didn't care for it.

With my impression made, I turned my attention to the other occupant of this so-called` battle, barely hanging on. Her breathing seemed shallow, and I suspected her skin being more pale than red wasn't healthy. But she was awake, her eyes locked where the knight emulated a dullahan moments ago.

“Eh, hi?'' I called to her.

“***?'' My voice broke her trance, and her head snapped towards me.

Best to keep my movements small. My appearance must be intimidating, to say the least. “Think we've gained an ally, Nev?''

“Time will tell. Why not introduce yourself?''

“I'll grunt most charmingly.'' Scanning the surroundings gave a satisfying response and allowed me to jump into the crater. Nearly lost my footing in the process, but my armor remained unscathed for another day. The lady's eyes never left me, only widening as I walked closer.

“Agent, wielding an unknown weapon does not set a calming mood.''

“What if she jumps up to attack me?''

“She lacks the strength in her current state.''

“I'm rebooting you if you're wrong.'' Five meters separated us when I came to a stop. With our eyes locked, I slowly reached over and clipped Scythe into place. Her eyes followed every motion, only returning to mine after I held both hands in a gesture of peace.

“*** *** **** ** ****** ** ***?''

“Nev?'

“Analysing.''

“Got anything for me yet?''

“I think she asked a question.''

Great. Still holding both hands up, I started waving the right one. Her eyes rapidly switched to the shaking digit before returning to my helmeted face.

“Agent, a token of friendship might be removing the sword from her shoulder.''

“She might bleed out.''

“Her body features several fresh scars. She may have advanced regeneration capabilities.''

“Let's see.'' Lowering my left hand, I used the other to mimic pulling something out of my other shoulder.

“** **.''

“Uh, was what a yes or a no?'' I made the sword-pulling motion again.

“** **.'' She practically spat in my direction.

“I'll take that as a no.''

“That translates to `go for it', or something similar.''

“Is the translator up and running?''

“I can translate about forty percent of her speech.''

“Care to share some more?''

“I will once complete. Overlaying foreign speech and the environmental sounds might result in dangers sneaking up on you.''

“Makes sense.'' Holding my hands up again, I slowly stepped closer, taking care not to touch the floating light. The hiss when I stepped too close proved that point. Didn't need Nev to translate that one.

Being close revealed additional detail about the lady, such as her eyes being a combination of white and yellow, with a green ring in the center. Never seen that before. The scales on her hands were also damaged and revealed human-like flesh underneath.

“**** *** *** ******* ****?!''

“Huh?''

“She wants you to hurry up, I believe.''

“Right.'' Carefully, and ensuring she could see every motion I made, I took hold of the hilt with my right hand. She let out another hiss, but I think that was more in pain than anything else. Taking hold of her shoulder with my other hand, I turned to look at her. Our eyes met for about two seconds before she closed hers and bared her teeth. Less pointy than I would have imagined.

“Agent.''

“Here we g-'' I yanked the sword before I finished the last word. The lady gave a howl as she fell to her side, but at least she was free of the stone. The sword came loose a bit easier than I expected.

The sword had some heft to it. Not bad at all. I pressed it against my left hip, where Nev activated a magnetic pad, and the sword locked in place with a loud clang. Might keep this one.

“***** ***.'' The lady puffed as she sat upright, leaning against the rock she'd been momentarily married to.

“She is thanking you.''

“I got that, thanks.''

Taking a deep breath, she turned her gaze to the heap that once made up the fallen knight. “******* ***** *** *** **** ** **.''

“She said the knight bested her, but I don't understand the first part.''

“I might.'' I resisted the urge to laugh. The sound might scare her off again.

She grabbed hold of the collar around her neck with both hands and started to tug on it.

“Nev, can you speak back to her?''

“Unfortunately, my algorithm is still compiling.''

“Figured.'' I cleared my throat, and she turned to look at me. That signal seemed to be universal. Raising a left hand to show I still came in peace, I reached for my right boot. Tapping once against the metallic plating opened a hidden compartment, from which I pulled out a knife. Only natural for the lady's eyes to widen when I pulled it out, but she didn't run away yet.

At least my intention seemed clear, for she raised her left arm and used the other to point at some white pearl-looking objects around her wrist. Nodding once to show I understood, I stepped closer. Despite the advanced visual sensors in my helmet, I could barely see the thin wire correcting the pearls.

“******* **.'' She hissed through bared teeth.

“She wants you to cut.''

“Hiss means go for it. That's counter-intuitive.'' The wire didn't seem that strong, as proven by snapping it with a simple press on the blade. Weirdly, the pearls didn't drop to the ground but merely evaporated into thin air.

The tug as she yanked her arm back caught me off guard. After briefly inspecting her arm, she turned her gaze back to me, twisting her head to reveal the collar. Didn't need Nev to translate that. She did give me a hesitant look, but I understood. I'd also have some reservations if a stranger approached my neck with a drawn knife.

The collar was stuck tighter than I anticipated, and I doubt she would be happy if I dug the knife between it and her scales. But the beauty of circles is there's always a place you can cut without damaging what's inside. A couple of scrapes later made the collar drop to the grou-

“*****!'' A shock wave powerful enough to knock me backward shot through the ground. Whatever she was doing, other than exercising her lungs, rapidly sucked the light back into her chest.

“Energy surge detected!''

“No shit.'' I braced myself as a vortex of wind and energies raged around her. “Was it this strong previously?''

“Not nearly!''

“Still don't believe in magic?!''

“Magic does not exist.''

“Not convinced!'' Two more shock waves sent me stumbling backward. Inside the vortex, the lady had stopped screaming, but the roar of the vortex was still a beast in my ears. “Can Scythe penetr- shit!'' My body jerked to the side where a boulder slammed into my right shoulder. My already precarious footing gave way and sent me to the ground.

“Minor damage detected.''

“Answer me!''

“Yes, Scythe should be able t-.''

“Then enough of this!'' In a practiced motion, I unclipped the weapon from my back. Lying on my chest, I tried aiming my shot, but the vortex kept throwing me off. “C'mon...''

“Activating stabilizers,'' Nev commented. It helped, but not a lot. There's only so much you can compensate for when standing next to a hurricane.

“*****!'' A rogue blast made me pull the trigger by pure reflex. It sounded like I hit her, the sudden disappearance of the vortex seemed to confirm it, but a red blur landed on me before I could think about getting upright. “* ******* ** **** *******!''

`Get off' is the command my brain tried to fire to my speech processors before the lady grabbed hold of my head and jackhammered it against the ground.

“Agent, get out of there!''

“****!'' The world exploded in a torrent of fire and ash. My visor filled with red lights almost instantly, the most pressing one being a newly formed gauge indicating the suit's temperature was entering abnormal levels.

“Then get me out of here!''

“-mpting!'' Only a break from the inferno allowed me to hear the end of whatever Nev had to say. With the fire pausing, and my right hand and legs still pressed down, I resorted to a desperate fail with my left hand. Which did absolutely nothing. Slapping something away from your back rarely amounts to more than a desperate flail. One the lady caught with ease.

“Agent, incoming da-''

A scream escaped as something pierced my armor and slammed into my shoulder. “Nev?!''

“Her tail.'' My visor changed to show the lady sitting on top of me, her tail arched over her back like a scorpion. Yet instead of a stinger, its tip resembled a twisted knife. The kind that would require more than one doctor to stitch back up.

“Oh shit!'' The pain was incredible, but I could see she was already planning her next area of attack. “Nev...''

“Almost there.''

The tail tensed above me...

“Nev, if you do-''

...and snapped down.