Arkeidos’ massive body was sent flying into the ruins of the tower at the heart of the fortress. While he was still in mid-air, Eliana landed, her assault halted by the impact. “Just fucking watch,” she growled at John. That felt needlessly aggressive and a submissive part of Eliza immediately wanted to add something that would make her sound nice and breedable. Thana clawed her way to the top of their melded mind. The butterfly-esque wings of burning and crystallized blood flared and screeched like distorted violins in response. “Stay out of my way,” Eliana wolfishly declared and tossed him her robe.

“I’ll watch you,” John assured.

Eliana clacked her teeth and let the bone mask cover her face, before she could reveal the smile that almost formed in response to his voice. Thana hated that she liked a human. She hated that she perhaps did more than that. The goddess of genocide leapt after the Emperor. She had a human to kill.

Having already landed, Arkeidos lowered his mace to the ground. The blades stretched and re-slotted once again, turning brown, and influencing the chunks of rubble John and his party had not bothered cleaning up. As a swarm, they came flying towards her. Mundane stone was about as threatening to Eliana’s skin as a fuzzball was to a regular person. Speed and the influence of magic transformed that state of affairs, infusing the projectiles with the force and hardness required to harm the failed goddess.

Eliana’s aura flared, the wings at her back diminished, and she put her feet together. Suddenly, as if something was pulling her, she dropped straight down. The Steel Fall let her land quicker than Arkeidos had anticipated. Eliana landed, the supernaturally reinforced impact from an already high place travelling up her legs. The damage to the tissue only stimulated the regenerative powers of the blood mage, generating the bone plates that served as her exoskeleton.

The mace’s blades switched to their regular, six colours, while Arkeidos took the haft in both hands and took large, confident strides towards Eliana. Screaming with mad bloodlust, Eliana threw herself at the Emperor.

Arkeidos took her attack head on. The fist, tiny compared to the tyrant she assaulted, smashed against his chest. A wave rippled outwards from the impact site. Like his limbs, the torso appeared solid on first glance but was actually made out of magically adhesive individual parts that resembled human muscles and bones. In response to force, the binding loosened. This could have been a showcase of damage. It could also have been a desired effect to facilitate mana flow in the area.

Eliana brought her right hand forward, ramming hastily grown bone claws into the gap between the main plate covering the left major chest muscle. It had little in common with it in terms of shape or size. It was half of a design that stretched all the way from the shoulder to the sternum, bent softly along its course, and was otherwise uniform in its smoothness. That was, until Eliana started pulling. The plate bent away from the sternum.

“You invaders are truly interesting,” Arkeidos said, his voice measured. Eliana kept mercilessly pulling, even as the Emperor wrapped one of his massive hands around her midsection. He squeezed. Bones shattered. Internal organs were turned into pulp. “Impressive,” Arkeidos added, the flesh regenerating under his fingers.

“RAH!” With a mighty scream, Eliana tore the chest plate off, sending the deformed plate flying. Underneath, many smaller pieces became visible, representing ribs and smaller fibres. Ribs and fibres, which both were caved in when Arkeidos smashed his fist into her. ‘Murder. Murder him. Tear the human down to the soul!’ Thana screamed inside, landing on the vertical surface of a tower. ‘Do it for John!’ Eliza added. The wings on her back diminished.

Arkeidos’ speed increased drastically and he charged at Eliana. She jumped off the wall, gravity demanded movement anyway. Her hips got caught under the mace. Her partly regenerated middle section was not enough to withstand the force. Her lower body tore off and transformed into a splatter of gore, scattering out in the arc of the weapon.

“IF YOU KILLED DAMIAN, I WILL FUCKING MURDER YOU!” Eliza screamed, blood boiling in and outside her body.

“Damian?” The Emperor landed in front of the person he had just halved.

“The egg in the womb you just splattered over the fortress like a fucking post-modern art piece! How can someone made of metal be such a penisman?! Go find something to fuck yo-” Eliza did not manage to finish that sentence. The heavy foot of the lich stomped down on her head. All became darkness. Then, her mind was pulled through the darkness and into a vast plane of azure.

There was a surface of water underneath her and the blue sky above. Souls and Faith of the murdered fell, like rain, disturbing the surface for a split second, before rising into the form of the person the thoughts belonged to in life on the other side. After some time, they transformed back, the rain falling towards the sky on the other side. Eventually, they would fall again, and the cycle would continue endlessly.

Eliza sat on that sea of souls and looked down her side, where Thana stared back. “Stop interfering,” the failed goddess demanded.

“I’m interfering? Just let me fucking murder him already.”

“You can’t.”

“Oh, are you that murder hungry? Thought we were one over here.”

“We aren’t, not yet,” Thana growled. “You’re the unreasonable parts that I cannot agree to.”

“You’re just pure fucking hatred for yourself, left behind.”

“I hate you.”

“I hate you more!”

“So, what do we do?” Eliana asked, not sure where she was standing or if she was even really there.

“We fucking kill him.”

“We end the human.”

Eliana opened her eyes and looked up at a foot ready to descend on her head again. Growling like a hungry wolf, Thana caught it. She rapidly pulled the disparate parts of her body together, regenerating her lower body in a matter of seconds. Then she pushed the Emperor off entirely. Arkeidos caught himself with a single step backwards and swung his mace overhead. All six blades were red.

With martial art and sheer speed, Eliana dodged. She wanted to retaliate immediately, but the mace unleashed a wave of fire that obscured her vision. In its stead, she focused on her hearing. The metal of Arkeidos’ body clattered as he moved. With Thana’s speed, increased further by the aura engulfing them in crimson red and Bloodburn, Eliana cut through the fire.

This time she caught Arkeidos off-guard. In a mindless flurry of movements, she tore and bit at the hulk of armour. Her cracked open mask served as extra teeth. The bone shattered and regrew, claws and teeth were replaced over and over again, but all the while she managed to pull tiny part after tiny part out of his damaged chest. Any attempt he made to get her off, be that grabs or outbursts of magical energy, achieved nothing. She was too fast, jumped off and back on him quicker than he could properly react.

His chest, back, shoulder, and even arms were getting sundered further with each passing second. ‘Yes, John will be so fucking proud of me!’ Eliza thought.

Then, suddenly, he got faster again. Fast enough to effortlessly grab Eliana by the throat. He pinched it between two fingers and snapped it effortlessly. Not that it kept the blood mage from struggling.

“You are a damaged thing,” Arkeidos said, sounding almost disappointed. “At one moment you are so fast, you would force me to wield my true power. The next, you are barely a threat.” The mist of light he emitted transitioned from the sickly green to red. Mist was replaced with fire, burning first with the honest gold of flame, then gradually with a devilish scarlet. “Entertain me, tiny one.”

Thana grabbed the fingers holding her, while Hellfire scorched her form. She knew the sting from her fight with Sigmund, the kind of fire that inhibited regeneration. Even it wasn’t enough to hinder the failed goddess from regenerating. With one terrible tear, she ripped the Emperor’s thumb off. The spectral outline of the finger remained where the metal had been. It was incapable of holding her, letting Eliana fall to the ground. “Arrogant fucking human,” the pretty little psycho growled, her throat restored.

“One of few worthy to be called one,” the Emperor retorted calmly, assuming a defensive stance.

Eliana rushed forwards. The heat emitted by the Emperor made the nearby stones melt. His mace reflected the heat, all blades remaining red. He swung it towards the assailant. Eliana Shifted, suddenly appearing behind Arkeidos. The helmet of the Emperor turned 180 degrees and opened where the mouth would have been. Hellfire washed over the failed goddess. The bone carapace held unfazed. Prolonged exposure could have been dangerous. It did not come to that. Eliana twisted around in a full roundhouse kick, the force in her comparatively tiny form launching the Emperor.

Stone cracked, as Arkeidos ripped through the castle fortifications and was sent flying into the plain beyond. Eliana charged right after the ablaze revenant of soul and metal. Her aura reignited, the purposes of two minds aligned, she chased after him.

Arkeidos’ mist changed colour once more, to a shade of green more vibrant and honest than the necromantic colour that appeared to be the standard. His flight slowed and then stopped entirely, and he raised his hand to the sky. A lightning strike descended on him, forming in his palm into a lance of semi-solid electricity. Eliana leapt up to reach him. Like a terrible version of Zeus, he threw the lance at her.

Left arm extending into a torrent of blood and bone, Eliana latched onto the Emperor’s foot, just as she was struck by the electricity. Both of them were smitten back to the ground. Eliana recovered faster, focused only on the violence of the moment. She was about to cave the tyrant’s face in, when his voice reached her. “You serve John well.”

The strength behind her fist diminished greatly. The impact on Arkeidos’ helmet still caused the many plates to scatter apart, yet it lacked the destructive force behind it. Worse, the Emperor’s speed suddenly surpassed her own again. The mace smashed into her side, breaking the carapace and her spine, and scorched her flesh.

Before she could be sent flying away, Arkeidos caught her with his thumbless hand and smashed her into the ground. “Predictable,” he said, disappointed. “Your raw power surpasses mine, yet your will is unaligned. You could be a conqueror, yet you are only a servant.”

“Shut the fuck u-“ “I serve n-“ “I’m wh-“ “Quiet.” “Let-“ The three minds of the pretty little psycho vied for control. Bloodburn waxed and waned, pulled between Eliza’s and Thana’s power. Her martial art’s aura flickered on and off. ‘Can you just let me fucking murder this guy?!’ Eliana pleaded, overpowering the two wills that made her for long enough to roll away under the next strike. The mace created a scorched crater. Eliana used the power of the explosion to carry her on her feet. ‘MURDER! THAT’S WHAT WE LIKE, FUCKING RIGHT?! MURDER ASSHOLE HUMANS LIKE THAT!’

No disagreement inside her. Not in that instance. Blood rushed through her ears, drowning out all other sound. No words to distract her. Nothing to let him manipulate her. Necessary as that was to maintain her unity, it also robbed her of the ability to accurately sense him inside the inferno his weapon had unleashed.

A vibration in the ground was all the warning she received. Yet, it was enough warning. The thumbless hand rushed forwards, surrounded by a blade of wind, ready to cut through her. Eliana ducked away under it. Her spine elongated out of her body, taking the shape of a skinless tail. It wrapped around the arm, her hands grabbed the metal hulk’s torso, and she lifted him up in his entirety.

Smashing him into the ground, Eliana immediately followed her attack up by jumping on top of him. She raised one leg, the foot dangling loosely, as the ki rushed through her mana channels, filled the muscles and joints, and rushed towards her sole. Arkeidos laid there, not even attempting to get away. The green light of his eyes burned with interest.

Eliana didn’t give him the time to reconsider, bringing her foot down in a rapid stomp. The sole ripped clean through the chest plate, shattered the crystal underneath, and stopped only because the difference in sizes meant that Eliana was down to her thigh in the lich’s body. The Seismic Step, unable to unload its full force into the ground, instead created a shockwave. Some of it bounced around inside Arkeidos’ body, bursting apart the pieces of metal rapidly loosening. The majority rebounded into Eliana. The force tore up her leg and through her torso, all the way to her heart, causing disastrous internal bleeding. It would have been instantly fatal, had she not been who she was.

“How very interesting,” Arkeidos’ voice echoed. The metallic undertone was gone, replaced by a ghostly reverberation. The mist that filled the armoured hulk pulled together into a humanoid form. It was still impressive for a human, yet nowhere near the colossus it had inhabited. “A hundred years of work undone. A worthwhile sacrifice for this excitement.”

“Just fucking die!” Eliana declared, swiping at the soul. Her claws tore a chunk out and Arkeidos let out a shriek of pain.

“What?!” he roared, feeling the Touch of Humanity’s Bane for the first time. Something capable of killing him then and there, as Eliana realized.

The soul of the Emperor consolidated faster and began drifting away, pulled at by the phylactery far, far away. Eliana set after him, wanting to fully tear apart this being right then and there. While she was capable of hurting him, she could not keep him in place.

That was the job of the blank that appeared next to them.

Nia teleported behind the emperor’s soul and cut through the invisible connection between Arkeidos and his anchor to the mortal realm. The Emperor hummed deeply, his gravitas and control reclaimed. Immediately, Nia’s form started to lose tangibility. Whatever she was doing to prevent the tyrant’s soul from escaping, it wouldn’t last long.

Tearing into him, Eliana wanted only two things. To hear him scream again and to kill him. Fully in control of himself, Arkeidos denied her this boon, and although the trenches she clawed out of his soul ran deep, it was not enough. Suddenly, before her eyes, the Emperor was ripped backwards. She tried to give chase, ran after him with her immense speed. She could hear John’s voice behind her, but ignored it.

No matter how fast she ran, however, Arkeidos’ retreat was faster. After fifty kilometres, she finally gave up and turned around. ‘Could have done this properly if it weren’t for you,’ Thana hissed at Eliza.