Csh. She caught the scimitars in her cws before a shockwave began expanding. Her opponent twisted one bde free, cutting at her. Ravager grinned fiercely, appreciating the bnket of pain in her right arm. The edge had sheared the flesh all the way from the other side of her elbow to the shoulder. Fine weapon. She let go of the scimitar and kicked Mad Hatter in the midsection with both legs, sending the khatun flying some two kilometers away. The woman’s body holed the newly formed mountain range, traveling so fast that the edges of this new cavern reddened from friction, turning molten.

  The sounds resumed as the air swallowed the vacuum created by their exchange. How long had it been? How long had it been since her blood had boiled and her mind had cleared instead of colpsing into uncontrolble aggression in response to the pressure? The st person to nearly cause her death had been Dominator when he broke her spine, but Vasco had surely come close to matching that feat. Was the woman as strong as Blood Graf? It was hard to say. The scoundrel possessed a better combat tempo but cked in awareness, which helped her gore him at the start of their duel.

  Conserving her strength, she climbed to the mountaintop, looking for the prey.

  Mad Hatter was relentless, never faltering in repeating any Ravager’s feats and willing to fight in the bowels of their pnet. Her speed and precision deserved the utmost praise! Bone-deep sshes covered the Ravager’s legs; flesh fpped on both her forelegs. The golden scimitars, marked with crimson, cut through her tendons and even exposed her left lung and bdder to the va. An ear was missing, but that was fine; the eardrum still functioned. More serious was the windpipe, ruptured by a lucky jab, forcing her to struggle for every breath.

  Unsightly, but she was proud of her own handiwork. Mad Hatter rose from the crater, banishing the dust with a single swipe. She no longer had any clothes; one breast hung on a string of flesh. The left side of her face was fyed, and the eye twitched in its socket, finding the monster. The khatun cracked her neck and took a few steps, spurting little geysers of blood, and Ravager’s grin widened.

  She enjoyed and despised their brawl, not in the slightest surprised about the lingering sanity. The beast in her, that ugly, despicable thing born of torture, demanded that she surrender her senses so that she could wake up to a world of destruction and find the bitch broken afterwards. But another figment of her broken psyche, Number One, the ghost of whom Ravager might have been, gripped the snapping fiend’s neck, assessing her authority and intent to bring retribution if peaceful resolution was impossible.

  Peace. Ha. Why cling to the impossible? But I appreciate the crity. A berserk beast and a failed mother, a worthless mentor and a dedicated protector, a butcher and a savior formed into one, a leader and a dumbass, a monster and a human united, not torn apart for once, and she persevered.

  Both Mad Hatter’s and Ravager’s blood were coaguting, and the lips of their wounds were moving, trying to connect. A freak of nature and a monster created by human genius were locked in battle, almost evenly matched. Two billion to one odds, two impossible probabilities, had met.

  “I have to give it to you,” Mad Hatter said, running her fingers over the ceration on her neck. “You are the first person to cause me to experience such excruciating pain. Not even my beloved parents or my khan can compare. Yes. To be brought to the brink of death, what a wondrous sensation! The throbbing in my head, the chill running down my spine, the weariness of my body… I love you, Ravager! I adore our meeting. You make me feel alive, and I can tell that you feel the same.”

  “Eh, more on the disgusted side of a token,” Ravager whispered.

  “So be it. Be honored. This is the technique I have prepared to sy that pretender god with.” Mad Hatter smiled broadly, loosening her limbs. “But the distinction is rather thin, don’t you agree?”

  “All human here.” Ravager pointed at herself.

  “Tell whatever lie you want; we both know what we are.” Mad Hatter lightly jumped up and down.

  Bold. Ravager thought, dropping low. She had suspected that the woman had never met her match. She adapted well enough, but while that was to be expected thanks to the unearthed advantages given to the likes of them by their biology, Eugenia’s defeat was unusual. Mad Hatter should have been surprised, should have shed out rather than evading. Something or someone had influenced her, and she was taking Ravager seriously.

  The toes tapped, and Mad Hatter disappeared after the third jump. The amber eyes narrowed, trailing the woman’s movements. She wasn’t so much leaping from pce to pce as she was phasing in and out of reality, defying the ws of nature. No shock waves ruined the ndscape, not even ripples on the ground as Mad Hatter’s feet tapped again, carrying her elsewhere. Like a feather caught in a hurricane. She showed up on a hill and disappeared, picking up speed. Concerned, Ravager flexed her muscles and lunged at Mad Hatter, but her cws sliced through the afterimage and her snout burrowed through the hill.

  Ravager whirled, finding Mad Hatter all around her. The woman traversed hundreds of meters with every step, weaving a web of mocking afterimages around Ravager. The commander kept her cool, hearing the warm, excited breath at the back of her nape. She could barely keep track of her foe. But there was no way the khatun was unaware of the fw in her strategy. She forced Ravager onto the defensive, but what was the point? It wasn’t teleportation; an attack could come from a single direction. So why?

  The answer came faster than even Animalistica’s warning. Neurons had barely fred in her brain before the scimitars sliced. Mad Hatter attacked, flying past Ravager, and the storm created by her movement fttened the uneven ground and banished the clouds overhead beyond the horizon. The wave of destruction traveled in a straight line, drawing a vast line going from the east to the west.

  Momentum. Ravager toppled, clutching the gaping wound in her abdomen, gasping for air as her brain processed the situation and came up with an answer. Mad Hatter didn’t perform this trick with a flex of her muscles. She desperately needed the previous jumps, as they created wavelike shifts in her muscles and entire body, intensifying with each passing tap. With every subsequent movement, a wave traveling up her muscle had been forcibly conjoined into the overall mass of waves traveling down her muscle, gaining cataclysmic potential, ready to be released in a single, unfathomable burst of speed.

  A god-syer technique indeed. Too bad it was used on a monster.

  As she y face down, not breathing, the humorousness of the situation slowly brightened her mood. Her bck fur was drenched in the crimson pouring from the wide wound opened by the crisscrossing strike. Her organs, her blood vessels, her bones, and even her organs still shook, recoiling from the impact. It was a beautiful masterstroke, and a few more like it and even Ravager would die.

  And she could not afford to let that happen! Every facet of her personality ughed, amused that a person capable of ending her was right here, and yet Ravager had to overcome. She could not let a fellow monster win. She had a duty to her offspring, to the state, to her friends, and to Zero. For their future, she would forge a path to her own future. Only Geni, the angel, could end her in a way that would ensure an adequate outcome for the Wolf Tribe and overall prosperity.

  The injuries weren’t life-threatening; she had suffered worse before. It had taken her two weeks to recover from the broken spine. But prolonged battle wasn’t an option. They had done enough damage to the Core Lands, and Ravager could hear subterranean rivers hissing as they were falling into va through the cracked bedrock. It would take years to repair the damage they had already done.

  Ambush, then. Ravager stopped her heart and faked death. Lure the conqueror in and close the fangs on that thick neck. Not even Mad Hatter will be able to break free from Ravager’s hold.

  Animalistica screamed in Ravager’s brain, and she rolled, dodging a wide ssh of air that tore through the ground and opened a canyon.

  “Such a miserable end for such an impressive fighter,” Mad Hatter said dramatically, chuckling and keeping her distance. “Is that what you expected me to say? I can sense the lingering vitality in you, beast.”

  “Shallow,” Ravager grumbled. She restarted her heart, incorporating the vibrations coursing through her body and sending them up and down her limbs. What she could understand, she could master. “Much too shallow to bring me low.”

  “It’ll be disappointing otherwise, my monster. I’ll try harder next time.”

  “It won’t work anymore, madwoman.” Ravager stood up on two legs, hearing the wet pops. “You know, for a second there, I thought you were teleporting, but judging by that long cut going down and to the left of the injury you inflicted on me, it was speed. That’s why you were hopping around like a bunny, building up momentum.”

  “A bunny?”

  “An animal from the Old World. It had long ears.” Ravager tried to expin, pressing her index fingers to the sides of her head to imitate the animal. “Its fur was soft and of different colors; there were even blue types. It had long feet and shorter arms. Also, it looked really cute. We wanted to reintroduce a modified species into the wild, but we had no luck finding any remains, and Iterna refuses to sell us any. The stingy bastards…”

  “I have no need for fancy powers,” Mad Hatter chuckled, examining her arm. “Strength. Agility. Speed. Endurance. All I need is to bend the world to my will. Anything more exotic is bound to fail you at the worst possible moment.”

  “Never met a mind controller, I take it?” Ravager asked, encouraging the fool to continue. Her ruptured windpipe almost finished regenerating.

  “I did and often.” Mad Hatter began circling around Ravager. “People who can take control of others with just a thought. Freaks capable of boiling blood or altering it into poison. A single mistake meant death. I bested them all, wicked and noble, devouring them after proving their weakness to the Sky.”

  “Weakness? Devour? Who led you to this fucked-up ideology, girlie?” Ravager asked, genuinely curious. Mad Hatter sounded as if she was retelling a lie she had chosen to believe in, rather than an innate belief.

  “It is said that a woman suffers more in war.” Mad Hatter’s face softened as she looked away. A hint of something fshed in her eyes, too fast for Ravager to pick up hints. But the anger in the khatun’s pupils faded, returning them to normal. “We both know it is false. Men and women, once defeated, are vioted, stripped of their freedom, and forced to do the bidding of their masters. Those who refuse die. To survive, the loser must obey, and the strong rule.”

  It is as if I am looking at my own warped reflection!

  “You mentioned your parents and a khan, yet there is no one above you. Speaking from experience, then?” Ravager inquired further.

  “For a loser to become strong, the loser must rebel, earn freedom through struggle and carnage, and devour the former victor,” Mad Hatter answered.

  “And at some point, you lost.” Ravager nodded.

  “They are the ones who lost!” The woman bared her teeth, clenching the handles of her scimitars so hard that they whined. “I was a tag-along, nothing more. My mere existence sparked wars even before I was born. And they failed to… It’s funny.” Mad Hatter smiled gently, despite her ruined face. “He thought he could use me to secure his position eternally. Brood Lord joined me to carve himself a kingdom. Iron Lord follows me out of a desire to elevate his kind. Dantai worships me because I will unite the world. Everyone expects something from me, but they don’t understand that the world is not stuck in stasis. It is always in flux. No matter what the chains of oppression, a victor one day becomes compcent, even weak. Once I step down, the roles will change.”

  She dodged the question. Ravager returned the smile, banishing aggression. That bitch deserved to know what it was to be weak and then die. But... so had Geni once. So many had died because of her actions, but she had changed. Ravager was little more than a killer when the Dynast steered her in the right direction and tempered her illness. She was the st person to call anyone irredeemable.

  “If you understand this much, surely you can see the foolishness of pursuing a doomed crusade.” Ravager attempted to reason, unsure why exactly she cared.

  “Win, serve, or die. Such are the rules of nature, and I merely follow suit.” Mad Hatter sighed.

  “Such a bnd world you build,” Ravager said with disgust. “The strong can change everything to their liking. That is our privilege, and damn any rules! Hear me, stupid cub. Wanton gluttony leads to indigestion. The nation I’m helping to create will not be bnd. In it, those you consider weak will not have to fear the oppression of the strong, and in turn, there will be no need for constant vigince. Soldiers will guard, civilians will build, and artists will create. The creatures will be confined to... what’s the word... zoological habitats! Multiple cultures, many races, united and at peace under the banner of the Recmation Army, free to elect their leaders…”

  “The Dynast’s presence disagrees with the promise of any elections,” Mad Hatter noted.

  “What about him? Every house needs a foundation, and who else but the Dynast is fit to lead us? He is a visionary whose ideas shape our future. He sacrifices his own freedom to ensure the prosperity of millions. A nation needs an incorruptible leader to uphold the strict ws preventing any child from being locked up and experimented upon. Some freedoms need to be sacrificed so that the good guys can come in and save those in trouble! But since we started talking about my boss... The mere fact that I serve him belies your inane cims of ‘the ws of nature’,” Ravager teased. “I can kill him with a finger, but I could never repce him. Cristobo is a better officer than I and deserves to be at the helm of the Third…”

  “He’s dead.”

  “He got better.” Ravager waved her paw, smelling her friend. “In our future, there’ll be no deserts. Well, there will be, my cubs enjoy them, but they won’t be dangerous! The wastends will disappear; there will be parks and trees and rabbits…” Why didn’t she steal a rabbit from Iterna? Oh, that’s right. The international treaties banning poaching. You are rambling. A ghost of Number One whispered. You are losing her interest. Appeal to what she cares about. You can do it. “Your god has given you strength. But the way you lead, the way you have structured that Horde of yours, tells me that you care about none of this. It’s not too te to repent. You don’t have to be miserable or trapped by your position. The Recmation Army began as a military dictatorship, reigning over toxic mud. Look where we are now, what we have achieved, and dare to imagine what you can change the Gilded Horde into! Sit your ass down, bare your throat, and I’ll help you to mature and learn how to bring about the change and build yourself a pce to be happy!”

  “Who says I am unhappy, sister? I am what I am. No more, no less.” The khatun struck the side of her head with the ft of her scimitar. “Even now, the parasite clinging to me whispers poison, offering me strength for servitude. Idiot. The Sky has given me enough. I will not cheat, I will not cover, and I will never betray myself, be what may! Today we shall settle the fate of another kingdom. The Avatar of the Sky against the Incarnate of the Spirits. Let the strongest god win!” Her muscles bulged, and she pointed the scimitar at Ravager. “We had our talk. My bdes thirst for blood!”

  “Haaagh...” Ravager stretched in irritation. Geni would have found the right words to get through that thick skull. No luck here. “Fine, we’ll do it your way. Drown in it.” Number One in her brain groaned, pounding the broken barrier, and the beast whined in anticipation, pleading to be set loose.

  I can’t save anyone.

  Mad Hatter jumped; her foot slowly touched the ground, saving the woman from Ravager’s swing. The simple tap carried the khatun away, but the commander followed her, shattering the ground with a tap of her own, determined to give her opponent a taste of her medicine.

  Unlike her offspring, Ravager was a different creature. On the rare occasions when her brain functioned properly, she learned any new skill at a gnce. But that wasn’t the end of it. She didn’t thrive on victory alone. After suffering a defeat, her body adapted, hardening the bones, enrging the muscles, or simply giving her a wider range of motion. By accident or design, her mom had created a perpetually self-improving biological war machine. Mad Hatter’s insane speed had triggered another evolution, and her senses began to adapt.

  Iterna. Hope you can make Eugenia keep up.

  She closed on the khatun from behind, bringing the paw down. The golden streaks met the blow, then scissored at the nearing torso. Their speed pushed both fighters past each other, erupting the area with a shockwave. Silently, the air pushed away, Mad Hatter’s right side was opened in a fountain of gore and splintered bones. Ravager shivered under the impact of another cut that opened her from the shoulder to the ribs.

  Jabs faced her, and Ravager veered off course, shielding her neck and feeling holes dotting her hide. Her cws thrust at Mad Hatter’s eyes, narrowly missing them and chopping off the top of her nose. She blocked a ssh and slid her paw down to the khatun’s fist, bleeding the woman’s fingers. A ssh to the neck went through Ravager’s afterimage.

  They continued, building momentum and attacking, hacking and stabbing, feinting and blocking. There was no sound; once again, a vacuum formed around them. Ravager, still unaccustomed to the unusual style and destroying the ground with every tap, noticed that Mad Hatter was on the defensive, limiting herself to counterattacks. She lunged, wanting to enter the brawl, and earned herself a blindingly swift kick to the jaw. The khatun briefly released a portion of her stored speed to move at near-lightning speed.

  The blow rolled her toward the sky; the sounds resumed. Ravager tensed, bringing her forearms together to shield herself from the crisscrossed strike. Great distance still separated the two, but in the absence of anything to bounce off, Ravager was an easy target for the air ssh, and long gashes opened across her skin.

  It couldn’t be helped. She had to block it or risk having her eyes popped. But as she tensed, Ravager lost the precious vibrations that ran along her muscles. Clever. Mad Hatter found a fw in her own technique. She gnced at Houstad, seeing it clearly through the clouds of smoke and an avanche of explosions covering the ruined walls. Her boys and girls were dying there. The khatun jumped.

  “No more.” Ravager straightened her arms and returned the attack, performing it with her own cws.

  Where the clouds behind her were cut by air, her own arcs of the propelled air rammed the khatun into the ground, breaking one of her fingers and at st cracking the unknown alloy of her bdes a little. Below, a new crater of destruction spread out for kilometers. Mountains colpsed. Lava and water mixed in the crater, spewing steam.

  Ravager used it. Her own technique, an imperfect technique she had been developing ever since that shameful defeat at Outsider’s sp. A product of sleepless nights and countless self-fgeltions, coupled with extensive research done into the limits of her body. While Till Ingo and the state’s researchers conducted their tests, she learned in secret.

  She named it “Damnation”, for in using it, Ravager risked spelling her own doom. It didn’t unlock any hidden potential but rather pushed her beyond her limits at the cost of her health. When Mad Hatter leapt from beneath the bck and orange waters, she was greeted by the monster at her very utmost prime, oozing red from the pores of her body. They locked in battle, no longer pnning to separate, and descended in a cocoon woven of cws and golden scimitars.

  The weak will be devoured.