Chapter 1913 – Counteroffensive 2 – A Shard of her Hate [Ehtra POV]
Ehtra’s ability to sense sinners was acute, but it did not go across the divide of Illusion Barriers and real space. She was also one of the few tools they had to reliably locate the Lorylim. Every piece of Mother Chaos was like an incandescent ember, scorching a hole into her awareness of the world. At this moment, she felt none of them. It was a cause for alarm. During all of the operations she had been part of so far, the Lorylim had been present in one minor form or another.
Total absence could only mean that they had withdrawn into strongholds.
The primary goal of the operation was Servitude Island. It was the largest island on the lake and thus had value for that fact alone. More importantly, the evacuated maid school on it did have considerable infrastructure, including a currently deactivated long range teleporter. If they secured that ground, the Guild Hall would repair the outpost and thus open up another rapid deployment option for her Master and her fellow haremettes.
That it was offline also meant that Aclysia’s decision to evacuate it as soon as possible had been entirely correct. The Lorylim had claimed it. There was no reason to believe they would give it back without a fight.
“We have secured the path, Lady Vengeance.”
“Good. Lay low,” Ehtra ordered them. A final nod to the soldiers with her was all they needed. They carried their arms openly, a privilege most units did not have. With so much of the Abyss on the continent dead or claimed by the Lorylim, much of what had been the support infrastructure of bribing officials and making up licenses had fallen to the wayside. Getting arrested by a cop was suddenly a real threat and they lacked the Mobile Barriers and schooled Fateweavers to get everyone around properly.
Ehtra had hers though.
In her suit, the First of Hatred strut through the forested area. It was a short walk through, following the presences of sin from her subordinates. All humans were sinners, it was in their nature. She was no different. For as much as she struggled not to sin, she had only met one entity that was free of it and the Grim Reaper was nowhere near here.
‘I am interested to meet this Lucifrena,’ Ehtra thought. According to John, her Babel Phrase had stated that she would never sin. A bold statement that her senses would put to the test.
For now, she stepped to the shore of the lake. The operatives were awaiting her. A quick hand signal caused them to disperse, to begin patrolling the area in pairs of two. For what came next, she could not use concern over who was in her way.
No Trap Barriers had been put up. Nothing prevented her from getting on the boat that they maintained on the mundane side in one of the local hobby harbours. Nothing stopped her from driving the motorized vehicle to her destination. Something attempted to keep her from entering. She pressed against it with the force of her mind. It gave.
Ehtra shifted into the Protected Space. Brackish water turned black with the filth of Tiamat’s corruption. ‘No… I smell no salt,’ the First of Hatred considered, confused. The goddess of chaos was an entity of the ocean, always had been, born from the unknowable depths of the abyss. So went the legend. Every encounter with the Lorylim near bodies of water since had carried with it the scent of saltwater.
So why not this time?
Ehtra could only speculate. The propeller of her boat soon refused to spin, the machinery clogged by semi-sentient slime. It had served its purpose anyhow.
Lady Vengeance rose. The suit pulled beneath her skin, replaced simultaneously by thick plates of ornate, black metal. Gold and silver trim surrounded the various segments and rose as highlights where the joints were protected by extra material.
Something vile rose from the water. A corrupted elemental of some kind, so dissolved in the madness of the Lorylim that it failed to register as its own entity in the scorching ocean of sin around her. All the same, Ehtra raised her bolt gun and pulled the trigger. BLAM! The projectile ripped the entirety of the creature apart, turning it into vapour.
Ehtra’s white hair shortened on its own, disappearing under the back of her helmet. The visor covered her face entirely. The slant of the green-glowing gaps left for the eyes suggested an eternally annoyed, vengeful stare. It was merciful compared to the expression of the woman behind it.
Out of nothing, Ehtra’s grey wings spread. Quills like hundreds of blades rattled. A singular beat and she was in the air, rising higher and higher in the stale horror of her mother’s making. The Blood Halo shone above her head, a thin red band of light. It would be a crown of ichor before she was done here.
There was sin all around here. The Protected Space was steeped in it. The Lorylim had infested the waters and burrowed deep into the soil. Yet, among all of that mass of contemptible weakness, she felt a singular flare of something else. That was her target – and she activated her Master-granted abilities to truly sense them.
“YOU DARE?!”
Ehtra went on an immediate dive. Servitude Island seemed outwardly untouched at first, but the truth became apparent within seconds. Houses tore open, structures were repurposed into carapaces, and dozens of disgusting globs of slime were launched at her from biological canons.
To dodge was to take a longer route towards her target. Wings pulled in, Ehtra spun around her own axis and sliced her way through the filth. Her target moved in reaction to her approach. A futile attempt to escape or to add further insult to where she dared to be. Opening her wings wide again, the First of Hatred adjusted her aim. She slammed feet first through the roof of the mansion, breaking through layers of Gnome-made structures, until she exploded into the master bedroom.
It had been transformed into a black forest. The trees were veins, stretching from the ceiling into a black pool that stood two stories deep inside the structure. The grey angel would have sunk into muck, had it not been for a swift flutter of her wings. Even as she stabilized herself, she raised her bolt gun to blow her target apart.
A humanoid torso stuck out of the concentrated filth. The curve of breasts was still clearly visible, a mockery of the human form standing out in a body caked with ever shifting black and red ooze. Her hair was similar, a point of combed order, tied up into a bun, atop a face that scarcely deserved the moniker. The right half had melted into eyes, flat ones, swimming on the surface of the liquid Lorylim matter. Her nose was a broken thing, her mouth crooked and filled with sharp teeth. One human eye sat wrongly aligned on the left side, entirely silver.
Ehtra recognized Anna from the tournament.
[Corrupted Anna AI Picture: ]
BLAM!
The bullet cut through the air. A part of the floor rose up, hardening before the projectile could blow the brains out of the monstrosity. The wall itself was torn apart, giving Ehtra an opening to fly into.
Anna gargled. Her body was dragged along by some kind of tether beneath the surface. Whether it was another Lorylim or part of her own body hardly mattered. All would be purged by the time she was through here.
Explosions of filth gave birth to arms, grasping at the First of Hatred as she chased after the corrupter of her Master’s residence. Anna’s head rolled aimlessly on its neck. Emotions occasionally twitched on her face. Regret, joy, anger, fear – none of which Ehtra cared about. Her mission was clear.
The hands brushed over her armour, sending pain through her system. Anna’s Innate Ability had been Reverse Healing. A bothersome matter for others, but against Ehtra it served little purpose. Her health regenerated rapidly and the lower her HP went, the more the Blood Halo would boost her defences.
The Contempt Armour took care of the rest.
Ehtra slammed the bolt gun into its magnetized holster on her thigh. The Astrotium blade, part of her being, appeared in her hand. Holding it in both hands engaged the Executor Stance. Dragging it through the living sludge beneath her harvested the enemy for points on a shield made of just punishment.
The powers John granted her would have justified a much harsher life than she lived to pay for them.
The Synapse creature screeched in rage, then was dragged beneath the surface of the vile sludge. Ehtra had none of it. She dove right after on wings of fury. The sheer force of her swing parted the mass before her. She saw Anna. The waves undulated with a will of their own, reversing their flow quicker than physics would suggest. Ehtra caught her prey. The black sea swallowed her.
Quiet.
With a thunderous beat of her wings, Ehtra forced herself forwards. Something resisted. The wall gave when Anna was slammed into it. The grey angel burst from the side of the mansion, driving the Lorylim before her. Her intestines hung out of her opened stomach, trailing after her as a bloated tail.
In disgust, Ehtra launched the former woman at the grass. Splattering Lorylim matter gnawed at the green, spreading as blots of mould on an otherwise pristine garden. It disgusted Ehtra, just as the spilling filth behind her disgusted her – just as the weight of the woman’s sins disgusted her.
The intestines kept Anna connected to the insides of the house like an umbilical cord. Sludge pumped through, empowering the woman rising to her feet like a puppet whose strings were getting pulled.
Ehtra discarded her sword for the moment, drew the bolt gun again, and held the massive weapon with both hands. She stared down Anna, who seemed content to just absorb as much Lorylim matter as possible. She counted the seconds, ‘One, two, three – FOUR!’
No Pity boosted the damage of the bullet by 400%. It tore through the umbilical cord. Hailey’s enigmatic tech made each bullet an explosive and Ehtra’s ability turned it into a localized catastrophe. The incendiary round burst the bloated intestine, evaporating the impact point and shredding metres of it in both directions. The ground itself was turned into a crater.
Ehtra followed the transformation of the ground into glass with her waking eyes. After No Pity dealt its damage, the Passive boosted her Physical Stats by half of the percentage. In other words, she was 200% up on Strength, Agility and Endurance. It only lasted for a second, but that was plenty at this level of engagement.
Ehtra gripped her sword again. She pulled the trigger on the bolt gun a second time. BLA-! Lady Vengeance tossed the weapon aside, then moved ahead of the sound wave of her own attack. She had activated Hate Spike for that attack. 100 Contempt for double damage and another 25% Agility.
The rest of her Contempt flowed into her sword.
Anna reacted. She began to howl. She raised her hands. All of it was too slow. Energy whirled around the Astrotium blade, screaming like a chainsaw even in Ehtra’s dilated perception. The weapon carved through the creature’s chest, scattering ribs and scratching spine.
Ehtra’s perception returned to her regular state just as her sword exited the flesh of the woman, leaving behind a gap of flesh that looked like a ploughed field. Anna swiped at the First of Hatred.
BLAM!
The bullet, then the soundwave caught up with Lady Vengeance, blowing the biceps of the woman to bits halfway through her counterattack. Pulling her sword back, Ehtra went for a low swing. The chainsaw teeth cut magically ahead of the keen Astrotium edge. A moment later, Anna fell to the ground, her legs separated at the knees.
The mass of Lorylim matter continued to pour out of the building. A Grey Smite was enough to keep that at bay. Grey energy, shaped into a lance, scorched the matter. Like everything Ehtra did, it dealt considerable bonus damage against Tiamat and her creations.
Anna gargled. Her chest was knitting itself back together, as was her arm. In that time, she was helpless, too damaged to present a threat to the First of Hatred. ‘Not that she was a threat to begin with,’ Ehtra thought. She had a level advantage and she was taking true Vengeance against these creatures. In terms of raw damage, she easily dealt twice what they did and she healed it. ‘I’m coming for you soon enough, Mother Chaos.’
Inventory opened, Ehtra withdrew a vial of grey liquid. She pulled the cork from the top, then crouched down on top of Anna. Carefully, she poured the contents into the gaping chest wound.
The Lorylim matter reacted with an immediate screech. It squirmed, then it crawled, melting even as it tried to get away. Ehtra made sure to commit the process to the Harem Comms by taking pictures with her eyes. Another highly useful addition to it all.
“What… is that?” Anna croaked.
Ehtra put the vial away without answering. The results of her experiment were sent to Delicia, while Lady Vengeance stood above the formerly infested woman. All traces of the Lorylim had been eaten away, the present corruption having been overwhelmed by Lyndell’s essence and made to devour itself.
“You have done one service in your life at least, sinful creature.” The First of Hatred made her helmet flow back, allowing her scowl to show in full. Anna shivered. The open wounds would have justified it. In the absence of the regeneration of the Lorylim, her legs remained cut, her chest damaged, and the majority of her face was covered in horrid scars.
“Y-you cured me!” Anna spoke rapidly. “I’m free now, I can-“
“I see your fear,” Ehtra interrupted, her words as harsh as a falling guillotine. “I can sense your sins. You weren’t corrupted. You sold yourself to the Lorylim for power – you sold others to the Lorylim for power.” The grey angel raised her bolt gun. “I remember you flirting with the thieving creature. You betrayed him.”
“No, I-“ Anna started, only to stop when she continued to stare into the unflinching, uncompromising green eyes of Lady Vengeance. “…Please do not kill me.”
“I wish I had something other than death for you.” Ehtra pulled the trigger, obliterating the woman’s head in an instant. “It is far too merciful a fate for traitors.”
She observed the corpse for several seconds, making sure nothing came crawling out. Then, she slowly raised her hand to her ear.
“I’ve eliminated the primary threat. Bring the flamers – the heavy flamers.”