Chapter 24: Bonus chapter part 4: Annie’s backstory.

"Weak." Annie smiled, feeling Kayleen’s throat underneath her fingers.

"I submit." Kayleen spat blood on Annie's fingers, and Annie threw the former wolf hag into the air with a twitch of her wrist. Annie looked at how the body of Kayleen flew to the ceiling of the sparring hall like a doll. Annie's beating brought the former wolf hag to the brink of losing her conscience. Annie extended her arm, catching Kayleen and slamming her into the floor with all her might. Wolf hag Annie smiled upon hearing how scout Kayleen groaned in pain. The jaws of Annie left a mark on the sturdy neck of her opponent.

"And don’t you dare challenge me again," Annie let go of the neck of her opponent, leaving deep wounds in the flesh. The wolf hag spat out the blood of Kayleen and looked around her, throwing her arms up in a gesture of victory. The pack of Annie, the pack that once belonged to Kayleen, looked at their new wolf hag. Annie came back strong from the faraway land. Her build was mostly the same, yet her movements were now fluid, showing the restrained power behind them. After spending two years studying and training under the teacher, Annie no longer felt inadequate or weak. She was strong and felt strongly. This was an intoxicating feeling, a feeling that sent a surge of adrenaline and euphoria across her veins, causing the new wolf hag to smile wildly. Her eyes found Lucendra, "Carry scout Kayleen to the infirmary at once!" Her first command as a true wolf hag felt good. Now she has earned her rank by right. She followed Kayleen with her eyes, only now noticing that Kayleen once again had both breasts. It seems Annie wasn't the only one who worked to better herself during this time.

I am going to grind Virginia into dust. Today. Annie allowed her smile to widen at this thought. Retribution! Finally, after all these years, she will reclaim her honor.

Soldiers of the pack walked toward Annie and bared their necks in a gesture of submission. She bit some all the way to the blood, while others, like quiet Carty or the Branded, she only touched lightly. Carty had her own problems to deal with. Thankfully, all of them managed to evacuate from Pearl safely, but Annie felt that Carty still deeply troubled by the betrayal of her friend. While Annie wanted nothing else but to settle things with the scout once and for all, a half-assed victory is no victory at all. No, she will ensure that Carty will first recover both mentally and physically, and only then she will dominate her in a fair fight. Ultis was nowhere to be seen, and this slightly annoyed Annie. All the lesser members of the pack were meant to be present during the challenge for the rank. She will have to punish Ultis later.

"Wolf hag," Carty said, coming closer, baring her neck to the wolf hag. Annie once more held herself back from biting the scout. Both of them felt that strange sensation upon leaving the city. They both knew that if Dragena hadn't been there, the strange being who had stalked them in the middle of the night would have killed them and the teacher. Carty became at least ten centimeters taller during her time in Pearl, and as usual, she was elegantly dressed. The scout looked into the eyes of Annie, "Warlord is calling for you. We have a new mission."

****

This sucks. Annie decided for herself. She was sitting in the ATV that was racing across the plains of the Ravaged Lands toward the border of Pearl. The ATV was jumping up and down on each stone and on every bump, causing Ron to smack his head against the ceiling of the car from time to time.

"Wildling, oh honey for my eyes, could you perhaps avoid some of the stones?" Ron asked, running with one paw over his head. He was the only one in the car in regular body armor, the kind that was meant for the foot soldiers in the field. He left his helmet in his backpack and now suffered each time his head connected with the metal ceiling of the car. Meanwhile, both other passengers produced soft metal sounds upon hitting the ceiling and could care less about the uneven road due to both of them being clad in full power armor.

"The male is suffering. Virginia, slow down." Annie lazily commanded, looking out of the car window at the desolate landscape outside.

"Nah, Ronny boy can just put on his pretty helmet on. Gotta hurry!" Virginia smirked, keeping the pedal pressed.

"The attack happened two days ago," Ron tried to reason with Virginia, tinkering with a small communicator on his knees. A small detail fell from his paw, and he looked for it under Annie’s seat, "It is unlikely that anyone is still there."

"Shut it, male." Annie commanded, calling the time on the data stream before her eyes.

Ron was right, of course. But they all had to play their roles for now.

Dragena had summoned Annie just a mere two days ago, offering her this assignment. Unlike any other mission, the wolf hag had to volunteer for this job due to the extreme risk involved. Over the past years, the number of people missing on the southern border of Pearl has reached tens of thousands. The missing people were mostly refugees, during their time of training, Annie and Carty saw tons of flyers asking for help in locating lost family members in the Pearl city. Annie even had to scare away some thugs who tried to kidnap a cub from the kinder garden meant for cubs of refugees. Annie called the police, of course, but the Pearl City police officers were known for their corruption, almost all of them were either in the pocket of the Respectable People or worked for the cartel. The thugs most likely escaped. And people still go missing.

Recently, several people from the Reclamation Army went missing. All of them were civilians, one of them was persistently visiting the villages of the Wolf Tribe. Wyrm Lord asked the Regulators, the local force who governed over this part of the region, for help in finding kidnappers, but Blaguna Nokto sent no reply back. The commander of the Third Army, angry at being ignored, unleashed the Omega team and asked the investigation bureau for assistance in this matter. It took the Omegas two weeks to sneak in and gather information. During their investigation, an entire caravan of traders was attacked, the caravan was made up of regular people who often bought goods in the lands of Reclaimers and sold these goods at a higher price among the Bento Tribe. Regulators and Reclaimers both arrived at the site of the attack, noticing the distinct lack of human bodies. By interrogating local raiders, agents of the investigation bureau learned that someone was paying a high price for the slaves. The Omegas returned from their own mission with fresh prisoners and unexpected information from their contact in the Pearl City. Someone within the government agency of Pearl was willing to aid the Reclaimers in eliminating these slavers. By connecting the dots, the Omega team made a theory about the possible existence of the underground arena within Pearl. Agents of the investigation bureau made a theory that some locals in the Ravaged Lands could potentially be working with the slavers who provide the "fresh meat" for this possible arena. Far too many caravans were ambushed recently on the previous safe routes. The Omega team made their plan, and Dragena allowed the participation of one of her wolfkins in this. A few other people could have handled this mission better than her.

Dragena also invited Annie to join in the second phase of the plan. The goal of Virginia and Annie was to travel around the local villages, asking people for any signs of potential slavers or attackers. And only then, visit the recent attack site. Both wolf hags were also instructed to leave their car unattended for as long as possible during the time inside the villages. Dragena warned Annie about a potential danger, but the wolf hag was ever eager to risk her life. Reclaimers were missing. This grievous crime called for swift retribution. Dragena warned Annie about other problems as well. The most likely location of the arena was in the land of Pearl. While the Reclaimers had allies within the government, this mission did not have the official permission of the Pearl’s government. A certain amount of discretion was required.

Ron complained once more, after his head slammed into the ceiling. In a burst of movement, Annie turned to him, grabbing the male by his neck and squeezing it. With fear in his eyes, Ron reached for her vambrace. His fingers tapped on it, almost nervously. His fingers beat a seemingly panicked tune on the metal of the power armor, but Annie’s ears discerned a clearer tune in his frantic tapping. This tune is actually saying something.

A bug is in the car. Any moment now.

Annie slammed Ron back into his seat and hissed in his face: "Shut. Up. Your whining really gets on my nerves, male."

Ron leaned back, letting out a whining noise and baring his neck to Annie in a gesture of submission. The wolf hag was aiming to take a bite when something hit the side of the car, sending it spinning into the air. Annie grabbed the edge of her seat and the impact of a car crushing into the ground still sent her flying through the ceiling of the car. Rolling around, she found herself two steps away from the ATV that was now laying on its back. Virginia tore away the door of the driver's seat, crawling outside alongside Ron.

"What in Spirits' name was…" Virginia asked, her voice sounding weak and frightened. She tried to stand up. In the next moment, Annie heard a sound. The sound of servomotors moving within the power armor and the sound of something else. This sound reminded Annie of the times when the teacher used an iron staff during training with Carty. This was the sound of a staff or maybe a pole being sent forward with a thrusting movement.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a figure in the air. It looked like a wall made of pure air, propelled forward by some unknown force. Annie was no stranger to the natural disasters of these lands and saw several sandstorms in her life. Even experienced one during the training. However, this time it appeared as if someone had plucked a five-step-tall and wide piece of air from the air and propelled it forward. This wave hit Annie with the force of an explosion, sending all the wolfkins away from the car. The kinetic absorbers within the power armor easily dispersed the impact across the entire surface of the armor, yet Annie still felt a hit across her fangs. It felt as if some greenhorn warrior had taken a shovel and slammed the wolf hag across the fangs with full force. It was a strange feeling, but Annie once experienced it, when Lucendra smashed Annie’s snout by accident during a drill. With a frown of annoyance on her snout, Annie allowed the power armor to fully close itself around her body, covering the wolfkin like an eggshell. The lenses of several cameras on the power armor cracked under the onslaught of this strange force.

Both wolf hags landed on their feet, and Virginia caught screaming Ron in her paws, putting the male on the ground. The car was sent flying once more, landing behind the group. Two lines were visible on the ground, marking the passing of the two surges that hit the team previously.

"This place was supposed to be safe!" Ron howled in panic. His scream fell short when Virginia punched him across the head, causing Ron to fall silent.

"There!" Virginia pointed with her paw at the rocky hills some forty meters away. Annie’s lenses caught the sight of a tall figure in power armor of the steel color. Instead of a lens, the figure had a full visor on her helmet. In one hand, the figure held a tall spear, edge of the spear was pointed at the wolfkins. The long purple cape flowed from the shoulders of the figure, held on her body by the pauldrons of her armor. The power armor of the attacker bore no marks indicating to which group this person belonged.

Annie reached for her back, reading her shardgun. Quickly taking aim at the foe, she pressed the trigger. At this distance, it was pointless to aim, the spread of the shards would be far too great, all she could hope for was to land at least a couple of hits. The moment her weapon fired, the figure made a thrust with her spear in the direction of the wolfkins, the armor of the attacker shining under the sun like glass. Another piece of air was plucked from the air before the figure by the tip of its spear and was sent forth. This was not a shockwave, for air moved in a strict line at the group instead of spreading in all directions. Shards connected with a burst of moving air and were pushed aside. Virginia took Ron in her paws and slung him over her shoulder, and both wolf hags jumped out of the way of the attack. The gush of air flew in a straight line across the place where wolfkins stood a moment ago, leaving a trail of destruction on the stone ground.

"A power freak, huh." Virginia said, readying her weapon. She cursed upon seeing black shapes on the hill near the figure. The enemy had a back-up. The figure moved the spear-wielding hand back, making another thrust toward the group.

"Leg it! To the mountains!" Annie screamed, jumping away from the line of enemy fire. Landing on her feet and turning to the mountains behind her, she felt something was crashing against her armor, sounding almost like raindrops. Except in the Ravaged Lands, rain did not exist. For over two hundred years, these scorched plains only knew the heat of the sun. Bullets. A hail of bullets that’s what was hitting Annie in the back right now. The rest of the attackers joined this mysterious person. Annie smiled beneath her helmet, knowing that each thrust of the foe was made with the intention of forcing the wolf hags to flee toward a small pass between two mountains, and the bullets themselves were insufficient to pierce their armor. They were being led.

The shadow of something huge fell on the group, and looking up, Annie saw a flying machine in the form of a crimson ship in the air. The sleek form of the machine resembled a knife, instead of sails, a pair of engines held the machine in the air. Four shapes leaped from the flying ship, landing in explosions of sand and rock. Each of the newcomers was clad in steel-colored power armor with the same looking pitch-black visor that hid their faces as the first attacker. The only difference from the first figure was that three of the attackers were wearing black capes on their shoulders, and one figure was wearing a red cape. The new foes were armed with near identical looking claymores the size of a normal person. The edges of their capes dragged on the rocky ground. The enemy wearing a red cape landed closest to Virginia, in one bound, this foe crossed the distance between the wolf hag and itself, swinging with a two-handed claymore at the wolf hag. Virginia, still holding Ron, backed away from the strike. The sword cleaved the ground in front of Virginia. Virginia had to block the next attack with her own arm, the wolf hag hissed when the enemy’s sword cleaved through the vambrace of the power armor and left a small cut on the wolf hag’s wrist. Before the attacker could move for a third strike, Annie kicked the armored form away from Virginia. With a curse, the figure flew to the side. Even dulled by the helmet, the voice of the attacker was clearly female. Running toward the pass between mountains, Annie herself had to dodge the sword thrust of one of the attackers. Their speed was impressive, and their moves lacked no strength, indicating that the attackers were from the number of new breeds or that they were on a stim that boosts physical abilities. The theory about foes being from the number of new breeds was further confirmed by the enemy’s height. New breeds or no, they were too impatient, all three attackers were acting like individualists instead of acting like a team. Two times, Annie had to restrain herself from going on the counterattack, for each of her opponents was way too eager to try and claim the first kill, pushing ahead and leaving themselves overexposed. Backing down further into the pass, Virginia threw Ron ahead of herself and spun around, kicking out with her leg. Her kick sliced through the metal pauldron of one of the attackers and sent the foe flying like a doll into a pit nearby. The enemy has rolled down into a deep hole, leaving traces of blood on the ground behind her and losing her sword.

Too violent. Annie gritted her teeth, backing down from the attacks. They were told to show moderation…

The enemy in the red cape joined the remaining two attackers, and both wolf hags had to retreat once more, step by step, before the blurry of blades before them. Attack after attack was coming for the necks, wrists, or legs of the wolfkins. And yet Annie noticed so many blind spots… One attack was too wide, leaving the foe exposed. Just a simple strike with her claws across the side and…

No. The mission takes priority. Annie breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Ron’s panicked scream behind them. Since that moment, they have been retreating for a good two minutes by now. Hopefully, Blaze and the others were successful in carrying out their part of the plan.

The group was pushed back a good twenty paces from the pit when Annie felt a surge of electricity hit her in the back. The discharge of the unknown weapon was potent enough to make even her body go limp. Feeling saliva trickle down her chin, Annie slumped on the ground like a rag.

She heard the sound of Virginia’s body falling nearby and saw how the attackers came closer, sheathing their weapons. A steel boot hit Annie across the side, turning her around, another kick landed on the neck of the wolf hag and caused her to split.

"Don’t damage my goods, please." An unknown yet slightly familiar voice said. Whoever was speaking had a calm and deep voice, yet Annie was sure that she had heard this voice before. She looked around through the cameras on her power armor.

A group of men came into view, all of them were geared in body armors that had seen better times. A mark of the mercenary company could be seen on their shoulders, four claws leaving a tear. The Rift Talons, the mercenaries of the deceased Alsyn. A tall figure covered from head to toes in a black cloak stepped forward, removing a hood from her face.

Ultis looked down at the downed wolf hags and smiled. Lifting her foot, she slammed down on Annie’s chest, cracking the ground underneath the wolf hag and causing Annie to gasp for air.

"Ul… Ultis?" Annie asked in a shocked voice.

"Still conscious," Ultis critically clicked with her tongue. Annie could see the edge of the power armor looking above the collar of the cloak, "Pals, fry bitches better next time. Unlike the male, they are still conscious."

"Kill you… All of you…" Virginia pushed the words out of herself, trying to growl. Her growl came out sounding like a mewling instead.

"But… wh..y?" Annie managed to say, feeling how she was losing control over her limbs.

"Because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life living in a gullet and by being beaten…" Ultis moved her foot up, slamming it against the chest and spearing Annie with pain once more, "…By the likes of you, scout. No, I am moving up in the world from now on. And you are going to help in this humble endeavour."

"Friends of yours?" A new voice asked and the woman with a spear in her hand appeared in the view. The tip of the spear pierced the ground centimeters away from Annie’s head.

"Be careful with them," Ultis snapped angrily at the woman, "This meat will bring me some good tokens," Ultis smiled, "Ah, I misspoke. You use credits as currency in Pearl, right?"

"Yes. You didn’t answer my question," The woman removed the helmet, showing the elegant face, unmarked by any scars. Long raven hair was tied up behind the round face, two blue eyes looked down at Annie and Virginia with a slight disgust. This woman was clearly beautiful by normies' standards. The thin lips of the woman pressed into line when she saw the last member of the attack team coming back. The last attacker was limping, her black cape was wrapped around the torn pauldron in an attempt to stop the bleeding, she hunched under the weight of her power armor, "Pathetic. You allowed them to disable your armor? Ultis, I will compensate you for the cost of their power armor." The woman lifted her long spear out of the ground and slammed the lower end of the spear into the face of Annie, breaking through the helmet and knocking out the wolf hag.

****

She took a breath, feeling pain in her strained wrists. Her arms were strapped to something and pushed behind her body, almost to the point of snapping. She tried to move her arms and felt a metal ring on each of her wrists, biting deeply into her skin. She could feel the metal pole behind herself, her neck was pressed to the cold metal by a steel ring. Her legs were tied together and pressed to the metal pole by something that felt like a metal net. Her body hurt; stiffness from being unable to move for who knows how many hours, as well as the side effects of being beaten, electrocuted, and possibly drugged, kicked in.

Annie smiled, enjoying the pain, and opened her eyes. She was in a small cell, with bright light shining directly into her eyes. She heard the angry breath of the Virginia somewhere to her left and the whining sounds of Ron to her right. The accursed metal around her neck made it impossible to turn her head, the edges of the metal were slicing through her skin each time she tried to break through. She felt her own blood run down her neck and felt calm. She was alive. Her allies were alive.

A figure stepped from the light, covering almost the entire view of the wolfkin. Clad in oversized power armor, the person was built of a golem. The figure's metal pauldrons rose higher than the head, and each finger, covered in reinforced gleaming steel, was thicker than Annie's fingers. Even with Annie’s legs not touching the ground, the figure was towering over her. A single pistol could be seen on the hip of the figure, the vambrace on its left arm had a built-in terminal. The figure's helmet had been made in a square shape, and rows of cables ran from underneath the helmet to the back of the figure and to its shoulders. Two crimson lenses of the helmet burrowed into Annie’s eyes, trying to gauge something. With a soft hissing sound, the helmet of the figure splits into three parts, sliding onto the shoulders and onto the back. The rough woman’s face looked at the Annie, she looked as if someone had cut her from the slab of stone. A metallic breather device, fashioned after a jaw, replaced the lower part of the woman, her each breath was accompanied by a loud hiss.

"Greetings, cripple." Annie smiled at this strange woman.

The woman's gray eyes didn't betray a hint of emotion. Still sizing up prisoners, the woman spoke in a hoarse voice: "They don’t look strong to me."

"Then surely you won’t be against the idea of betting a lot of tokens against them, right?" Ultis asked in a sweet tone, coming from the lights. She was still dressed in the same black cloak and power armor without a helmet. A sturdy looking man with short black hair and a few scars on his face accompanied Ultis. On his combat gear, he bore the marks of the Rift Talons.

"Hello there, poppet," Annie said, her smile widening and revealing her fangs, "Pray come closer, I wish to sing you a tune."

"Please, spare us," Ron whined, loudly crying, "The command will pay a ransom for us."

"I will cleave you from head to chisel and feed your remains to your dogs!" Virginia growled and the mercenary looked at her with a smile on his face.

The woman was silent, continuing to look at the prisoners from head to toes. She stood just outside the reach of Annie’s jaws. The wolf hag tried her best to try and bite her but could not even move an inch. Finally, she tried to spit at the woman. The right hand of the woman moved to the vambrace with the terminal. She pressed a single button, and Ron’s screams filled the room.

Annie felt how her very neck was on fire. A metal collar underneath the metal ring on her neck went hot, taking away control over her body and spearing her with pain over and over again. A searing heat was spreading from this blasted thing, flowing through the veins and the muscles like a torrent of lava. Annie deduced from the growling sound coming from Virginia that the stupid idiot was suffering from the same effects. She tried to breath and found that she couldn’t. Molten metal now filled her lungs, each attempt to inhale air was met with a surge of pain.

"Don’t ruin my goods, please," Ultis said with an annoyance in her voice, looking at the trashed bodies before her. She frowned at her pretty nose and took a handkerchief soaked with perfume out of her cloak and pressed it to her nose when Ron released his bowels, "The male is already at his limit. Turn off the slave collars, if you would."

“Oh, so you know what these are?" The woman pressed a button, and Annie hungrily gasped for air, feeling how the searing heat let go of her lungs.

"Wore one for five years," Ultis tapped at her neck, "Along with a tiny weeny bomby thingy that was placed into my womb. Kept me disciplined until I clawed all this away from myself," She smiled innocently, "And then I clawed away the eyes of the one who did this to me."

"This is why you need these tubes each time you leave for a leak," The woman asked, and Ultis raised her brow in surprise, "Don’t be surprised. You are my dear guest, how could I leave you out of my vision even for a second?"

"Show some respect to the commander." The mercenary snapped angrily, putting his hand over a pistol on his belt, and the woman glanced at him.

"I will show respect to whoever I want, Roll," She locked her gaze on the mercenary, and he held it. Whoever this person was, he was no coward, "I am surprised that you lot chose to follow another wolfkin, after the last one led your group to ruin."

"You are kidding, right?" Roll calmly asked, "Ultis was the one who helped us to take over the Tinkov facility. She was the one who helped us escape from the prison and ensured that we landed back on our feet."

"I was quite a busy birdy," Ultis smiled upon seeing how Annie's face turned into a stone mask. The mercenary leader shrugged her shoulders, wiping out the blood from the corner of her mouth, "Not my fault that you were all so stupid."

"Ultis," Virginia had managed to say, her every word filled with pain, "Would you like me to devour both your eyes at once, or should I leave one to you, so you could see how your life will expire for your treachery?"  The wolf hag groaned from pain once more when the woman pressed something on her terminal once again.

The towering woman looked down on the snout of Annie. Another figure came from the lights, a bald man with an impressive mustache that curled all the way back to his left ear. The left side of the man’s face was normal, even somewhat handsome. And the right side of his face was a thing of horror. The flesh lay in folds on his face, shape of his skull on the right resembled that of a guard dog, and instead of teeth he had rows of sharp looking fangs on the right side of his mouth. He was dressed in a brown vest, a simple white shirt underneath, and black trousers.

"Hilda," The man beast said, pointing at Annie, "I saw this one on TV once."

"Indeed, mister Hecktricktsen," Ultis responded to the man. Her voice changed from calm and assured to a slightly more worried tone. She also started speaking a bit more quickly. Whoever this man was, Ultis was wary of him, "She was from the group that received a reward from Iterna. Also, she has a sister in the Core Lands, heir to some rich daddies. I plan to see if her little sis carries enough for her to pay some tokens. Of course, Ultis will be welcome to 20% of this money as a token of my appreciation for providing us with a safe haven," Ultis said to Hilda, when the massive woman turned to look at the mercenary leader. The mercenary leader boldly smiled into Annie’s face, "Don’t ya worry, dear scout. You will bring me quite a catch either way. Die on the arena and I will milk your sis. Live on long enough and I will still milk your sis. Isn’t this fun?"

"Ultis," Annie smiled through the pain, "How about you free me instead? I can show you such wonders, my dear, and all for free. Just come a little bit closer…"

"Why, it is a wonderful idea," Ultis smiled and stepped back into light, "Hilda, would it be okay to free them? They do have a match scheduled to earn their keep."

"We are going to have to fight?" Ron asked in horror.

"Not you, weakling." Ultis responded, while restraints fell from Annie’s body, allowing her to land on the floor. She stood up and prepared to jump at the woman before her. Hilda slapped Annie out of the air with contemptuous ease, the impact from the slap caused Annie to loudly crash into the floor, leaving a small dent on a metal surface. Virginia growled in an anger and Hilda pressed a finger to the terminal, looking with bored eyes at the wolfkins before her and waiting for heavy-breathing Annie to stand up, "You will have another job and you will play it well, or I'll sell your hide to mister Hecktricktsen," The light went out, revealing a single exit from the cell, surrounded by several guards, all of whom were pointing weapons at Annie and her fellows, "You belong to me now, scout. Work your ass for me."

"I think I will take your bet. One thousand twenty credits are on them dying. For your sake, Ultis, I hope they will entertain the guests somewhat before dying." Hilda smiled, walking out of the cell. Virginia moved at the guards, but one of their number reached for a terminal in his hand, and the wolfkin fell on one knee, growling from pain.

Annie took a deep breath to calm herself, listening to the whining sounds of Ron, who was being dragged away by the guards. Still pointing their weapons at the wolfkins, the soldiers forced Annie and Virginia to move into the corridor.

****

The massive steel gates slid into the sides, allowing the wolfkins to step into the lit arena. Their slave collars were taken away for a match, leaving them able to go all out.

This place was built in the form of a dome, a steel cage surrounding the arena rose tall to the sturdy looking ceiling. Armed guards were posted right behind the steel bars, which ensured that no fighter would be able to escape from this place. The ceiling was seemingly made of a single piece of stone and was littered with countless lights, keeping the floor of the arena in a bright circle of light. Shadows covered the space behind the metal bars, yet the eyes of Annie could make out the countless balconies with people on them. Most of them looked bored, sipping wine that was brought to them by the half-naked servants or talking with each other. On the north of the arena was a massive silver balcony, protected by the energy shield. The edge of the balcony was coming through the gap in the iron bars, allowing the massive figure of Hilda to look down.

"Dear guests!" Hilda shouted, burrowing Annie and Virginia with her eyes. The figure clad in power armor lifted her giant arms, sending bright lightning between her palms. The wolf hags stepped onto the main arena, and all light was gone, except for two bright cones of light that were focused on the figures of each wolf hag. Through the darkness, Annie saw the round holes in the floor of the arena, her nose caught the smell of piss and dried up blood, "This appetizer might look a bit meek to you, yet I ask thee not to avert thy eyes, my dear friends. From the Ravaged Lands we have Annie, hero of the Iterna," Annie felt anger at these words and clenched her fists, "And Virginia, the mad beast of the lands!" Virginia loudly laughed at these words, spreading her arms wide for nonexistent applause from the audience. People looked at them with bored eyes, and Annie knew what they were waiting for. They have come here to see people dying. And they could care less who was going to die.

Annie saw Ultis in one of the balconies, the mercenary leader was the only one who paid half attention to the events in the arena. Roll was standing near her, looking at a wolfkin sitting on her knees before the massive seat. This wolfkin lacked any fur on her body, she looked down while trembling in shame. A simple loincloth served her as clothes. Ultis dropped off her cloak into the paws of the wolfkin and jumped onto the seat, chatting with someone over the terminal, while the furless wolfkin hurried to put the cloak away and prepare drinks for Ultis. Upon noticing the look of Annie, the mercenary leader smirked and the wolf hag showed her middle finger.

"Let the blood flow." Hilda said, and the lights above her balcony went dark, shrouding the arena master from the view of the guests. The woman turned around, leaving a massive throne made of bone and steel from which she was looking down on the arena.

Red lights flashed across the walls of the arena, lifting the floor with a dim light. Virginia put one ear to the floor, listening to something below the arena. Annie herself heard the sounds of someone running, the sounds resembled the steps of the oversized rodents. The wolf hag spread her shoulders, looking for any sort of weapons in the arena. She found none, not her shardgun, not even her knives, not even a simple pipe. Upon finding no weapon, she started clenching and unclenching her paws finger by finger, ensuring that ambush, beatings, and time in the holding cell did not dull her reflexes. Her claws slid from her fingers and Annie felt herself content, looking down as Virginia touched her leg and tapped several times in a rhythm:

They are circling around the arena’s floor, closing up to the surface with each minute.

Annie jerked her leg away from Virginia’s grasp, coming further into the arena, feeling the stone ground beneath her. Closing her eyes, she allowed her hearing to take over. Round and round, someone is running below the ground, like a pack of predators, waiting for a blind spot to jump in and take a bite, leaving the victim bleeding. Cuts on Annie’s body have already closed, leaving behind dried up skin. Her body could feel the cold air of the arena. And her ears caught the sound of several metal hatches opening in unison.

A smile appeared on her face as the wolf hag heard the tapping sounds behind her. When they came to a halt, she ducked low, hitting with her leg behind herself, her eyes still closed. The wolf hag felt how the claws of her leg pierced the flesh and muscle, spearing some creature behind her. She crashed her leg down, slamming the body of her attacker into the ground and felt her claws pierce the bones of the foe. Opening her eyes, Annie saw the dog-like form lying beneath her leg, her claws pierced the chest area of the creature and reached all the way to the spine. The being had a small head and elongated long jaws that bit the surface of the arena and crushed the stone in the death throes. The milky white eye with a green dot inside it looked at Annie in pain, and the wolf hag mercifully put the creature out of its misery with a single strike of a claw to its temple. Each leg of the creature ended with a bone-like hoof, a sharp tail with a stinger was coming from the back of the creature.

Weak shouts accompanied the kill, and Annie smiled. Her smile changed to a leer upon understanding that cheers were meant for Virginia, who held two creatures on her paws, lifting them up in the air. The wolf hag reached for the hearts of the creatures, smashing them up inside the ribcage and dropping dead bodies to her feet. Her arms were soaked with blood all the way to her elbows.

Annie turned to the left, seeing two more creatures climbing out of the hatch in the ground. She allowed her body to become loose, feeling how her own body was slumping under the weight of her own muscles. The flow of time slowed before her eyes, allowing her to track the movements of the foes. And then she leaped forward, using all the muscles in her legs to propel herself forward faster than a bullet. The flash step, a technique that the teacher tried to teach her. This was the first time that Annie tried to use it in combat. She moved at a speed that was too fast even for her eyes. Her claws struck, aiming for the necks of her foes. Her bulk struck them aside and she felt the touch of… something on her claws. Upon stopping and turning back, Annie cursed ever so slightly. Her claws bisected the chests of the creatures, leaving their insides behind their small bodies on the stone floor. She missed her intended targets by a wide margin. The creatures gasped for air, trying to breathe in with ruined lungs. The crowd applauded this spectacle, shooting approvingly at Annie.

Now you are cheering me on. Annie thought smugly. Her smugness left her body upon seeing how one of the creatures spit out blood, giving out faint whining sounds as it suffocated. The monster that I will become… Is not this cheap. The wolf hag decided, ending the sufferings of the creatures beneath her feet, feeling the remains of their tiny brains beneath her fingers. The cheers changed into angry shouts, the people were annoyed that Annie stopped the sufferings of her foes. She ignored them, turning to face another batch of creatures coming from the underground, advancing on the wolf hags like a living river made of countless bodies.

Annie stopped trying to be flashy and instead focused on butchering. Her claws pierced skulls, while her legs carried her just out of reach of the creature’s jaws. The blood of the creatures splashed at her, soaking her fur with water as more and more beasts tried to bite her, only to find themselves dead at the end of her claws. Annie felt how her back connected to the back of Virginia and saw several torn apart cadavers left in front of her rival. Virginia worked just as well with her claws as she did with her fangs, where Annie used her kicks to keep the creatures at bay, Virginia was catching the foes' limbs with her jaws, biting away whole chunks and leaving ruined bodies. Where Annie weaved a net of carefully planned strikes and slashes in front of her, Virginia was a force of nature, wiping out everything before her. In the end, both methods brought fruit.

A lonely creature jumped away from the pair in fear after seeing countless dead bodies of its kin. The creature had a small mane made of pale fur, and now the creature desperately tried to puff itself up, to look threatening, while whining in fear. Virginia lowered herself on all fours and let out a loud roar, causing the being to drop on its belly and pretend to be dead. The crowd cheered on Virginia to end the creature. Annie took a moment to look at the people on the balconies, while Virginia was heading to the beast, cracking the ribs of the deceased beings with each move. The floor in the center of the arena was littered with hundreds of dead hounds.

Ultis was smiling broadly, sipping from a glass and throwing glances at the terminal in her paw. She pressed something, and Roll raised a brow, hearing a noise on his terminal. He looked at something and smiled as well, nodding in thanks to Ultis, while the furless wolfkin was busy filling up the glass of Ultis. Hilda put her head on her fist covered by the steel, looking at the scene of carnage with a bored expression on her face. Annie saw a blonde woman in a white lab coat on one of the balconies. She was flanked by two hulking brutes, bones were coming out of their flesh and served as armor for the creatures. Their eyes were tiny, these brutes looked down as mindless as if they were robots. Near the woman stood an androgynous figure, looking like a piece of art coming from a painting. Both male and female features were on the gorgeous face of the figure, and a halo of white hair fell from its shoulders. It was dressed in a tight tracksuit of black and white, the three-fingered arms of the creature ended up with thin claws. This creature had three arms, two arms were on the right side of the lithe body and one on the left. In the claws, the creature held a pen and a copybook. The blonde woman fixed the glasses on her nose with her fingers and said something, looking at the dead hounds. The being nodded and wrote something in the copybook.

Virginia stopped walking on all fours, raising her head over the covering hound. Virginia's snout closed on the creature’s neck, biting slightly, and the hound whined in fear, still looking at the towering wolfkin, while the crowd cheered for Virginia to go for the kill. The wolf hag let go of the neck and picked up the creature beneath her arm, smiling at the crowd and showing them the middle finger of the free paw. This riled up even a few calm faces, the people screamed and shouted the words "weakling" and "coward" at the wolf hag. The woman in glasses lifted a silver terminal, looking down at the creature in Virginia’s arm. Before her sleek finger could press the button, she received a call. The blonde answered the call, looking briefly at Ultis and finally nodding, putting away her terminal.

"You think of humiliating us?" Annie spread her arms wide, addressing the crowd, "You bore us instead! You put us against the dregs! Where is the fun in that?! Is this the extent of your imagination?" The screams of the crowd were slowly turning into the storm of hate.

"Your bitterness is sweet to us," Virginia smirked, rubbing her head against the scaled skin of the hound, "And your pet is now my pet."

"The only ones who are being humiliated here are you lot! You are the ones who are wasting our talents and…"

Annie saw how the guards started taking aim at them and stopped talking, mockingly sending a kiss to the cold-eyed Hilda. Turning away, the wolf hags left for the doors that were leading away from the arena, Virginia still carried the scared hound underneath her arm. Meanwhile, some people in the crowd called for their blood. Annie reveled in their hate, extending her paw for a cordial fist bump with Virginia.

"You were great, Virginia." Annie said.

"Right back at you, Annie." Virginia smiled, gently touching Annie's fist with her own.

Personal problems are put aside during the mission after all.

"Amusing." Annie and Virginia turned around, hearing the voice of the three-armed creature. Somehow, its melodic and honeyed voice sliced through the screams, reaching all the way to the ears of the wolf hags. It was looking at them, smiling with the perfect row of teeth.

****

"Not that wasn’t half bad," Ultis said, sitting on the chair in the holding cell. With one paw, she petted the hound that Virginia took, while another of her paws lay on the terminal, ready to send a shockwave through the collars, "No, no, do stay over there," The mercenary leader frowned at a sign of movement from the wolf hags, "Your stench insults my nostrils as it is."

Virginia and Annie stood in the holding cell that was rented by Ultis for a temporary period. Ron was away "performing his duties", as Ultis explained. One of the mercenaries was using a water tube to send a stream of water into the wolf hags, washing away the blood of the hounds from them while Roll and the others aimed rifles at Annie and Virginia.

"What, no friendly hug, Ultis?" Annie asked mockingly, receiving a stream of water in her mouth as a reward.

"No, I don’t think I want it. I am a bit annoyed about having to spend credits on a pet," She looked down at the hound. The beast tried its best to look like a statue, "But considering that you lot have won the cost of this place," Ultis moved her arm away from the hound, showing them around the holding cell. Some lifting weights and chains were dropped in the corner of the room. Three simple slabs were hanging from the walls, meant to be used as beds, "And then some pocket change on top of it for me, my mood is calm. Lady Ulrica do come in, please, let our friends see you." The mercenary leader snapped her fingers and the furless wolfkin stepped out of the shadows.

Annie finally remembered where she saw her. Even now, despite trembling from the cold and humiliation, there was a stubborn hint of dignity in these crimson eyes, she tried to keep her arms evenly at her sides in order not to show how much she was bothered by the fact that she was lacking her fur. Ulrica Voidrunner resembled a normie now more than ever, with her pink skin and a body that bore barely a scar on it. A slave collar was around her lean neck and a medical kit was in her left paw.

"Little lady Ulrica was sold to Hilda by some raiders because she didn't know how to fight and refused to please others, like dear Ron is doing right now," Ultis smirked, pointing to the wolfkin nearby, "A very bad thing happened to the last person who tried to forcibly mount her. You see, our cousin here has quite sharp fangs and claws. For her disobedience, Hilda was about to give her to mister Hecktricktsen, but the mere thought of owning an ice boy, or rather an ice girl in this case, was so funny and tempting to me that I bought her from Hilda. Say hello to our friends, please, lady." A trickle of blood appeared in the corner of Ultis’ mouth, and Ulrica hurried to wipe it out, before bowing to the wolf hags. Ultis’s body trembled and she looked worried for a brief second when the smaller wolfkin approached her, before a wide smug smile once more appeared on the snout of the mercenary leader.

"Greetings, everyone." Ulrika said in a calm voice, briefly throwing a look at Annie.

"Don’t worry, lady Ulrica," Annie smiled, trying to sound calm, "Remember what I told you the last time we met? This time I won’t even need to go this far. By the end of this, we will all be fine."

"I somehow doubt it, slave. I will be fine, sure. Can’t say the same about you, we do have a score to settle," Ultis smiled, pressing a button on the terminal and sending a light shock through the body of Annie. The mercenary leader widely smiled, seeing how Annie twitched, "Yeah, it feels good, isn’t it? You should be grateful for my mercy, my "owners" treated me way more harshly for five years. Maybe you too can tear it off and not die during the electric show that will be happening during the attempt? Although I doubt it, these models look far stronger than the one that I wore back in the days."

"How could you do this with your own people?" Ulrica asked, clenching her fists. Ultis threw a worrying look at her before waving her paw dismissively and smiling arrogantly.

"Cause I can, lady," Ultis stood up, commanding one of the mercenaries to lead the pet away, "Thanks for the new doggy, Virginia. As a token of thanks, Ulrica will leave a med kit for both of you. Treat yourself, your second fight comes soon. Feel free to use the training gear and don’t try to escape. I would cry if something happened to you. Lady Ulrica, follow after me please, I need to take a leak." Ultis threw one side of her cloak over her shoulder, storming out of the room, accompanied by her mercenaries.

Annie and Virginia were left alone in the holding cell. Part of the floor was still wet, yet the temperature was quite pleasurable. The first thing they tried was to pry the entrance door open. Yet the moment Annie laid a claw on the door, her collar sent a discharge of electricity alongside her body, strong enough that it caused her to fall to the ground. Virginia fell right after her, growling from anger. It took minutes for Annie to collect herself and stand up, frowning and ashamed of wetting herself. The wolf hags rummaged through the med kit next, helping each other to clean up the few still open cuts on their bodies and stitching the edges of the wounds together. Upon finishing, Annie moved to start a series of training movements, balancing on the toe of her left leg while performing a series of punches in the air before herself. Virginia, meanwhile, used a titanium chain to tie up several lifting weights. She slid one edge of the chain between her teeth, using the muscles of her lower jaw and neck to lift three hundred kilograms of the lifting weights in the air. Annie looked with worry at how muscles, looking like ropes made of steel, popped across Virginia’s neck.

"You will end up causing degradation of your bones, Virginia," Annie jumped in the air, landing on and holding her entire body on a little toe this time, "Seriously, keep doing that and first your muscles will be torn, then your bones will shift their position, and you will end up as a disgusting looking freak, if you survive at all."

Virginia ignored Annie’s warning, continuing to torture her upper neck and jaw with gruesome exercise. Her paws found other lifting weights, and the wolf hag began to juggle them. Annie looked at this with genuine worry, her teacher often stopped his students before they could hurt themselves. This right here looks like it will genuinely fuck up the body of Virginia. Annie wanted to win against Virginia, sure, but she didn’t want to kill Virginia or to maim her irrevocably. Mostly because the stupid idiot had to be alive to accept the superiority of Annie.

"Listen, I can show you how to train properly." Annie offered, and Virginia just rolled her eyes, continuing her routine. She jumped in the air once more, landing on a single pinky and practicing her kicks for a while. The worst of all for Annie was that she could not understand the reason behind this exercise. What exactly does her rival plan to improve with this insanity of a training routine? Lifting weights barely did anything for the wolfkins, teacher showed them that they had to train their stamina, sense of balance, and harden their skin. Annie herself saw the fruits of such training, she knew that it was a proper way.

Annie’s words fell on the deaf ear, and the wolf hag spent several hours performing the standard training routine, perfecting her kicks and punches against the imaginary opponent, while Virginia tortured herself with strange and unusual training.

****

"Friends! You are alive!" Ron spread his arms wide when Virginia and Annie came back to the holding cell, covered with the remains of the insectoids.

For the next match, the pair were sent against a small hive of insectoids. Thankfully, their opponents did not have a queen among them, yet at least twelve warrior critters found their demise beneath the claws of Annie and Virginia, not counting all the drones that the wolf hags stomped with their feet. A long cut was visible on the chest of Virginia, Annie herself received a small slash across her back. The insectoid warriors knew their craft, although their killing abilities were dulled in the wide arena.

"Where have you been?" Annie demanded to know, cleaning and stitching up the wound on Virginia’s chest.

"In the Halls of Pleasure, as they called it," Ron smiled, putting both arms behind his back, "My new duties are a bit humiliating, sure, and quite demanding. But I’ll live."

While the wolf hag was busy crudely stitching the edges of her back wound, Annie let Virginia clean her own wound and assessed Ron. Unlike the wolf hags Ron was dressed in a black shirt and simple black pants. He wore the same collar as the others, but his fur was washed clear and the male himself smelled pleasantly. The few cuts that he got during the pursuit were closed and healed by now.

"And what exactly are your duties now, male?" Annie murmured softly, standing up and slamming a paw into the wall near Ron’s head. Upon hearing danger in the words of Annie, the wolfkin jumped up in fear.

"Nothing serious. Some massage here, some… private things there…" Ron smiled nervously.

Annie grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up in the air. His eyes ran wild in panic when the fingers of the wolf hag grasped his throat like a garrote. He dared not to try and defend himself, while his legs jerked in fear some distance from the ground. She pushed her snout closer, sniffing him like a dog with her ruined nostrils. He smelled of honey and rich perfumes. There was also a hint of smell and the smell of something else. Annie licked his fur and spit on the floor, sensing the disgusting taste.

"You are a fuck toy for them," Annie growled, baring her fangs. Ron weakly screamed in fear, upon seeing how jaws snapped right before his nose, "You… you dare to shame our people like this?!" She threw him on the ground and sat on the bed, breathing heavily, while Ron was whining at her legs, showing his neck to Annie and the angry looking Virginia. Annie looked up at the ceiling, feigning desperation, "It doesn’t matter for now. When we come back, I’ll myself skin you for this," Ron cried out in fear, grasping Annie’s legs and crying out loud. Annie kicked him away, looking at him with disgust in her eyes, "Shut it, male. My back is sore. Show me some of… massage of yours." She spat with disgust, closing her weary eyes.

Annie heard how Ron, still whining and crying, climbed onto the bed behind her and started massaging her neck. The wolf hag growled in anger, feeling Ron’s tears on her shoulder and the fingers of the operative working twice as fast. The movements of his fingers were frantic, yet the timing of his thumbs was not. She was counting up the tapping of his thumbs against her skin, trying to count them, the timing between them, and translate it into words:

Fake. Good. Proud. Both. You. I. Found. Potential. My. Way. Name. H.E.K.A.N.T.A. Remember! Annie felt a bit of pain when Ron used tip of his claw on her skin. Not to scratch her, but to draw attention to his sign language. H.E.K.A.N.T.A. Do. Not. Kill. Pride. Arrogance. Find. Way. Humiliate. Her. Possession. Cruelty. Directed. Me. Explain. Later.

Annie hit him with the back of her head, dragging him above herself and putting whined Ron on a knee before herself. She could feel his crazy beating heart in his chest, see how fast he was breathing, and see the tears in his eyes. It made her sick, but the operative made himself clear before the mission. They are to treat him like a usual female of the Wolf Tribe treats a usual male, and even worse. This included beating and biting when necessary.

"You belong to us, you understand this?"

"I am. Please, I didn’t have a choice! They would have killed me!" Ron cried out, trying to break free of Annie’s grasp. She pushed her fingers deeper into his skin, causing him pain.

"Disgusting. Crying like a normie," Annie closed her jaws on Ron’s neck, drawing blood, and the operative screamed in fear, trembling beneath her fangs. She held him for a minute, before pushing him toward Virginia, "Be happy that you must face punishment and still have uses for me. Otherwise, I would have feasted on your guts right here. Help Virginia relax now and remember this lesson. Never again dare to show familiarity with us ever again, male."

Annie closed her eyes and pressed her back to the wall, allowing herself to briefly fall asleep, while Ron was conveying the message to Virginia. She felt herself too weak to even training, lack of water and food, along with constant fighting and a need for healing, took a toll on her body. The inner reserves of the body had to be preserved if Annie was to survive and fight on. Virginia woke her up when Ulrica, accompanied by the four guards, brought food to the slaves.

She gulped the meat and water down like a madman, without even chewing. Both she and Virginia left Ron a single cup of water and a small piece of meat, as per his instructions.

Soon after, the pair were taken away for another round in the arena.

****

Virginia growled from anger when the guard hit her in the back. She turned around, wanting to bite the woman, but discharge from the slave collar brought her to her knees, while the guard laughed softly, waiting for the wolf hag to stand up.

In the past few days, Annie and Virginia have gotten some understanding of the rules in this abominable place. Each aggressive move or rapid move against the walls, doors, items, or other people without slave collars was rewarded with an electric shock from the collar. Slaves were free to try and attack each other at any given opportunity, it was up to their owners to stop them. The only exception were the pleasure slaves, upon coming into one of the many hallways leading to the section of the base know as the Halls of Pleasure, the slave collar was removed from the necks of the slaves. Annie noticed Ron entering one of these corridors, the vile odor coming from within was thick with the smell of narcotics and some incense burning in the air. Even from the hallway, Annie could hear the cracks of the whips and the moans of pleasure coming from inside the section.

Annie helped Virginia to stand up. Even now, this idiot was trying to bite the arena’s guards at every opportunity, while people were amusing themselves, by riling her up to willing self-punishment caused by the collar. Annie figured out their game a long time ago and warned Virginia. Some of the guests clearly paid the guards, hoping that the wolfkins would injure themselves badly enough prior to the match. It was cheap play, but the stubborn idiot kept falling into it. Sometimes Annie wasn’t sure if Virginia was playing her role this well, or if she was a simple buffoon. For the sake of her own sanity, Annie decided to assume only the best about her partner.

Roll and a few mercenaries waited for the wolf hags further along the corridor. Ulrica stood with them, speaking with someone. He was standing with his back to Annie, dressed in a crimson fur coat and light-colored pants. The sleeves of his fur coat hung at his back while the arms of the man gesticulated in the air. The man was bowing to Ulrica, speaking in an ingratiating voice:

"Please think about my proposition, miss. Why would you stay here, in this cruel place? Your fur will regrow in my humble establishment, you will be dressed in silks. You will be surrounded by other beautiful girls! And I do have standards, all my beauties are in perfect health and eat only the most delicate dishes," He spread his arms wide, and Annie saw countless golden rings and bracelets on his thin, without a trace of muscle on them, arms, "And my clients of the highest stock! Oh gentle flower, no one will ever dare to harm you."

"I am sorry, but no," Ulrica looked at the floor, red with shame. Her white fur began to regrow in some places on her body, tiny white hairs were now visible on the lean body, but she was still nearly naked, "I am… I am quite content with my fate."

"Don’t say such things, my dear. You deserve to feel the warmth of the sun, not the cold and lifeless electric lights of this grave in the ground…" The man extended his arm toward Ulrica in a pleading gesture.

"You heard the lady, whoreson, so paws off."Annie barked at him.

She wasn’t sure what happened next. Virginia growled, releasing her claws. Annie felt her fur on the back of her neck stand up. The feeling of dread fell on her, similar to the one that she felt upon leaving the Pearl City. The man still stood with his back to Annie, Ulrica looked at the wolfkins in confusion, while all Annie wanted was to jump at the man from behind, burying her fangs into his neck in a desperate attempt to kill it, before the beings before them killed her and then everyone. She knew that Virginia felt the same, Annie could fear that even this idiot was wary of this… this creature before them. And yet, everyone else was calm. When the man turned around, she saw the small-looking and afraid man, who was nervously licking his handsome lips. He opened his mouth, showing pristine white teeth, to say something, but only swallowed nervously upon seeing two wolf hags before him. Upon seeing this miser, Annie felt herself relaxed.

"Keep your animals away from Yabor, unless you want to have them culled." A calm voice said. Across the corridor came a strange man. His skin was the color of pale snow, traces of hoarfrost could be seen on his face, despite the hot temperature within the corridor. A white jacket was over his shoulders, beneath it was a black shirt with a blue tie. On his feet, he wore boots made of lizard skin, a black belt held tight white trousers. One of his pale hands was in his jacket pocket, while the other hand played with a small piece of ice. His eyes were hidden away behind pitch-black sunglasses.

Roll put a hand over his pistol and looked at the newcomer: "Keep your threats to yourself, Galfo. Your man bothered us first."

"Remove your hand from the pistol or lose it." Galfo simply said, throwing a casual look at the wolf hags. Annie tensed, sensing how the man was sizing her up, looking for weak spots for a potential attack. She could practically feel the cold that was emanating from him, as if he was a frozen corpse and not a living person. He was dangerous, sure, but Annie was unsure if the fear that she felt just a moment before was coming from this man. Roll frowned but put his hand away from the weapon, and Galfo cracked ice in his palm.

"Galfo!" Yabor ran behind the back of the man, putting his hands on his shoulders and trembling behind him, "Let’s leave, please. These people are scary."

"Tch. Is this what passes for a brothel owner nowadays?" Roll asked with disgust, "In my time they were made of sturdier stuff."

"Yabor is my property and thus has no need for bravery. Any fool who dares to lay a hand on the cartel's property will lose both hands." The ice man replied to the mercenary, still looking at the wolf hags.

"Sorry for the fuss, no disrespect was intended!" Yabor glanced from behind the back of the pale man and smiled nervously, "You see, the girls who come from the immigrants all look more or less the same. Now, don’t you dare think that they are not pretty or not hard workers!" Yabor let go of his guardian and waved a finger in the air, "All of them are wonderful and beautiful people. But my customers want someone a bit more… shall we say, exotic from time to time…"

"Thus, we came here to buy some slaves." Galfo yawned, putting a hand to his mouth. A white mist came from his mouth upon exhaling.

"Best of luck then," Roll said without baiting an eye, "These ladies are already owned by our commander."

"Everything can be bought, if the price is right," Virginia’s growl turned into a muffed groan of pain when one of the guards behind her pressed at the terminal. Galfo ignored it, looking at the mercenary, "One would think that your merry band would choose a better master than another lousy doggy."

"Mind your words, please, sir," Roll once again moved his hand toward his weapon, "We consider a new breed as a leader as a sing of… good luck. That and the commander pays us generously."

"One new breed is as good as any other new breed. And there are always more pleasurable ways to get more cash," Galfo closed the distance between himself and the mercenary in a blink, looking into the surprised eyes of the man, "The cartel is always hiring. Do keep this in mind, that’s all I ask. Yabor! We are off to look elsewhere for new slaves for you."

"Please, don’t imply that my honeys are slaves," The small man pressed his hands together in a pleading gesture, "They are very valuable workers…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Hurry up already, this place bores me." Galfo dragged the man by his hand away from the crowd.

Annie felt the smack on the back of her head and turned her head to look at the guard behind her. The woman pointed further across the corridor and thinly smiled.

"They belong to the commander," Roll said in an exasperated voice, "Don’t rile up our possessions."

"Everyone belongs to the cartel here, friend," The woman looked at him, unbothered to keep the wolfkins in the rifle scope, "And you would be wise not to forget this."

"If you say so, slave," Roll snapped his fingers and turned away from the enraged guard. His men surrounded the wolfkins, pushing them to walk further down the corridor, "We will take it from here."

The mercenaries escorted the wolfkins to the balcony owned by Ultis. The mercenary leader was sitting at the edge of the balcony, looking down on the battle that was happening in the arena. A group of armored people were doing their best to try and shoot the enemies in power armors, the same enemies that were part of the group that captured Annie and her fellows. Long capes flowed in the air, while steel-clad enemies dodged the desperate people's aim, closing in on them and slicing them with long claymores, leaving wounded people and a red-painted arena in their wake as they darted away. There was a hill in the middle of the arena with a long pole stuck in it. A yellow flag could be seen on this pole, and the group of people desperately tried to reach it. A lone figure in the power armor stood on this hill, holding the long spear in the right arm. It looked at people before itself, making not a single move to help others on the team. Yet they didn’t need any help.

Annie guessed that they were the caravan's guards, and their opponents were new breeds. The foes were already faster and stronger to begin with, and the power armors only meant that strugglers had no chance. The crowd cheered as claymores sliced through flesh and bone, leaving dead people on the stone floor. A figure in a crimson cape appeared before three slaves armed with shotguns. She turned into a whirlwind, allowing her weapon to bite the foes around her before they could back off or fire. One slave had his shotgun sliced and fell to the ground with two deep cuts on his knees. Two others received cuts across their shoulders and fell with a cry. The figure lifted her weapon triumphantly to the person on the hill, while two more slaves sneaked behind her, aiming at her back with their rifles. The shots never came, their weapons were sliced in two by another figure in a blue cape. The figure hit the slaves with the side of her sword, knocking them out, and walked away, seeking new prey. Annie noticed that only the black cloaks bothered to kill their opponents, the figure in the red cape seemingly enjoyed cutting her opponents and leaving them alive, while the figure in the blue cape prided itself on weaving around the aim of the foes and knocking them down.

Ultis put a glass of wine on a table filled with various foods next to her. Annie's nostrils caught the tasty smell of the roasted cusack, and her stomach rumbled against her will.

"Lady Ulrica. I am full. Finish off the food for me," Ultis lazily gestured at the table next to her, loudly crushing a bone of a cusack between her fangs and turning her seat to look at Annie and Virginia. The mercenary leader tensed when the Ice Fang came closer to her, taking the table with food in the corner of the balconies. Ulrica looked to offer the food to other wolfkins, but Virginia showed her not to bother, "A nice little spectacle down there, don’t you think? Hekanta and her crew brought me a bit of credits today. And caused me to lose some." Ultis said in a sore voice, showing up on the terminal’s screen. Annie saw that people were betting on how far certain slaves could reach in this match, rather than on a victory. Judging by the numbers, Ultis barely made a profit in this match.

Behind her, the person on a hill made her move when a group of four people nearly reached the hill’s slope. With a single thrusting movement, the person propelled air in front of herself at the slaves, sending them flying like broken dolls to the side of the arena. The foes in black cloaks charged at the fallen people, aiming to finish them off. Yet they darted to all sides, seeking the new prey when the person slammed the end of her spear into the hill. Soon enough, it was over and the winning team left the battle, proudly raising their weapons to the cheering crowd, while workers were busy removing the dead and the injured and preparing the arena for the next round.

"Why did you call us, honey?" Annie smiled broadly, showing her fangs, "Could it be that you miss my tender embrace by any chance? Come, step closer, let me give you a hug like never before."

"Shut it," Ultis said, pressing a button on the terminal, causing Annie to feel a brief surge of electricity run through her body. Ultis slumped on her seat, looking annoyed and angry, "I am in no mood for playing. You were brought here to see how her team fights. The bitch did me foul, and I want recompense. Hekanta and her team fight only once a week, so get your asses ready. In two rounds' time, you are going in and will bring me a victory. And money for us to spend, of course," She smiled to Roll, and he nodded, "Due to how people here hate you lot, this will be quite a profitable turn of events for us if you win."

"And if we don’t play by your rules?" Virginia asked in an icy tone, releasing her claws and trembling with rage, "What if we just throw the fight?"

Ultis looked at her, holding one paw over the terminal. Ulrica looked worried at this scene, while Annie merely smiled smugly in Ultis’s face. The mercenary leader raised one paw to her lips, playing with them like a child. Finally, a smile appeared on her lips, and she gestured to the wolf hags as the sirens of the arena announced the next round. Hilda stood up, loudly announcing the next fight.

"Why, I will simply give you to Palatine then." Ultis smiled.

Behind her, the arena started to fill. Annie saw how some stragglers, whom she and Virginia spared during their battle, were forced to step into the arena. Behind them walked two black cloaks. On the other side of the arena, another group of armored people were pushed inside. People of the Insectoid Commune, trolls, members of the Bento tribe, and normies. All were armored and all were afraid. Even the trolls looked warily to the sides, clearly hoping for any way out of the arena. The stench of fear and despair was easily felt in the air.

An orchestra began to play, filling the arena with angelic music. The musicians were skilled, yet Annie felt that unseen artists were playing out of desperation rather than love of music. A bridge, made of countless human bones, extended into the arena from the balcony of the blonde woman. The three-armed person stepped on the bones, bowing and smiling to the applause of the crowd.

"Death! Death is descending!" The crowd chanted, clapping their hands in mad happiness.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and all in between!" Hilda raised her arms in triumph, allowing a spark of lightning to come between her palms, "I present to you, Palatine! For your joy and happiness only, enjoy the coming storm!"

A beautiful doublet of a heaven color was on his body, paned trunk hose covered the lower part of his body, leaving his feet bare. His nimble fingers easily kept the thin body on steps made of bones while he walked down to a hill. He gracefully bowed to the fighters that surrounded the slopes of the hill and spoke in an unmistakably male voice, one that was clear as day and heard even in Ultis’s balcony, despite the crowd’s shouts of extasy and anticipation:

"Losers! Fools! Discarded! Unlucky! Condemned! Ambitious! Whatever your reasons are, I welcome you, one and all, to the end of the road! Feel free to attack this one however you wish, but also, please, feast your ears, for this song is dedicated by me to you all! Pass on to the next life without regrets. For when one dies, one must at least perish with some beauty!" He threw his head back while the bone bridge moved back, sliding onto the balcony of the blonde woman, who was sitting and sipping wine. The lights were gone from the arena, leaving but a circle of white light around the Palatine. His three hands were raised, fingers moved as if he was plucking the strings of a lute. And then he began to sing.

His voice was beautiful. Annie was never a music fan, but this person's song struck a chord with her. He was singing about a home, about a family waiting for a long-lost loved one to return, about an old mother's tears, about an elderly father's wrinkled face closed in an eternal frown. At the desperation that they were feeling, looking from the window at a road that runs away from a house, hoping that one day, one day, a person will come ba…

The fighters charged. They climbed up the hill, the armored forms of the black capes jumped all the way up, swinging their claymores at the beautiful face. They missed, Palatine simply danced past them, continuing to sing his song, about how the pair of parents were walking to the sea each morning, asking sailors. The ring of white light kept following him, leaving his attacks in the dark. Bullets were shot at him, and the person danced past them, evading the aim. He jumped into the sea of angry faces, still singing. People shot at him more, and he dodged again, dragging others gently from the danger as well. None died in a mad crossfire, none was even hurt. One person, with tears in her eyes, pressed a pistol to her temple, seeing the utter hopelessness of the situation. Her pistol was snatched away by the hands of Palatine, he gave the despaired woman a gentle pat on the head, still singing his song. The pair of black capes turned their swords at the people below, slashing with all their might. Their attacks were blocked by Palatine’s claws. Even their clever and cruel plan to draw this being into the line of attack failed. And he was singing, going on and on, dancing amidst the bullets, evading the shots and saving others. The crowd was ecstatic, chanting his name over and over again, while the unseen orchestra put on their best show. And finally, he ended his song by telling the people how happy the parents were when they embraced their child once more, reunited in the next world.

And light returned to the arena. With it, death came back. The orchestra stopped playing, but a new tune was now playing. Screams of the dying. Palatine touched the head of a person next to him, just a light tap. The fighter’s head was torn away by the impact behind the tap and was flung into a wall, leaving a bloody smear behind. Palatine began to dance again, but this time his dance was one of death, leaving behind broken bodies and sliced people. Each movement of his arms left a dead body behind him, his aim was always true. Palatine cared not for the suffering of others, just for the artistry and efficiency of his movements. He made sure to dance just at the brink of becoming a blur, slowing himself down just enough for everyone to see the carnage that he brought. Arcs of blood, like petals, wreathed patterns around his lean body.

Yet at the same time, Palatine was growing bored with simple performance. He killed one of the black cloaks by pushing a hand through her visor and catching the blade with another hand. He turned to the remaining black cape, challenging her to a sword battle. The woman attacked with mad determination, but her opponent was something else. In a single motion, he disarmed her and charged past her, throwing the blade aside just as the bloody line appeared on the chest of the woman’s armor. In a moment, she fell apart in two parts. The woman who tried to shoot herself found a pistol pressed to her temple. Before he shot her, Palatine spared a single comforting smile for the desperate eyes of the member of the Insectoid Commune. Throwing aside his weapon, he moved on, killing with his fists the ones that tried to punch him and shooting the ones that tried to shoot him. The trolls, famous for their regeneration abilities, were torn asunder by Palatine's arms. There was no salvation or mercy. It was only inescapable death that this creature was bringing. Palatine ended his "performance" by making a split and throwing his arms up, surrounded by the corpses. Eighty lives were snuffed away by his casual killer spree.

"Thank you, thank you, you are too kind." While the bone bridge was lowering itself, he smiled at the cheering crowd. Unlike with other slaves, no one forced him to put back on the slave collar, and the creature nimbly leaped back to the blonde woman, who frowned at him and gestured for him to take a shower.

"As you can see, the fate of those sentenced to a meeting with Palatine is not a kind one," Ultis smiled, a small trickle of blood dripping onto her armor from the left corner of her mouth. Ultis hit her seat in annoyance as blood fell onto her armor. Ulrica stopped eating herself and feeding the hound at her legs. The Ice Fang came closer, wiping off the blood from Ultis’s mouth and armor, causing the mercenary leader to shudder, "Enough! Go back to eating, lady, or Rexy will eat the rest again." Ultis glanced at Annie and smiled, showing up the terminal, "Something to… give you an additional drive to win."

Annie looked at the display and froze, mimicking the times when she felt cold sweat on her body. The text on display was written by her "sister", who begged whoever took Annie away to liberate her. An impressive sum of tokens, easily enough to buy a whole apartment in Houstad, was moved to a secure bank account. Annie charged, screaming and frowning in righteous anger, feeling the electric shock running around her body. She fell on her knee before Ultis, pretending to breath heavily.

"I will kill you," She gasped for air, looking in the mocking eyes of Ultis, "I don’t care what it takes, but I will end you."

"See, now you have one more reason to live." Ultis smiled back.

****

Annie and Virginia stepped into the arena, greeted by the angry shouts of the crowd. They come to hate them in a short span of time. The wolf hags refused to play by their rules, they refused to kill the slaves that were put against them. Even against the ones who were pushed into a rampage by the drugs, the wolf hags found a way to win and keep other slaves alive. They smiled and allowed the hate of the people on the balconies to sustain them. By denying these vile scums the spectacles they craved, the wolf hags honed their own non-lethal takedown skills.

Right now, this would not be the case, however. They were put against free people who once gladly took the lives of others. To be frank, Annie did not care to hold back on killing right now. She suspected that Virginia felt the same.

Hekanta brought eight fighters, six of whom wore black capes, one of whom wore a crimson cape and another wore a blue cape over her shoulders.Roll told them a bit about their opponents. Hekanta was only leaving the arena when Hilda gave the orders to capture some fresh new breeds. Black capes meant her fighters "tasted the blood", meaning that they killed someone. Hekanta assigned capes of the other colors at random to newcomers. One time, she was running an entire team of new breeds with powers, until she decided to challenge Palatine for the title of the strongest in the arena. Hilda bought the life of Hekanta, while Palatine claimed the rest for himself. Ever since then, Hekanta "lost the drive" as Roll explained, and the ambitious champion no longer cared about killing others and only fought one day a week to earn her keep.

Eight fighters stood before the wolf hags and the hill. Few fighters could have hoped to beat Hekanta, so to give slave owners a faint hope of winning, the goal of this round was to get the flag from the pole on the hill. Naturally, such victories were rare, no one in their right mind bet against Hekanta and her crew.

Annie smiled, walking calmly to the fighters before herself.

"Hello, sweeties," She smiled, while armored figures put their hands on the hilts of their swords, "In the spirit of a fair game, hear our proposal. Surrender peacefully and you will walk away unharmed and free."

"Honest, honest," Virginia eagerly nodded. Her jaws open wide, catching the tip of the sword when one of the fighters struck at her. Her opponent's visor became red, when Virginia rammed her claws through the chest plate of the armor, reaching all the way to the heart. Virginia spit out the blade and looked at the dying body on her paw, "Aw. What a pity."

Annie jumped back, evading two sword hits. One was aimed at her knees, another at her neck. With her claws, she grabbed the tip of the blade of a person who tried to behead her, dragging the foe closer to her. The woman let go of a massive claymore, allowing twin blades to come from her wrists. Annie beat one strike aside, before striking with her claws at the neck of the woman. She felt the metal coming apart before her claws and felt the flesh tearing. The black cloak tried to breathe, eyes behind the visor became two orbs filled with horror, when her trachea became pierced. Annie twisted her claws, increasing the damage area and moving the woman’s body in front of the next attackers. Two blades bit into the pauldrons of the dying foe, causing her to gurgle weakly. Annie let the black cloak slip from her claws, charging forward at the remaining foes while they struggled to get their blades off their ally's armor. It took her two strikes to pierce the side of the helmet and kill the woman before her. The body was still falling when Annie had to step back, pursued by the wall of steel made by the two remaining foes, one in a black cape and another in blue.

Nearby, Virginia grabbed the necks of two black capes in a hold beneath her arms, bending backwards and forcing them to lean forward.

"Drop your weapons and live." She snapped, seeing how the fighter in a red cape was closing in on her. Instead of dropping their weapons, both black capes tried to slice off Virginia’s tendons. The wolf hag only rolled her eyes, falling on her back and crushing the heads of her foes into the ground with all her might. Helmets endured the impact. The necks inside of helmets did not. The women’s legs twitched several times before their bodies went limp. Virginia rolled aside from the overhead slash of her last opponent, jumping back on her feet. She met the second hit with her claws, stopping the blade mid-strike and tearing it away. Her foe backed down, and the wolf hag grabbed the woman by her helmet, lifting her in the air. For a moment, Virginia looked like she was going for a headbutt. Instead, she fell on her back, playing with a struggling woman with all four of her limbs, spinning the foe like a ball above the body of the wolf hag.

Annie let out a laugh at this, backing down from the strikes herself. She was forced to block two blade strikes with her claws and evade the eight, waiting patiently for an opportunity to come on the attack. Her foes, while skilled, were too used to taking down helpless and frightened prisoners. They were too used to fighting against opponents who were too slow or too weak compared to them. To excel in fighting, one has to face true competition, for only during such times can one see the flaws in her or his style. These idiots preferred to fight not as a team, but as power-hungry champions, unwilling to share prey with others. And Annie was not planning to give them time to remedy this mistake. The foe in the blue cape made a feint with her sword, kicking at the knee of Annie and forcing the wolf hag to move a step back. The armored leg cracked the ground, but a lack of teamwork between the two did not allow the black cape to capitalize on this attempt, and Annie simply beat aside the next two strikes from her opponents with her claws.

She found that she was no longer being outdone by someone else. A monster cares not for speed, only the result matters. And Annie was about to show her foes just who they were dealing with.

Her chance came when the black cloak threw a worrying look at the screaming woman in Virginia’s paws. Annie beat aside the sword of the black cloak, moving forward. A strike meant to end the black cloak was blocked by the fighter in the blue cape. This left her wide open and Annie slammed the claws of her right paw into the abdomen of the blue cape. The woman screamed behind her helmet. Annie let her fall from her claws, turning to the remaining foe. She gestured to her to drop the weapon and was faced with an overhead strike instead. The eyes of Annie read the fluke, the woman stopped the descent of her weapon mid-strike, using the tip of her blade as a spear aimed at Annie’s eye. Had Annie sidestepped the initial strike, she might have been injured. Instead, her claws were now buried deep in the chest of her foe and the thrust of the blade went way off its mark. The tips of Annie’s claws were coming out from the back of the woman.

"Your own damn fault." Annie said, allowing the dead meat to slide from her claws. She shook off the blood from her claws, turning to the last foe. The woman was curled into a fetal position, holding the wound on her abdomen with both hands.

"What…" She gasped when Annie put her paws on her helmet, pulling the metal aside. She threw away the broken pieces of metal, looking down on the raven-haired woman with a small scar over her nose, "What…"

"You wonder what will happen next? Beneath my paws…" She put her paws at the sides of the woman’s head, applying pressure, "…Your skull will be crushed like an eggshell. You will hear the cracking of your own bones and will see blood and cranial fluid in your eyes, you will feel a surge of intense pain like never before, right before the lights will go off."

"N..no…. Pleas…Please… St…op." The woman begged, gasping for air, feeling how pressure was tightening around her head. With but a minor twitch of her paws, Annie could have ended this life. She felt the blood running beneath the skin of her opponent, she saw the horror in the eyes of her foe and felt tears on her paws. This feeling was intoxicating and utterly unworthy of a soldier. The wolf hag wondered if Ravager felt the same when she was about to kill Mincemeat. But unlike Mincemeat, this foe was no longer a threat. And Annie’s monster was not this cheap to be satisfied by such a meagre offering. Annie let go of the woman’s head, spitting at the armor.

"And don’t you forget this fear, butcher. Keep it stored inside of you and never raise your hand on another living being."  The woman cried, curling back into a fetal position. Her hands tried to stop the flow of blood. Annie turned her back to the enemy, uncaring whether she would live or not.

Virginia dropped her own enemy on the ground, and the woman tore off her helmet, sun-bleached hair fell on her shoulders, while she was vomiting on the ground. Virginia towered above her with a smile on her lips.

"I surrender, surrender." The woman barely managed to say anything in-between intense vomiting.

"Then abase yourself before me. Prostrate and beg, weakling," Virginia said in cold voice that surprised Annie. Normally, this idiot was far more composed. The woman in the red cape threw herself on her knees before the wolf hag, sobbing and crying. She pleaded for forgiveness, while Virginia smiled, "Yes, that’s…" The wolf hag stopped when blades slid from within the vambraces of the woman. She jumped up, aiming for Virginia’s neck with a scream. Her scream turned into a shout of pain when the paws of the wolf hag caught her wrists and the metal of the vambraces gave up a whining sound, crumbling beneath the pressure, "Too bad. Now I have to make sure you can’t stab me in the back." Virginia said, crushing the vambraces and the wrists of the woman. The enemy screamed from pain, feeling her bones shattering. Her legs gave out from the pain, but Virginia wasn’t done. The wolf hag caught her opponent by the collar, holding the foe with one paw and with another paw, tearing away pieces of the power armor from the screaming woman. She removed the ruined vambraces quite quickly, partly out of annoyance, partly out of pity, lessening the pain of the foe. Leaving the sobbing woman sitting in just the underarm next to the pile of ruined power armor, she threw the crimson cape over the ruined opponent and walked to Annie, shaking off dust from the paws.

"Time to win it." Annie nodded at the hill. Hekanta stood like a statue, clearly ignoring the death and maiming that fell on her team.

The wolf hags circle around the hill, making sure to leave the wounded foe out of the possible arc of enemy attack. This idea belonged neither to Virginia, nor to Annie. It was simply something that was drilled into their very core in all their training. Leave the wounded in safety for medics to pick up, any wounded, friend or foe, matter not. Dare not to break this simple rule, even if foe breaks it. Because you are a Reclaimer, the ones in charge of bringing civilization to the weak, the insane, the corrupted, and the innocent. If the Reclaimer chooses to compromise on the principles, then what sort of civilization will she or he bring? Rules were everything, rules and laws were the safeguards that ensured that Extinction would never, ever happen again.

Annie dashed up the hill, and Hekanta shifted. The spear moved, the tip of the spear was pointed at Annie. The wolf hag tried to read her opponent and jumped aside the moment her foe made a move. But this time it was not only she who was not playing around. With deadly precision, Hekanta changed the direction of her thrusting strike, adjusting it to point the striking air at Annie. Like a cannon ball, it slammed into the wolf hag, causing her to throw up her arms in defense. As she was flung back through the air, Annie heard the chuckle of Palatine even through the cheering shouts of the crowd. She felt unnaturally beautiful eyes looking at them, eagerly absorbing each and every movement, drinking these moments in like an aristocrat would taste a beautiful and gentle wine, slowly and inquisitively.

Virginia jumped back next, the air leaving a crater in the place where the wolf hag stood just a moment ago. Clenching her teeth, Annie charged forward. She felt bruises on the outer sides of her arms, yet this was something she could endure. Opening her left palm, she ran toward Hekanta, no longer feinting or trying to dodge. The foe raised her spear, making one more thrust, and the air screamed from pain as another piece was stolen from it. A wall of air advanced on Annie and she cut through with her left palm. Like a flame, pain engulfed her, burning her left arm like an acid wound. The skin on her fingers cracked. And yet she pushed forward. Her chop split the torrent of air in two, allowing it to push past her without slowing her run. Behind the visor, Hekanta’s eyes narrowed, while her arm moved to make another thrust with her spear. Virginia charged in front of Annie, punching the next wave like a boxer would punch the liver of an opponent. Annie's right fist connected with a raging wind and pushed it aside just enough for Annie and her comrade to keep on moving onward.

Hekanta was not done. Her spear was nothing more than a conduit for her power. Still holding a spear in one hand, she raised her second arm up, her armored fingers looking at the ceiling. Air trembled around each finger, rising up in a nearly perfect straight line. The air, visibly different, was rising and rising, while the crowd was cheering on. And once Annie was merely ten steps away from the hill, Hekanta moved her free arm, making a clawing gesture in Annie’s direction. Lines run from the hill, cutting through the stone of the arena, aiming at the wolf hag. Her previous attacks had a wide surface, but now Hekanta channeled her power into a far more narrow line, giving it far greater cutting ability.

Annie didn’t even try to block that. She weaved around the attack, sliding in between the cutting lines like a snake, dislocating her own bones to help herself move. All like her teacher showed her during the training. And yet she made a mistake and nearly howled when she was fixing her right shoulder and pinched a nerve in her shoulder between her bones. The wolf hag jumped up, covering the distance to the top of the man-made hill in a single bound, grasping the edge of the hill. The tip of Hekanta’s spear struck at her, leaving a single cut on her left shoulder. She intentionally allowed it to hit her, counting on the times that she saw how her opponent’s power worked before. A wall was coming at a strict distance from Hekanta’s body each time she made a thrusting motion. And Annie was correct this time, the wall of air formed harmlessly behind her body like a raging tornado .She grasped the spear with her left paw, struggling to not allow Hekanta to tear it away. The right arm of Hekanta struck, the index finger pointing at Annie’s head, causing the wolfkin to dodge. Almost like a bullet, the torrent of air left a bloody line across her scalp, narrowly missing the skull. She struck with her right paw, slashing across the enemy’s armor, and found out that her claws were unable to pierce the reinforced steel. Hekanta kicked, creating a wide torrent of air that flung Annie into the wall of the arena and caused the oxygen to leave her lungs.

"This match is over. Victory belongs to Ultis." Hilda’s voice cut through the sound in Annie’s ears, and she looked at the hill. Virginia was sitting on the pole, the flag was resting around her shoulders. She showed her tongue to Hekanta, while the woman in a purple cape was looking at a cut left on her power armor. Angrily, Hekanta threw her spear away, stomping away to the exit, uncaring for the members of her team still lying on the floor, sobbing and crying.

"Yes! Jackpot! Oh, I could kiss you, you ugly w…" Ultis jumped up, screaming in victory. She immediately hunched, coughing blood on the floor of her balcony. Her eyes widened, looking at something on the terminal, "What? Only fifty percent? But who else was betting against He…" She began coughing and spitting blood again, gesturing for Ulrica to bring her med kit to her.

Through the angry shouts of the crowd, Annie could have sworn that she heard how Palatine chuckled.

****

"Congratulations on your victory, superiors." Ron bowed to the tired wolf hags, opening the med kit at the tired gesture of Annie. She crashed on the bed, while Virginia fell on the floor. Annie allowed Ron to treat the wound across her head before standing up and forcibly making the other wolf hag lie on the bed. Snapping at Ron, Annie treated the wounds of her partner, allowing Virginia to treat her own hand in return. She was too tired to be annoyed at the fact that Virginia was the one who won this match today. At this point, Annie wanted to curl into a ball and die. Or to sleep for a year or two. Preferably both, actually.

The door into the holding slid to the side, allowing Roll and a group of mercenaries to step inside. Annie growled upon seeing the rifles aimed at the wolfkins, while Ron tried to hide behind Annie. Soft steps came from the backs of the mercenaries, ears of Annie picked up the rustle of silk. Stepping from behind the men, a beautiful woman came into a room. She was wearing a crimson dress made of glittering silk, one side of her dress reached all the way to the floor, texture made in the form of a blue flower ran over this side, while the other left her thick leg open. A golden necklace decorated her mighty neck, her arms looked like they could easily bend steel, a golden tiara in the form of wings was on her narrow head, holding short black hair in place. The black eyes looked at Annie and Virginia before turning to Ron.

"Male. You are coming with me." The woman commanded.

"What? Why?" Ron asked in a frightened tone.

"Hekanta bought you from Ultis at a price of a palace. You should feel honoured." Roll smiled, pointing his weapon at Annie.

The wolf hag jumped to her feet, feeling how a surge of electricity arrested her movements. She fell on her knees, pretending to feel intense pain and being choked. She and Virginia crawled forward, in a fake attempt to reach the woman, while Roll was holding a finger on a terminal, sending a surge of minor pain across their bodies.

Ron squeaked when Hekanta walked past the wolf hags. He raised his paw and Hekanta grasped it, causing Ron to scream in pain when she tightened her grip. Lifting him in the air, the tall woman smiled, looking down on the wolf hags.

"He belongs to me now, whores." Hekanta said, confirming their suspicions.

Annie kept her role for a while, howling and screaming for a long time, even after the group had left the room. Faking her tears, Annie looked around the room, wondering where the cameras were.

****

It took them a full day and three more matches before Ultis commanded Annie and Virginia to follow after a woman in power armor. A long black cape was flowing from her shoulders, marking her as a member of the Hekanta group. Ultis said that Hekanta paid for a full night of "pleasure" with Annie and Virginia. Something about the way this woman walked looked similar to Annie, but the wolf hag just could not put her finger on this. The woman’s visor was pitched black, when Annie tried to knock her out, the woman used the terminal to make both wolf hags feel a surge of electricity. Annie allowed urine to run down her legs, pretending to be shaken. She grasped one eye with a paw, following the woman like a beaten dog.

The woman left them to head toward the private quarters of Hekanta and knocked at the door.

"Send them in." Hekanta's smug voice said, and the woman bowed, opening doors for the wolf hags. She tried to walk after them, when Hekanta said, "No, just them."

"But…"

"Do you think I can’t deal with two more doggies myself?" Hekanta asked with a hint of danger in her voice, causing the woman in a black cape to fall on one knee and step away from the room.

The wolf hags stepped into a narrow corridor that led into a wide room. Wood was burning in the fireplace, carpets covered the floor, and a cabinet with drinks was wide open. A golden statue of Hekanta was standing near the fireplace.

"Come in." Ron said from a room to the left.

Annie followed the voice and came inside what was supposed to be a bedroom. A massive black bed stood against the wall, covered with blue sheets and pillows. Hekanta was sitting in front of the bed, strapped to a chair with ropes, looking frightened. She was still wearing the same dress as before, but now Annie could also see pants on her legs. Ron stood behind Hekanta, holding a bottle of wine in one hand and pressing a claw to her neck with the other. His slave collar lay at the side of the room like a piece of trash.

"Annie! Rabbit! It’s been too long!" Ron smiled, taking a sip from the bottle.

Virginia’s face twitched, but she kept herself calm. She nodded at Hekanta: "Is it wise to keep her like this? She should be able to break through the ropes easily. Just break her neck and be done with it."

Hekanta went pale, and Ron gave her a pat on the shoulder, removing his claw: "Now, now wildling. We don’t kill prisoners. Miss Hekanta was incredibly helpful to me in order to shorten her prison sentence. With all the help that she provided me by granting me her access codes and permission to use the room," He pointed at the wall and Annie saw a terminal connected to an in-built terminal within the wall, "I do believe that her sentence will be some ten to twelve years in Torment. In the rehabilitation wing, of course."

"Listen, I can get you all out here," Hekanta licked her lips nervously, "If you just let me go, I…" She fell silent when Ron put a gag in her mouth, tying it behind her neck.

As for her physical strength, a minor concoction of a muscle relaxant and a light sedative keeps her almost immobile, giving her insufficient strength to break through these simple bindings," Ron continued as if nothing had happened, "Of course, she could break free of the ropes with her power, but miss Hekanta is not foolish and wants to live. Preferably well, but any way will do. That and I never harm my prisoners, neither mentally nor physically, my pride as an Omega Team member demands that I show excellence in all things, morality included. "

"Where did you find the medicaments to make such a concoction?" Annie asked.

"Why, Blaze brought me my kit." He pointed to the suitcase lying next to the bed.

"Blaze? Auntie is here?" Virginia looked around the room, sniffing loudly.

"For shame Wildling," Ron waved his finger in the air, putting the bottle at the table, "You think Blaze would abandon little precious you and your friend on such a scary and tough mission all alone? The living beauty came here along with all of us, wearing the gear of one of the hunters. The lady who wore the suit before Blaze borrowed it now enjoys the hospitality of the other members of the Omega Team, while Blaze's roommate enjoys the hospitality of our gorgeous beauty," The omegas smiled, "We prefer to work alone, true, but when we have to work alongside with others, we always ensure that our allies are safe at all times."

"Um, Ron," Annie scratched her chin, unsure how to express herself more clearly, "I apologize for the beatings and bite..."

He hugged her, fully stopping Annie in place. His arms felt like twin rails made of tungsten. Never before had Annie ever thought that a male of the Wolf Tribe could be this strong. And yet his hug was gentle, one that meant to get her to relax: "Annie. Never apologize for a job well done," He let go of her, putting paws on her shoulders, "I understand that it was hard and painful. But our lives are on the line here, and you were wonderful," He looked at Virginia and smiled to her, reaching for her and grabbing them both into a hug, "Both of you were awesome and wonderful! I could not have asked for better actors! Play on for a little while longer, please. Darkness is the strongest before dawn, but dawn cometh and when it will be here, boogeymen here will be the ones to feel fear."

"I have no idea how you can be so… calm." Annie admitted, breathing slowly and enjoying the ability to speak her thoughts for once. And the most important member of their team had to endure such stress for at least a month! Ron, meanwhile, was in full control, assured and calm, "You went through being a sex slave, have been beaten, had to fake weakness… And now you are… well this."

"Mostly results of the mental training that all members of the Omega Team go through. Experience as well, in time both of you will be just as calm as I am in all situations," He flashed his smile and gestured Annie to come closer, leading her behind Hekanta’s back, "That and some manual relaxation as well. Here, put your paws on her temples."

Ron took Annie’s paws into his, leading her where to place her fingers on the temples of the frightened Hekanta. Annie could feel nerves pulsing beneath the skin.

"Can you feel them? Good. Miss Hekanta is anxious, let us loosen her nerves to help cool her head a bit," He moved Annie's fingers, and she felt how the pulsating nerves beneath her fingers were slowly becoming calmer after her massage, "You see? Even against will, if you press in right places, you can get a result. This is, of course, but a parlor trick when compared to martial arts, yet being able to cool off yourself can be a boon in a stressful situation."

"Part of a muscle control training course," Virginia looked at this procedure with minor interest, "Auntie showed me how to gain better control over the muscles before. She said it was a trademark of all omegas."

"Good, Wild Rabbit, very good," Ron patted Virginia on the shoulder as he walked past her to the terminal, "If you learned our lessons so well, please massage our host's limbs. Even new breeds will feel the consequences after being tied up and immobilized for a whole day or two. I will feed her again later myself."

The Omega lowered himself on one knee, tinkering with the terminal, while Virginia followed his request, massaging the shoulders of Hekanta, whose skin went crimson from embarrassment. Annie sat cross-legged on the floor, looking with curiosity at Ron’s work. He pressed a button on the terminal, and a holographic image of the base came to life, floating in the air and spinning.

"We are approximately two kilometers below the surface. Right at Pearl’s border with the Ravaged Lands," Ron began to show the images to Annie, "Prior to the Extinction this place was actually served as a test facility for trying out new types of crops in various climates. It pains me to see such a noble goal twisted for such petty purposes as a blood sport for the rich and the wicked. As you can see," His finger pointed at the set of tunnels running from the main facility, "This place has several entrances. The defenses on the surface are tough enough to shred even a sand reaper."

"Shit," Annie said, looking at the images. Laser turrets, missiles, armor piercing automatic weaponry, mines, this place had it all, "This will make it harder for our allies…"

"Oh please, dearest Annie, for whom do you take us?" Ron smiled to her encouragingly, "Precious Alpha had already requested the assistance of shining Ofelia even prior to coming here. These defenses? When one knows the blind zones, and one knows now, they are but a trifle. That and I will be helping them as well."

"We can attack then?" Annie eagerly asked.

"That we certainly can," Ron nodded, showing several black zones on the map and causing the image of a slave collar to appear, "But we shan’t. For you see, when the attack begins, the owner of this disgusting establishment will either kill all the slaves or drive the poor souls into a killing frenzy. We must deny her even this minor victory. You see these black zones? The one belongs to a blonde woman known only as Doctor. No doubt you've seen her before. She serves someone known as mister A. whoever it might be, his name was carefully scrubbed from the records. Not to preserve some secrecy, Doctor simply is extremely petty by all available accounts. In this zone A, her bio lab is located, where she grows new fighters for the arena. She claims Palatine as her son, yet undoubtedly you have seen that there are barely any resemblances between the two. I assume that he, too, is a created being. This zone must be accessed from within if we want to preserve the lives of the prisoners inside. Blaze will handle it. You, on the other hand, will have to find a way to sneak into Zone B," His finger moved to the second black square from the base. He showed a small mechanic cube to Annie. It was even smaller than a flea. Ron took Annie’s left paw in his paws and pressed the cube to her wrist. She felt as if countless tiny creatures burrowed under her skin, moved across her muscles, and hid themselves in a space between her bones, "Fear not, this is but a gift from the Omega Team. Hilda appears to be tired of your recent victories and has requested that the doctor prepare something special to take you down and calm the agitated crowd. You will be able to rile up this something by smashing a drug collar across its neck, honeyed Blaze assured me that this will push the creature into a state of frenzy. My precious had arranged that the collar will be… faulty."

"And what next? We will have an easier time killing the beast?" Virginia asked, working on the legs of the prisoner.

"No, you won’t have to kill it all, hopefully. Draw its attention to smash the arena’s ground right here," Ron summoned the map of the arena, pointing with his finger, "Then jump down and use this access tunnel that will be mysteriously left open for you to access the forbidden zone. We have precious little information about the place, but based on the records I was able to find, a hundred people die there each day."

"From what? Another arena?" Annie asked.

"No, it does not seem so. I think that they harvest organs there, it seems to make the most sense. This place is owned by this dog-faced Hecktricktsen. Once inside, find a terminal, any terminal, and unleash our little helpers. They will allow me to get access."

"And then what? Kill Hecktricktsen?" Annie demanded to know.

Ron’s face became serious, and he put his paws together: "No. under no conditions are you to engage him. I found records and videos about Hilda’s fighting, about Palatine’s fighting style, yet none about the presence of Hecktricktsen in the arena. Yet people around here are utterly terrified of him, and I can tell from a glance that he is tough. No, you two are to surrender. Our last and most important member will then try to rile up Hilda, drawing her to set foot in the arena herself to kill you," He gave two tiny orbs to Virginia and Annie, "Hid them inside your ears. If Hilda steps on, we will be able to save the slaves in the infirmary, the last of the areas that I still don’t have access to. If she sends forth Palatine, too bad then, I will pray for the lost souls myself, use these communicators to call the attack. Do not fight him, sweet Blaze, or myself…" Ron spread the fur on his side, showing the metal plate that somehow merged with his very flesh. Annie could have sworn that he had not had it before. Besides, guards would cut him open to find out what it was. Probably Blaze brought whatever it was to him, "…Will take him down when the time will come. He is too much of a murder machine for either of you for now."

"You want us to abandon civilians to die?" Virginia growled angrily, and Annie nodded in agreement. Their lives for the lives of others. This was a duty, the duty that Ravager set for all willing members of the Wolf Tribe.

"I want you to live. Both of you," Ron responded bluntly, "By living on, you will save ten times the amount that will be lost in the infirmary in case the worst happen. By dying, you will deprive your comrades of both the shield and the sword. Can you pass on to the next life calmly, knowing this?"

Annie fell silent. There was some truth in his words. And yet, what kind of a monster she can be, if she runs and hides at the sight of danger? When lives were on the line, Ravager always pushed ahead, not caring how much she would be hurt. She shook her head. No point in worrying over something that might not even happen.

"Hey, Annie," Virginia said later, sitting beside Annie in front of the fireplace, drying her fur after a bath. Both of them helped themselves with everything they could find in Hekanta's room, preparing for the moment ahead, "You ain't half bad."

"You too, Virginia," Annie admitted, enjoying the heat of the flames. She understood that she was missing the times when she could have spoken freely, without being worried that these bastards from the arena would hear her, "I admit, I got scared a few times."

"Aren't we all?" Virginia asked, looking at the flames., "Mind if I ask what your end goal is? You know, in life."

"End goal…" Annie looked at the ceiling, "I would like to become like Ravager. With such power in my paws, I would have saved so many more people."

"Sounds weird, but interesting. Best of luck with this dream, Annie."

"And what about you? What does Virginia want from life?"

"What I want is something I won't get no matter how tough or strong I get," Virginia said as she clutched her knees, "But my current goal is to live my life as a hero. Bright and short."

"Don’t make it too short," Annie asked, "You still owe me for my defeats. I will see you biting up the dust."

Virginia chuckled and raised her paw for a fist bump. Annie accepted this gesture, and Virginia smiled: "Don’t worry. I don’t intend to go down easily. You will get plenty of tries."

Annie and Virginia spend the rest of the evening eating and recovering after the harsh days. They even got several hours of sleep. By the time they had to leave the room, each wolf hag felt her strength if not fully restored, but at least rekindled. Thanks to the clear plan of action, they felt a burning feeling in their chests, one that was more precious than any narcotic or drug for them, the feeling of hope.

****

Virginia and Annie stepped inside the arena. Their slave collars were left behind as usual. Today's arena was a simple place, one of steel. No hills, no places to hide. Almost boring. And yet the crowd was ecstatic. Ultis looked down on the arena, with both hands behind her back. Hilda stood up, stomping toward the edge of her balcony. Her helmet slid aside, and she raised her arms, sending lightnings in the air above her.

"A welcome to our rising stars!" Hilda said, her upper lips twitching in a smile, while she looked down with a heavy gaze. The crowd booed the wolf hags, but several people cheered them on. Ultis simply smirked, reaching for the terminal, "Will they keep on moving in the world or will they crash and burn today? Only gods could now, we in the meantime will enjoy the show. Unleash our special guest!"

The gates on the other side of the arena slid open, allowing something massive to enter. Creating tremors on the floor with each step a thing of horror stepped pushed itself inside the arena. It stood on the four legs, towering over the wolfkins. Its skin had been covered by scales that looked more like armored plates. The long tail, with a bone blade running by the sides of the tail all the way down to the tip, slid across the floor with a thunderous noise. Two hands carried bone axes. The creature could not physically lose its weapons, for the shafts of the axes were merged with the fists the size of a car. Thick and meaty eyelids protected a set of beady eyes, the four eyes of the creature were looking at the wolfkins with barely held rage, tracing their every move. Fangs the size of a man’s torso, were coming from the maw of the beast. It breathed heavily, inhaling air like an asthmatic. Around its neck, the creature wore a collar with a set of syringes half-buried in its neck.

The blonde woman looked at Hilda and gave a nod. Palatine sat at the edge of the balcony with a notebook and a pen in his hands. His third arm held an orange, which the creature bit at times. Hilda reached for the terminal installed in her vambrace and pushed a button. One of the syringes slid deeper into the massive creature’s flesh, injecting something into the bloodstream. The pupils dilated and the creature inhaled easily, rocking the shoulders. It looked at the wolfkins with hunger now, instead of rage.

And then it charged into a gallop, crossing the distance between the opponents at an alarming speed, causing even guests in the balconies to fear the tremor. Ultis quickly typed something in the terminal before grabbing the edge of the balcony to hold herself steady. Doctor said a word, and Palatine quickly wrote something in the notebook. The beast swung its axe hand for a downward strike. The axe created a long tear in the arena’s floor upon contact, sending countless shards of stone into all directions. Virginia jumped aside before the thing could bisect her in two. Annie charged forward, circling the creature to the left, aiming for the back legs. The bone axe crushed into the ground near her, sending an explosion of stone shards. Annie deflected fifteen shards with her paws, catching them in midflight and throwing them aside before they could have scratched her skin. Virginia was the first to reach the left back leg of the creature, while it was turning to face Annie. The rust-colored wolfkin cursed, jumping away from the beast when its tail nearly cut her at the knees. The bone axe missed Annie by the hair, and she hit with her claws at the armored scale on the enemy’s chest, hoping to enrage the beast some more.

The bone scale exploded, sending an explosion forward and throwing Annie into the wall of the arena. A bright light stole her eyesight for a moment, and all she could hear were the thunderous steps of the beast. The crowd cheered on for her demise, of course, but these steps, coming close with each second, were all that mattered. She closed her temporary useless eyes and listened to the sounds. There is a cracking of muscles within the giant arm. The air was tearing as the bone axe had been sent into a deadly arc. Downward or upward? From which side? Her ears twitched, intaking the information. She felt fear across her body. If she makes a single mistake, she will feel how the bone axe first slices her skin, then the muscles, and finally the bones. All her life, gone in a flash. If she makes a mistake.

Everyone makes mistakes. Calm down, remember your trainings and face whatever comes to the best of your abilities. The teacher’s words came into her mind, and Annie followed the advice, deducing the most possible attack arc based on the sounds that she could hear. Her body moved aside and the ground beneath her legs shook when the axe landed on the ground. She charged forward, listening to the stomping and slithering sounds, running beneath the massive balk of the foe on all four, dodging the tail, relying only on the skills that the army, Dragena, and the teacher taught her, and coming safe on the other side.

Annie opened her eyes despite the pain that the overly bright colors of the world caused her. Palatine was clapping along to the wolfkins, stopping only when Doctor said something. Virginia was on the back of the creature. The creature itself was slowly turning toward Annie, the scales on its back exploded one after another, almost as if they were reactive armor, at the merest touch of Virginia’s legs, causing the wolf hag to jump from one scale to another.

"Annie! His eyes, now!" Virginia screamed, and Annie leaped up. Virginia wasn’t half as stupid as she thought she was! Annie’s paw landed on Virginia’s paw, and the rust-colored wolfkin threw her fellow up, while jumping away from the back of the creature to evade another explosion. Annie made a feint, as if trying to reach the collar, before smashing both her legs into the collar with syringes. The moment her legs pierced the metal circle around the creature’s thick neck, all of the substances within the syringes were injected into the bloodstream of the beast with a soft click of something within the device.

The roar of the creature became the tornado. The stream of air coming from its mouth was strong enough to fling Annie like a fly away from its body. She expected to be crashed against the stone floor, but Virginia caught Annie mid-fall, slowing down her fall and allowing both wolf hags to land safely. Meanwhile, the creature raged. The bone scales exploded one after the other, and the arms grew larger as the muscles within bulged the flesh. The eyes rolled in the eye sockets like billiard balls. Doctor looked at Hilda and the arena owner returned the glance.

"I will punish whoever made this collar." Hilda replied calmly to Doctor, while Palatine was laughing, writing something down in the notebook.

With a horrible wet click, all four eyes of the creature locked at the wolf hags. It charged into a gallop once more, covering the distance between the fighters far faster than before. The drool that fell from its mouth was melting the floor. Following the instructions that they had received from Ron, the wolf hags led the maddened beast after them, dodging at the last moment and allowing the beast to strike the ground in the northwest part of the arena. The stone floor cracked, and Annie felt like she was falling down.

"Why are the blast doors open!?" Hilda shouted.

Annie and Virginia fell into the darkness, landing on their feet. The steel corridor around them was slightly lit by the light that was coming above. The wolf hags had to smash several falling stones while they were busy trying to determine which was north and which was south. Their target lay to the north. Finally, spinning and uncertainty receded, by taking a moment to think and by thinking about the way they fell, both wolf hags charged to the north. They heard guards ahead and a massive fall of something enormous in the corridor behind them. The first guard who met them was bisected by Annie’s claws, his fingers never even managed to press the trigger as the weapon fall apart in his hands. His pitch-black uniform was stained with blood pouring from his body, and his visor came apart along with his head. The wolf hags only killed the guards who were in their way, leaving behind four dead bodies. The rest of the fourteen guards screamed when the raging beast pushed its bulk from the darkness, closing their jaws on them. Annie could hear the sounds of gunfire, broken bones, and exploding scales for some time, before the movement of the being resumed.

"Time to get away from here!" Annie shouted and Virginia nodded, playing their assigned roles for the cameras in the corridor. They came to a fork, three paths were leading into different directions. Annie angrily snarled, burying her paw into a nearby terminal on a wall in a gesture of anger, hearing how their pursuer was coming closer, bending the very walls of the corridor with its bulk, "Dammit all! Which way?" She felt something strange was leaving her paw, running down her skin and entering the broken machine. Annie could only pray that they were far enough.

"Just charge ahead already!" Virginia shouted, running past Annie. Annie ran right after her the moment the ugly and ginormous head of the beast appeared from the darkness behind them. The beast pushed one bone axe forward, ruining the corridor and trying to reach the wolfkins. Turrets came from the ceiling, aiming at the wolfkins, from within openings in the walls, a series of combat bots on tracked legs came, preparing to fire rapid cannons at the wolfkins. Annie and Virginia charged past all of them, allowing the beast to deal with them.

The wolf hags saw a door ahead, leading into a room to the left. Worried about facing more robots, they knocked on the door, jumping away from the corridor, looking for some way out. Taking down the beast behind them in melee was out of the question, annoyed exploding scales would do them far more harm than it was worth. It was better to let the slavers deal with their creation themselves.

Someone charged across the corridor into the beast, pushing it back the way it came. Neither Annie nor Virginia saw this mysterious being, only a blur made of white and black, smelling of blood and pus. Explosions rang out across the corridor, causing the entire place to shake. Some titanic battle was going on there.

"That…" Virginia said, looking across the room. They saw parts of the people taken apart, left side of the room was covered by a white cloth, now covered in blood. A chair, dark from all the blood that had been spilled on it, stood before a piece of filming equipment. The body of a member of the Insectoid Commune, missing its guts and arms, sat in the chair in front of the countless pieces of filming equipment. The whole place reeked with pain and despair, "…That’s evil. They don’t just harvest the organs. They are making the blasted snuff films here."

"Snuff films?" Annie asked, unsure of what it was. She heard this before, she was sure of it, but could not remember what it meant.

"A torture porn." Virginia spat on the floor.

Who would even pay for something like this? Annie wondered, coming close to a dead person on a chair. Fights in the arena, she could understand, the surge of the adrenaline that you feel when you see several fighters struggling for their lives could lit the dark hearts of the perverts. Even sex slavery, disgusting as it was, was something that Annie could understand. There are freaks in the world who need this kind of drug. But this? The person's legs were swollen, and his or her skin was torn as a result of broken bones piercing it. Chitin plates on a person's chest were crudely torn away by some instrument. She felt a tremor underneath her legs, almost as if an earthquake was about to happen. A glass with eyes fell from a shelf of a cabinet within a room, breaking against the floor.

"Who is there?!" A door on the other side of the room opened, allowing several guards to step inside, accompanied by the man in the clothes of a butcher, wearing an apron of crimson. The tremors ended before the last one of them came inside. The man in butcher clothes looked at the wolfkins, "Escapees? Shoot them in the knees, we will use them as a warmup."

Before the guards managed to raise their weapons, the wolfkins were on them. Annie noticed complacency in the enemy’s movements, they were far too used to prey that didn’t fight back. Due to the fact that almost all slaves here wore slave collars, the guards were relaxed, too complacent.

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And now that they were faced with a raging tide that were the wolfkins, it cost them their lives. Bullets hit the wall behind Annie, but she was already on the ceiling, jumping between two guards, slashing across their throats and tearing out their necks. Virginia punched through a guard in front of her, leaving a dying person twitching and gasping for air behind her while she moved on. In a panic, one of the guards shot his fellow, trying to hit Annie. The man in the apron first stepped back and then ran after he witnessed how six more guards were dead. Annie crushed a woman’s skull against the wall, turning around to see that Virginia was killing the last two guards. They said no word to each, tearing off the metal door and running down the corridor after the man. Their goal was to surrender… But right now, they wanted to cause as much destruction in this place as possible. The man ran across the corridor, barely managing to close another door behind himself, when claws pierced the surface of the door, causing him to scream in panic on the other side. Annie tore the chunk of metal from the door, pushing herself into the gap in metal and looking at the horrified man, who stood with his back to the wall, looking in fear at Annie.

She made a step toward him, hearing how Virginia pushed through the door. And then they heard a chomping sound to their left. The man before them smiled nervously when the wolfkins turned to see the source of the sound. The wolfkins were standing in another fork, with a way to the north being blocked by a wall. This place was brightly lit, allowing everyone to see dried up blood on the floor. A giant of a man was sitting with his back to the wall, right in the middle of a fork that connected three corridors. He wore a cocked hat on his head, a simple shirt, stained with red, and brown pants served as clothes. Next to him lay a bowl filled with human remains. The man lazily reached out with his hand, picking up the leg of a woman. He sniffed it briefly, before taking a bite. His pale-looking eyes looked at the wolfkins with boredom. A massive sword spear, within the man’s reach, was pressed to the wall.

"Doggies," The giant said, looking at the man in an apron, "You brought them for me to hunt them?" His voice was deep and slow.

The man wildly smiled, almost falling on his knees from relief, "Yes! Oh, yes, sir Huntsman! These are your new…"

"They broke into my place," Annie tensed upon hearing the familiar voice behind herself, a voice accompanied by the sound of steps and dragging something heavy across the floor, "They broke my things. They brought filth with them. And you ask my guest to deal with them instead of guarding my home?!"

Hecktricktsen came into view from the corridor behind the wolfkin, dragging the head of the beast behind himself. His dog's features were frowned in anger, his eyes were burning with a desire to kill and maim. He wore a white apron, stained with the blood of the killed beast, and rubber gloves. Annie felt fear run down her spine, ducking low to charge at this man. Neither she, not Virginia had any plans to surrender to… him. There was something in his face that was telling them that he will accept no surrender, he will give no quarter.

Hecktricktsen refused to change his walking pace when the wolfkins jumped at him. He looked straight at his minion, treating the claws that were aimed at his neck as an afterthought. One hand still on the head of the beast, he slapped with his free hand, knocking aside the clawed paws of Annie and Virginia and striking anew, giving each wolfkin a slap in the face, as if they were less than children to him. His hand was of normal size, he was barely taller than a male wolfkin, and yet his slap sent both of the wolf hags back with contemptuous ease. Annie made a pirouette in the air, landing on her paws and then on her arms, ready to charge again. Virginia landed on her feet, leaving prints on the floor. Both felt pain and light dizziness from his movement. Both failed to even react to him.

"Zenith." Hecktricktsen said, extending his free arm to them. Pain flooded over them, dropping the wolfkins on their knees. Annie felt a bite of Ygrite before. She felt the poisonous touch of the Chosen Prince's minions. But never, ever had she felt how every nerve in her body screamed from pain. It felt as if a fire was burning inside her, only the fire would eventually burn the person, while she felt the peak of pain again and again, without end. With but a gesture, their foe removed their ability to do anything but breathe in pain.

The man in the crimson apron screamed as well, when pale, mist-like jaws appeared around him. Whatever sort of power Hecktricktsen was using, the wolfkins felt only a tiny part of it. The nexus was the failed servant. The ghostly jaws closed on the man, and he gave a tiny scream, blood vessels exploding in his eyes, blood pouring from his nose. He felt like a bag, his heart stopped from the amount of pain inflicted upon him by a gesture.

"I am not your guest, dog," Huntsman said, looking down on Hecktricktsen, "I am your master."

"Want to have a fight about it," Hecktricktsen looked at the giant. Huntsman kept his silence, extending his arm instead. Hecktricktsen twitched his face in anger, throwing up the massive head to this man. Huntsman caught the head of the beast and bit it, ignoring the blood that was falling on his clothes, "Well…" The dog-faced man breathed to calm himself, looking at the wolfkins, "You ruined my serenity. Because of your intervention, a web of screams was halted. Time to enact recompence." He produced a sawblade from the inside of his apron.

"Hopefully you have insurance, because they don’t belong to you," A new voice said, and from the corridor to the left of Huntsman, approached the group of people. Five guards in pristine blue power armor of a private security agency from the Pearl City surrounded two stunningly beautiful women, one with long brown hair dressed in expensive furs and another in leather skin with short chestnut hair. Between the women walked a ghost of a person, a figure made of pure darkness. The arms of the figure rested on women’s shoulders, his smile showed white light inside his mouth, his hair and brows were made out of strands of light and his voice was that of a static noise. Optic camouflage. Annie heard that such things were used by some rich people who wanted to conceal their identity, "Greetings, Hecktricktsen. I would call you a mister or a good fellow, but alas, you are neither one nor the other. Just a sadist, thriving in the dark like a mushroom," The black shape looked at Huntsman, "Even feed on shit, I see. Hello, Huntsman. What is the rabble from the Resistance doing in these lands?"

"He was invited here by the cartel. Lady Blaguna is an honorable guest of these halls," Galfo said, coming from the opposite corridor. Yabor was trailing behind him with three young females, "I am more curious about what Respectable People are doing in our lands?"

"Yours? I don’t remember giving this turf to anyon…" The black shape raised a white brow.

"What does this mean?!" Hecktricktsen screamed, pointing at the women with his saw, "They are meant to scream and die!"

"Oh, they will scream and hear the screams," Yabor smiled proudly, "But with and because of passion and love and not of death and pain! Ah, thank fate for leading me to such cuties!" He pressed two hands together, looking with adoration at the women next to him.

"Slaves in my home are not for sale," Hecktricktsen hissed, stepping away from the wolfkins, allowing Annie to breathe a little, "You dare to steal from me!!!?"

"Scary!" Yabor and trembling women hid behind the back of Galfo, "No one can threaten my hotties! No one! Shoo him away, Galfo, shoo him away!"

Hecktricktsen growled, while the black shape and the women around him laughed. The dog-faced man started to walk toward the covering Yabor. Galfo rolled his eyes, raising his white arm above himself. He slammed the right hand on the floor, causing ice to spread toward the sadist. The guards jumped in front of the black shape, pushing him and his females back. Thick ice ran across Hecktricktsen’s body, covering him to the waist, freezing his arms in place.

"Now, now, settle down, Hecktricktsen. I haven’t finished sassing the…" Galfo’s face became tense when the dog-faced man crashed the ice around himself with ease, shaking it down.

"You want to die? You think your precious cartel is something to be afraid of?" Hecktricktsen asked, and Galfo stepped back, along with the women. It took Yabor a second to understand that he was alone in front of the rising hand of the sadist, and with a squeak, the brothel owner fell on his knees.

"Enough!" Hilda’s voice stopped the ensuring chaos. She came from the same corridor as Hecktricktsen previously did, her steel form covered with the remains of flesh. It seems that she literally tore her way through the dead body of the beast behind, "Hecktricktsen, stand down. I will give you three… No, nine slaves in exchange for these three." She added quickly, seeing how the dog-faced man frowned. The arena owner bowed to the dispassionate Huntsman, before addressing the black shape, "You were told to wait for me in the guest quarters. Who invited you here, Tolsten?"

"Why, we invited ourselves, of course." The black shape spread his arms, "You build an establishment on our lands, without showing us proper respect or even asking for our permission. Your hounds approached the farmlands of the south, where people pay us to protect them. We dealt with this problem…"

"What have you done with our people?" Galfo demanded, creating an ice shard between his fingers.

"Yours? They are ours now," The shade replied, smiling in the face of the ice man, "A peasant like you probably won’t understand, but everyone has their uses, if they behave. Your boys and girls made a wise choice and are now up to a better start. Where was I? Ah, yes," Tolsten turned back to face Hilda, continuing his speech, "…but decided to give you another chance, for when business is in the air, feelings are put aside. If a mountain comes not to a person, then a person comes to a mountain. Yet, upon arriving here, what do I see? Decadency, drugs, and beyond-the-morbid stuff. It's revolting. I thought to come and offer you a hand of friendship and some advice since you clearly are so shy to come to me personally. Alas, upon seeing what you have wrought, Respectable People care not for your future anymore. Trash like you is beneath us. You will stop selling weapons to the Resistance. If they want to buy something, they can do so directly from us." He glanced at Huntsman, but the cannibal was busy eating, "You will keep your hounds away from our territory. Do this and you may live as you see fit. Disobey and be removed like trash. "

"You come to my lands. Is it wise to threaten me?" Hilda asked in a calm voice.

"Pavel? Can you take them?" The black shape asked one of his guardians.

"Galfo? Easy enough, sir," One of the guards responded, the only one armed with only a pistol. Galfo ignored him, turning around and dragging Yabor after himself, "Hecktricktsen and Huntsman however are out of my league. They are within the one percent."

"I am literally just here to chill and remind Hilda about her place. Leave me out of you squabble," Huntsman looked down at the blue-clad guards.

"Girls?" Tolsten asked again, addressing the women with him and resting his arms on their shoulders.

"Sorry, honey, way above our league." The woman in leather replied.

"You seem at a loss, Tolsten." Hilda said, and Hecktricktsen moved forward, causing guards to close ranks around their master.

"Rather we are at an impasse," The black shape replied, pointing up, "As we speak, the S-Missile is directed at this shit of a place. If something happens to me…" He smiled.

Annie felt her blood freeze. Pearl was not a part of the Universal Treaty, the treaty between three major powers that blocks the use of weapons of mass destruction. S-Missiles, also known as spatial missiles, were weapons of the old world, upon hitting the target, they created a bubble thirty kilometers wide and big, sucking everything within into a localized wormhole. The other end of this wormhole lay directly in the outer layer of the Sun. Such weapons were banned even in the Old World, yet Pearl possessed one such missile and refused to give it up. Due to the fact that control over teleportation technology was lost along with the Old World, S-Missiles could no longer be made.

"You are bluffing. The consequences of such action…" Hilda took a step back.

"There are ways to keep you alive and suffer for near eternity," Hecktricktsen calmly added, "Would you like me to take out your every organ and hang it in front of your head for you to see? As long as blood moves on and as long as blood vessels are maintained, a person can live even in such a state. Do you know what person feels during this?"

"Something morbid, undoubtedly, I am sure. Feel free to demonstrate the process on yourself," Tolsten looked at the dog faced man as if he was some curiosity, before turning to Hilda, "I consider myself an old and frail person. As such, I care little about things that will happen when I am no longer around. Try me and lose everything. Or give up your deal with Resistance to us."

"Let us speak then. Remove this trash…" Hilda pointed at the wolfkins.

"You would be wise to reconsider," Tolsten stopped her, "I met Ultis, a handsome lass by the way, Slavery aside, a pocket mercenary group can come in handy. These two are her property, thus I would like to see them returned to my potential future employee."

"Fine," Hilda hissed angrily, "Bring in the slave collars!"

The last thing that Annie felt before losing her conscience was the heavy boot of Hilda slamming on her head.

****

When Annie opened her eyes, she saw a white ceiling. Light was hitting her in the eyes, the tight slave collar was across her neck. She was lying on a hospital bed. Lifting her head from the pillow, she heard moans and whines around her. This was her first time seeing the arena’s hospital. In this vast hall, she saw countless people, mostly fighters from the arena, though some patients were labeled as Halls of Pleasure employees. Slaves from the Halls of Pleasure lacked collars around their necks, but the majority of them, male and female, had empty eyes and trembled from drug overdoses. The medical personnel were busy bringing them back to some functionality and also removed scars from their bodies, ensuring that sex slaves looked perfect. The usual fighters fared even worse. Many of them had lost limbs. A few had their faces torn away. The most ruined fighters were marked for organ harvesting or to be given to Hecktricktsen, the crowd’s favorites had their lost limbs and organs replaced with crude cybernetics and were scheduled for the anger-inducing devices to be installed into the back of their heads. Only a few patients were meant for full recovery, mostly guards. This was not a place of healing. Merely another place to produce useless, maddening monsters and allow the crowd to enjoy themselves by seeing how these monsters will tear each other apart. Doctors here worked as butchers, uncaring enough to rarely use painkillers on the slaves. Judging by the enormous size of the place, there were almost a thousand slaves here. The sheer scope of the arena was mind-boggling. How could an independent nation like Pearl tolerate such vile thing on their lands? Annie wondered.

Annie felt the surge of electricity hit her the moment she tried to stop workers taking away a fresh party of "meat" for Hecktricktsen. She realized the futility of her efforts when she noticed the large form of Hilda gesturing at her to come close. Hilda was without her helmet, she looked dispassionately at the approaching wolfkin. She was towering over a hospital bed with a woman on it. A breathing tube was going into her mouth, wound on the belly was healing badly due to the lack of care from the doctors. The eyes of the woman widened in fear upon seeing Annie. The wolfkin recognized the patient, this was the fighter she spared during the battle against Hekanta.

"I do not appreciate your attempt to escape." Hilda stated unequivocally.

"That’s too bad. I thought you would like a little hunt." Annie smugly smiled in her face.

"Too tedious for my taste," The arena owner replied, inhaling air loudly, "Your desire to keep your paws clean had not gone unnoticed. But as my guards can testify, your killing talents are impressive."

"Charmed. Want to test them on yourself?" Annie beckoned her with a claw and felt a surge of electricity hit her once more.

"Hardly. I would rather offer you a chance."

"Chance?"

"Look around you," Hilda spread her arms, prompting Annie to look around at the sufferings, smell the rot, pus, and blood in the air, and hear the screams of mutilated people, "Do you see? Killing you will be a kindness."

"Pray, enlighten me as to why."

"If you stay as a slave, you will one day miss a hit that mutilate you. And your owner will then sell you. And you will end up as a toy for Hecktricktsen to make a movie from," Hilda raised a finger, "There is, however, a way out. Work for me," Hilda looked at the silent face of Annie, "Don’t be surprised. Hekanta once stood before me like you. I offered her a choice. Go against Palatine with her crew in the vain hope of gaining liberty or to work for me and live. She made the bad choice but survived and now knows her place. Learn from the mistakes of others. Join me and I may even give Ultis to you. Imagine being locked in a room with her for an hour. Think of all the things that you can do to her for her betrayal."

"And the catch is?" Annie asked, scratching her ear. A glint of annoyance flickered in Hilda’s eyes.

"A simple token of trust is needed. A life for a life." Hilda nodded at the woman on the bed.

Annie looked into the frightened eyes of the woman. She was strapped to a bed, unable to move. Annie reached with her fingers for the breathing tube, playing with it, while the woman desperately tried to utter something. It would be easy to just crumple this thing and let her suffocate. Surely, being close to Hilda will allow Annie to carry out her mission even better.

Am I really such a cheap monster?

She felt steel fingers on her shoulders and Hilda’s body behind her: "There is only one way out of the nightmare that you are in right now. Come, bind yourself with blo…" Annie hit back with her head, feeling Hilda’s nose with the back of her head. A surge came as punishment and the body of the wolfkin trembled.

"Get off from me. Your stench is annoying." Annie hissed through clenched teeth.

She expected a far stronger surge of electricity, but no additional punishment came. Turning around, Annie saw calm Hilda, small trickle of blood was coming from her left nostril. Several guards appeared behind the arena owner, and Hilda raised her hand, stopping them.

"You are as foolish as your friend. There is no point in wasting anger on a dead person. Get yourself ready, Palatine is waiting," Hilda looked down at the women on the bed, "Send her as a meat for a new film."

****

The arena doors slid away and Annie felt a tingle of fear. She looked aside and saw that Virginia was also tense. Annie reached out with her paw and put it on Virginia’s shoulder. Her fingers tapped the tune under the guise of encouraging massage.

Gonna. Try. Beat. Him. Save. People. Medics.

Virginia smiled and only nodded, shrugging off the paw: "I am calm, relax. Let’s down this sucker."

They stepped into the arena and were met with heavy music. All the lights were out once more, leaving a circle of red light around Virginia and a circle of blue light around Annie. In the middle of the arena was built a new hill, made of compressed stone. Palatine stood on this hill, dressed in an unzipped white jacket and white leather pants. He was singing in tune with an unseen band of musicians, who were filling the entire arena with the sounds of metal rock. The beautiful voice of the creature was dropped to a low level, he even imitated the raspy voice of a professional musician. In one clawed hand, Palatine held a wireless mic.

The crowd was ecstatic, chanting his name over and over. Hilda was sitting on her throne, sipping from a glass of wine. Ultis looked down with an unreadable expression, holding the hound in her arms and patting it. This time there were no announcements, no speeches. Everyone expected Annie and Virginia to die here.

"Let’s disappoint them!" Annie howled to the ceiling of the room with all her might and Virginia joined her, their howls downed the music, downed the singing of Palpatine. The fear, the anxiety, they were all gone. Just a battle remained. Win this fight and move on. The pure state fell on both wolfkins, and they charged at Palatine, leaving footprints on the stone floor of the arena.

They reached the slope of the hill, climbing up and seeing crimson and blue lights shining in their eyes from the ceiling, as projectors were trailing them. Ignoring the lights, they jumped on the hill, meeting face to-face with the still singing Palatine. He danced to the clapping and cheering audience, flashing a smile to his foes. The lean body of their foe danced aside from Virginia’s thrust, neatly sending her flying with a casual push of his shoulder into her back as she charged past him. He danced back, evading Annie’s kick that exploded the ground in front of his feet, and then leaned forward in a fluid movement. Annie followed up with the rising kick, intending to smash the perfect nose back into the smiling face. She felt how her fur touched his beautiful skin, yet her leg missed the foe and he slipped past her gracefully, appearing behind her and sending Annie in a spin with one arm. Before she arrested her movement, he had already grabbed the wolf hag by the hand, as if they were a pair of dancers. Palatine dragged Annie closer to himself, stealing a kiss from her lips before her jaws could bite him. He jerked back, evading another thrust from Virginia, and put his leg forward, making her trip and fall in his arms. He kissed Virginia on the temple, making a movement with his arms that cast the wolf hag away from Palatine in a spinning throw that landed her on her feet and continued dancing and singing a song in honor of his foes. Each time the fighters collided, crimson, blue, and white lights intertwined.

"Palatine! Palatine! Kill! Kill!" The people on the balconies jumped to their feet, shouting and demanding blood, while an androgynous being teased them, dancing among the blows of his foes. A cage of cutting strikes tried to engulf him, but he danced away from each blow, not allowing even his clothes to become tattered, still singing his song.

Calm. Calm down. You are calm. See his movements. Annie stopped briefly, drinking in the movements of her foe, counting the time between each of his breaths, memorizing his evading patterns, inhaling the air that he was exhaling, listening to his words. Calm is good. Treat it like a training session.

Virginia slammed her arms on the ground, roaring in anger. Muscles popped along her body, visible even through thick fur. She charged at her foe like a comet, and Annie followed her lead like a moonlight.

Fury and serenity. But of course. What a fool I was. Palatine jumped away from Virginia's slash, and the punch of her right arm left a crater in the ground where he stood. Annie made a thrust with her right paw at his face, one that he gracefully evaded, without even landing on the ground. But Annie was still on the ground. Charging past him, she pushed him aside with her right shoulder, breaking his perfect dance. Virginia moved from the crater, slashing up with her right arm, and Palatine gasped at the small cut on his perfect abdomen. His shock allowed Annie to strike as well, leaving him with a crisscross wound on his abdomen. Monster or no, a soldier fights as part of a team. He landed, dancing away, no longer singing, and stopped at the edge of the hill, looking down. The wolfkins tensed, feeling something change in the air. When the being before them raised his head, there was not fury in his eyes, but exultation.

The musicians broke the tune, stopping playing slowly and unsurely. The crowd fell silent. Doctor grabbed a notebook, furiously writing down something. Hilda stood up. Ultis widely smiled, kissing the hound in the ugly face. Judging by what was happening around her and by the silence that fell on the arena, Annie deduced that such a thing had never happened before. This being was never injured.

Palatine threw aside his mic and threw all three arms up, leaning backwards. A wide smile was on his face and three pillars of light disappeared, returning normal electric light to the arena. His claws twitched.

We can beat him. Annie decided. The being before her was strong, true. But she felt confident. He was not as freakishly strong as Hecktricktsen, or as overwhelming as Jack.

Palatine moved. His movements were as fluid as ever, but there was now some anticipation in his style, something that prevented him from moving with the former precision. He leaped forward, creating a web of cuts before himself with his claws. Annie parried his attack with her own claws, feeling the otherworldly might in this lean body. She barely had enough time to keep him from bisecting herself, not even daring to go on the counterattack. Annie and Virginia fought side by side, four arms against three arms, and yet they were the ones who were pushed back. Palatine smiled, dodging to the left as Virginia kicked in his face, her foot cleaving several strands of his hair. He counteracted, aiming to cleave her knee in two, and Annie blocked the hit. A clawed hand immediately struck forth, aiming for the exposed throat of the wolf hag, and this time it was Virginia who blocked this blow. Step by step, Palatine pushed the wolf hags back, weaving through their defenses and leaving cuts on their bodies.

Annie felt the blood trickling down on her body. All that she could see before her was a wall of claws, Palatine struck at an almost machine-like pace. Keep the onslaught on. The moment your opponent makes a mistake, make a cut. Repeat again and again. This pattern never changed, not once in his attacks. And Annie felt like she had enough of playing by his rules. She said not a single word to her partner, yet both of them understood her plans for each other immediately. They charged forth, into the whirlwind of death, temporarily abandoning the defense for the sake of overwhelming offense. Annie's left shoulder received a deep cut, flesh was torn all the way to the bone. Skin was peeled away from the space just above the knee on Virginia’s right leg. And yet their reckless charge confused Palatine. His rhythm was broken, two clawed hands were pushed aside, and the wolf hags struck him in the chest with their claws, failing to reach his spine only by sheer miracle.

The impact from their hit sent him backward. Annie charged after him and was moved backward, feeling a searing hit on her left side. A kick. He kicked with his left for the first time in this fight, striking faster than Annie could follow with her eyes, shattering two ribs in her side and sending her back.

"Yes… Yes!" He said, looking with disbelief at the deep wounds on his body, at his own, unnaturally bright, blood that was pouring out, "This pounding of my hearts, the taste of my blood in my mouth... Is this what pain feels like? Is this what a true battle is?" His body disappeared, moving past Annie and causing her to frown, feeling how his claws scarred the bones on her right hip, "I love it!" He shouted, falling on the ground like an amateur and jumping back onto his feet. The form of Palatine disappeared once more, covering the distance between himself and Virginia in a single burst of movement. One hand hit the wolfkin in the ear, twitching her neck away at an unnatural angle.

No. Annie whispered in her mind. Her honor, her ally… All thoughts left her. The fact that Palatine was using a flash step, and a botched one at that, was irrelevant. Her pride was irrelevant. Her life was irrelevant. The dream of being a monster was irrelevant. All that mattered was that her ally was in danger.

Annie moved, performing a flash step with a grace of a master. Palatine’s eyes widened when he understood that his right side disappeared in a bloody fountain and that Annie stood behind him. He turned around, striking with his arm, and Annie redirected his blow, adding her own strength to his thrust, using two paws to send his clawed arm into his own shoulder. A new feeling began to form in his eyes, Palatine faced something that he had never felt before. And he had no idea how to deal with this feeling, so he responded in the way that he always did before. He tried to kill the foe before him. The second clawed arm made a thrust forward.

"Love the taste of your own blood? Then feel free to bleed to death!" Annie said as she met his claws with her palm. This technique was the one that her teacher taught her. By absorbing the very air before her hand into her palm, by sending an impulse through her muscles, starting from her feet and all the way into her hand, she could create vibrations potent enough to rupture even the blood vessels within her opponent’s body. But by releasing the stored air within her paw the moment an impulse reaches her paw, she could perform a true miracle, one that only a new breed could pull off thanks to their superior physique. The speed of the released molecules of air from within a palm resulted in the creation of a miracle known as the sound palm. This was what enveloped her paw for a brief moment, a sound strong enough to shatter stone itself. And this was when the claws of her opponent hit with the sound of an explosion. The resulting impact threw Annie back, the ground of the stone hill between her and Palatine cracked. The crack produced by Annie’s arm could be heard even on the farthest balconies. The body of the foe refused to move back even an inch, not in the least because Virginia put her paws on his back, holding Palatine in place. With a crack, her neck returned back to its original place, fixing the position of her head. And the arm of Palatine was ruined. The wolfkins could retract their claws, in any moment, they can easily remove their weapons of murder. Palatine could not. His claws were buried deep into his fingers, shattering bones and puncturing skin, tearing muscles in his arm apart. His own claws were pushed all the way through the hand, all the way through the wrist, and finally were left within the arm itself. Palatine smiled nervously, trying to hit Virginia with the elbow of his remaining good arm, still trying to tear up the arm that was still stuck in his body. Virginia took the blow like it was nothing, her body seemingly absorbed the impact.

Annie moved to Palatine, fully understanding that this was their chance to end it. She dislocated the bones in her right arm, putting her left leg forward and striking with her right arm, wielding her own limb like a person would wield a whip. Even normie could break the sound barrier with the tip of the whip, resulting in the crack of the whip. When Palatine failed to block this attack, Virginia grabbed his good arm by the inner side of his wrist and outer side of his elbow, shattering his arm in a single motion. Annie’s strike smashed the side of Palatine’s head, popping the eye and tearing the skin away from the impact area. Fixing the positions of the bones in her arm, Annie made a thrust with both arms, burying claws in his chest, remembering his words about the "hearts" earlier. Palatine’s legs twitched, but the deadly kick never came. Virginia tore at his spine with her own claws, closing her jaw on his lean neck.

"Hey," Palatine said, and both fighters stopped, unsure if he was giving up, "Is this what the world outside these walls looks like?"

"No," Virginia mumbled, keeping a hold on his neck, "People there have families, and they live peacefully and normally. They sleep in beds, read stories to their cubs at night, have dinners together, all that stuff. Only because of the murderous jerks like the ones in this arena, that we have to fight."

"Heh," Palatine said, spitting blood from his mouth. The remains of his popped eye flowed down on his chest, "I'd like to try and live a normal life. I refuse to surrender. Finish the deed, please. It hurts."

"Apologize to the ones you have killed in the afterlife. Maybe then the Spirits will give you the life that you want next time." Annie said to him.

When Virginia smashed his neck between her jaws and Annie made a full circle in his chest with her claws, shattering his lungs and whatever organs were inside his head, Palatine croaked. Light disappeared from his remaining eye when even his unnatural body could no longer sustain him. His head dropped, dangling on his chest on a string of muscles. The wolf hags released his body and Palatine fell silently on the ground.

The crowd fell silent. Hilda was silent. Doctor turned around and a black oval opened before the woman, slowly becoming a gateway into some bright room. She walked inside in silence, accompanied by her guards.

Ultis smiled: "Jackpot."

Annie slapped the paws with Virginia, allowing a nervous breath to leave her lips. She was scared right now, there was no mistaking this. Her entire body hurt. The bones in her right paw suffered numerous cracks, and it hurt just to bend her fingers. She was bleeding. Shattered ribs scratched her lung with each breath. She suspected that Virginia felt the same. And yet they were still alive. And she could feel how her body becoming slightly bigger, as her power was driving her closer to the peak.

"Is this all you can offer us, Hilda?" Annie shouted, spreading her arms and looking at the arena owner, "Step down and fight us yourself!" The arena owner was silent, looking at the remains of Palatine in calm anger, "No answer? Are you afraid by any chance?"

"Get them off the arena." Hilda commanded, turning around.

****

"Are you sure that you are fine?" Ulrica asked when Annie and Virginia walked inside the hall that led away from the arena, escorted by the guards. Ultis and her mercenaries came from the lifts in the other side of the corridor, the mercenary leader spared a glance at her fighters, saying nothing. The slave collars were put back on the fighters, even their arms were locked with iron restraints now.

"Eh, just a few cracked bones, cuts, maybe head damage," Virginia joked, while everyone walked into the next room. This was a hall with trophies. The remains of the famous fighters were frozen in the ice for everyone to see. The ruined weapons were placed on the stands. And there, in the special harness in the middle of the room, stood the power armors of Virginia and Annie. Reassembled and fixed, they were placed for everyone to see. The worried Ulrica took a step too close to the trophies, and one of the guards hit her across the head with a rifle butt.

Virginia made a step forward, walking closer to see her power armor. The same guard that hit Ulrica came from behind the wolfkin with fur of a rust color and hit her as well. Virginia stopped in her place, looking back at the woman.

"Do it again. Please." She asked, and the guard smiled. She made a quick movement, aiming the rifle butt in the space above the right eye of the wolfkin.

Virginia moved, jaws snapping. The rifle cracked in her teeth, as did one of the guards' arms all the way down to the elbow. The woman screamed from pain, while Virginia spit a stream of blood and bone into her face with a bored expression. The rest of the guards froze in place for a moment, shocked that the slave collars were not working. The people jumped when Annie tore aside the metal restraints on her arms, noticing that cameras across the room were no longer working.

"Hey." Annie said to the guards, turning toward them, "How about a game? Do you feel that you can shoot me, before I bisect you with my claws," She critically checked her paws, ignoring the pain. One by one, her claws slid out, while the shocked guards looked at her, "No? No one feeling lucky? But I am over here, so far away from you… A shame. Drop the weapons then."

One of the guards raised his rifle up, aiming at Annie’s head. She made no movement, still looking at her own paws. Instead, it was Ultis who shot the man in the back of the head. The scout gestured to the mercenaries, and they took aim on the guards, making them drop their weapons. With an annoyed expression on her snout, Ultis gestured to one of the mercenaries to help the injured guard with a ruined arm.

"What?" Ulrica asked in confusion, while Ultis took her cloak from the shoulders, dropping it over the naked shoulders of the Ice Fang.

"Apologies for the deception, lady," Ultis said nervously, bowing to the Ice Fang courteously and backing away immediately from her, "Alright, friends. Suit up and let us proceed with the plan," She and several other mercenaries walked toward the lift that led directly to Hilda’s balcony. This lift was supposed to be locked for anyone, but the ones whom Hilda admitted herself. Yet with a press of a button, the doors slid away, allowing Ultis and her group to step inside the lift, "Time for a change in management, I feel." She said this as the doors closed.

Annie walked toward the power armors, taking her own. She forced herself to accept help from Virginia, after Virginia noticed that Annie could barely use her paw. While her armor was charging, Annie allowed herself to smile encouragingly to Ulrica as her helmet slid on her head.

"I told you, lady, didn’t I? We are all going to get out of here alive," She helped Virginia put on her own helmet, looking at the mercenaries, "Keep our cousin alive, ok?" They simply shrugged, spreading across the room and preparing to defend it from the attackers.

Her lenses activated, cameras within her armor activated, giving her full field of vision across the room. Power armor felt a bit more tight than usual, some adjustments will be made later. Her pain receded, but the armor warned about internal bleeding. Annie ignored the warnings, stomping toward the elevator alongside Virginia. The time had come to end this. The codes that Ultis installed into their armor worked and the lift allowed them to enter. Doors closed behind them, and in total silence, they reached the upper floor.

They were greeted by two dozen of the arena’s guards, who were pointing their weapons at the wolfkins. Ultis stood on her knees near the throne of Hilda, her eyes bound together with mechanical handcuffs. Roll was pressing the barrel of his pistol against her head. Several mercenaries were also disarmed, while others joined Roll and aimed their weapons at their former comrades. An armored warrior with a black cape over her shoulders rested her arms on the hilt of her sword. Hilda herself was sitting on the throne, relaxing her head on one of the massive pauldrons.

"You expected this to end any other way?" Hilda asked with minor curiosity.

"Why, I for one hoped that you would have a change of heart." Annie smiled into her face.

"Don't have one, to change one," Hilda said flatly, "Did you really think I wouldn't notice what you lot were doing? Did you really think that it would go unnoticed that Ultis hacked into the systems of my arena during the debacle recently?" Hilda shook her head in disbelief, standing up, "I am the arena. Everything that is happening here, everything that is going on, is known to me. I overheard what she was saying to her mercenary," Hilda nodded to Roll, "and now he is my loyal follower. I merely allowed the bitch to go on with her plan to try and usurp my position. Did you really think that no one ever tried to usurp my position before?"

"You seem to lost some of your guards." Virginia pointed out the obvious.

"Lives can be easily replaced. By allowing you to go this far, I found the vulnerabilities in the arena’s systems. All you have achieved is providing my guests with entertainment and helping me improve my arena free of charge."

"We don’t work for free, honey," Annie smiled, walking forward unafraid of the guards, "Your life will suffice as a compensation."

Her eyes widened when she felt how her armor had turned into a dead weight and all systems were shutting down. Hilda came closer to the struggling to move wolfkins, reaching with her large hand and grabbing them by the shoulders.

"And now to your last service." Hilda jerked them into the air and threw both of them from her balcony.

They crashed into the arena, splitting stone and clumsily rolling around. The kinetic absorbers were off, yet the armor itself provided both wolfkins with a modicum of protection, saving them from more grievous wounds, although Annie spit blood, feeling how broken bones were sticking into her organs. Her right paw was on fire, she landed on it during the fall. Struggling to stand up, she saw how Hilda nimbly leaped from her balcony, landing on the floor and sending stone and dust upward. Tremors from the fall of her enormous body reached the pair as they stood with their backs to the hill in the arena.

"Dearest guests!" Hilda threw her arms up, enjoying the greetings of the crowd, "Apologies for the wait. For your enjoyment on this night only, I myself step into the arena to match my wits and mettle against our champions!" She mockingly pointed at the wolfkins while the crowd was shouting for her to kill them. The west wall of the arena slid into the ground, revealing fifteen slaves tied to metal poles. Before them stood guards, aiming weapons at the slaves, "To make things more interesting, for each hit, received or taken, a slave will die! Please place your bets on the result! And now," Hilda pointed her right palm at the wolfkins, and Annie saw a bright circle on the metal palm. She dodged to the left while Virginia started to move to the right, "Let us start."

Lightning left her palm, spearing the hill behind the wolfkins and splitting it in two with a thunderous sound. The hill, already cracked during the previous battle, came apart in the shower of stone and dust, forcing the wolfkins to dodge the torrent of stone that came at them like an avalanche.

Hilda moved forward. The movements of her foes were slowed by the useless metal they were wearing and by the wounds that they had suffered. Their opponent, on the other hand, was fresh, she was clad in the best power armor money could buy. Her moves, slightly wasteful, hint at her being a retired warrior, one who has lost her edge by now. Yet as Annie dodged the downward punch and barely slid away from the push of Hilda’s shoulder, she understood that this woman was still in her prime. The lenses of Hilda’s helmet traced every move of the wolfkins, Virginia’s attempt to sneak on her from behind was stopped when Hilda turned her torso around like an automaton. She clenched both fists above her head and slammed her hands into the ground where Virginia stood just a moment ago, collapsing the stone floor and revealing metal beneath. Immediately after she turned her torso around without producing a sound, her fist nearly tore away Annie’s head, only missing by some miracle. Just like the power armors of the Wolf Tribe, Hilda’s armor also had in-built cameras and who knows what else. Annie started to suspect that the only flesh that was remaining in the body of her foe was the head.

Virginia and Annie broke away from Hilda after she tried to step on Annie. They charged all the way toward the slaves and the guards, releasing claws. They end up crashing their bodies against the invisible shield that protected people within from the chaos of the arena. Hissing from pain, Annie clumsily turned to the enormous woman that followed after them with the grace of an industry walker. Like a piston, the hand of Hilda crashed against the unseen shield, missing Virginia. Opening her fist, Hilda allowed lightning to shoot away from her palm into the shield, splitting against it and shooting behind her in the arcs. Annie cursed upon seeing the burn marks on her and Virginia’s armor.

"I really think it counts for five," Hilda turned from the shield to face the wolfkins, pointing her finger at the damaged areas of their armor, "Show me some sport. Fight back. The show is still young."

"No, you moron," Annie chuckled, sensing how her power armor began to charge after receiving a command from outside. They have bought enough time for Ron to lock Hilda away from access to the mainframe of the facility. Virginia straightened herself, and both wolf hags looked at their foe through reactivated lenses. While the systems of their power armor were busy connecting to a wide network of countless power armors closing in on this location, "The show has just been canceled."

Hilda looked up as the ceiling of the arena exploded in several places, unleashing packs of wolfkins inside the arena. The strongest landed on their feet among the crowd, the weakest, warriors and lower, used ropes to lower themselves. The crowd screamed when the soldiers began to tie them up. Regular troops start descending along with the wolfkins, to allow packs to advance deeper into the facility. Hilda moved her arm to her terminal and Annie could have sword that Hilda’s eyes widened behind her helmet.

A firefight erupted in the arena owner's balcony. Restraints fell from Ultis’s arms, allowing her to leap at the guards, while Roll fired at another guard. Mercenaries also turn their weapons on their former allies. The figure in a black cape and clad in power armor used her sword to cleave one of the guards in two. She took off the helmet from her head, revealing Blaze’s face underneath.

The cameras within the arena started transmitting information on Annie’s display, and she saw how the medics of the arena tried to obey emergency protocols and inject the patients and fighters with drugs that should cause a berserk state. Only the delivery system no longer worked. When guards moved to deliver the drug manually, they came face to face with Ron. The Omega walked to them, smiling, while teeny nanomachines ran from the metal beneath his fur, spreading across his body like water. He jumped, and the guards shot the wall behind him. Still having a liquid form of power armor around himself, the Omega landed between guards, blades forming on his wrists. He took three lives before the other guards surrendered. Now the Omega stood in full power armor of elegant design, made of countless nanomachines. His armor was of green color, with blue lenses.

The mercenaries, holding their positions in the trophy room, found themselves relieved when Dragena, Kayleen, Carty, and the other members of Dragena’s attacked the guards from behind. Even despite being on the mission, upon coming face to face with the Ice Fang member in the trophy hall, almost all wolfkins gave her a wide berth, only Dragena asked Ulrica a couple of things, before leaving her to be escorted to safety by the regular soldiers coming from behind.

Creatures meant to be unleashed in case of attack remained in their cells, as the computer’s protocols responsible for their release were corrupted. The members of the Omega team rushed into the section that belonged to Doctor, liberating the still alive slaves in there. This was the first time Annie saw the Omega team in action. They shared no sense of comradery, they did not cover each other's backs. There were no ranks within the Omega team, no wolf hags, no warriors, and no scouts. Each of them was perfection taken form, or at least they thought so. Not all members of the Omega team were here, many of them were still out there in the Ravaged Lands, furthering the will of Alpha and, by extension, the will of the Dynast. But the ones who were here overwhelmed the foes before them. Their power armors, made from countless nanomachines, could withstand the gunfire, yet the omegas weaved around the aim of their opponents, dodging the bullets before they could even be shot, as though the mere thought of being hit by the lesser beings was offensive to them. They rarely killed, preferring to knock down the foes with the dull sides of their wrist blades, polishing their skills even during the mission.

And from the ceiling of the arena, another massive form jumped in, bending the cage that surrounded the arena’s dome with her weight. Alpha stood up, encased in an enormously thick power armor. Her helmet allowed her crimson topknot to come up freely, the armor on her body was as thick as the armor plates of a heavy tank. The armor on her legs and arms allowed her claws to come out freely, and energy guns were installed on the outer and inner sides of her power armor's wrists. Alpha threw her left arm up, taking aim at the massive defensive bot that was pinning down some of the attackers. The duo of her energy guns spit a surge of bright light, melting the side of a tank-sized bot, overloading the systems within and exploding the ammo. The guards opened fire on her, more out of desperation and fear than of bravery. Laser beams kissed the power armor of the warlord but left no more than a few burn marks. The warlord touched... Annie could think of no better word than this, the guards before herself with the outer side of her claws. Normally, the claws of Wolf Tribe members were sharp on the inner side. However, Alpha was and has always been an anomaly. Her seemingly slow touch bisected the people before her, slicing through the bones and muscles with the same ease as the sharpest knife could cut through ordinary paper.

Chaos now reigns throughout the arena. Defensive systems no longer work. Only a few defensive bots came to the aid of the guards and all turrets were turned off. The guards found the armories locked and, being unable to get the power armors and heavy weapons, surrendered in droves. The remains of Hekanta’s crew never left their quarters, laying asleep due to the sedative in today’s meal. Instead of the anger-inducing drug, the creatures in the holding cells received sedatives. The exits were blocked, forcing a few guards who were intent on fighting to cut through the armored doors. Communications of the defenders were blocked after Kassandra, Angoro, and their troops took over the command center. The troops of the Reclaimers knew the layout of the arena. All that could go wrong for the defenders, went wrong.

"Stop!" Hilda shouted, pointing at the slaves behind the energy shield, "Anyone move and they…"

Alpha turned to the arena owner. The warlord was still standing outside of the dome. And yet, something crept from her, like destruction in the wake of a sandstorm. Annie remembered all her fears. The fear of losing Sveta, the horror of being left alone, the fear of harming her sister. She relived all her worst fears once more. It became hard to breath, her heart hurt, goosebumps covered her skin. Virginia felt the same, falling on her knees along with Annie. Even Hilda croaked from something. But while whatever touched them was wicked, it was merely an edge of the storm cloud. The center was among the guards who prepared to kill the slaves. Most of the slaves screamed, feeling horror, but their would-be executioners simply died when unnatural horror arrested their hearts. They didn’t scream, they didn’t twitch, each and every one of them simply fell to the ground like a broken toy.

"Wolf hags Annie, Rabbit, stop messing around. Deal with an enemy in front of you." Alpha commanded, turning away and jumping to a nearby group of guards, shredding them with her claws.

"It’s not over," Hilda said, as if she was trying to convince herself, "I still have the card to play. I can turn it around…" She saw how Annie and Virginia stood up, "Whatever it may be, I have grown too sick of you!"

She raised her arms and the wolfkins darted to the sides, evading her aim. Lighting shot from her palms, crashing into the wall of the arena. Virginia was the first to close on Hilda, the right fist of the wolf hag came blow to blow with the armored left hand of their foe. And the steel of Hilda’s arm gave up upon the contact, her fist crumbled under the pressure of Virginia’s punch. Virginia cursed, and Annie's power armor revealed that the idiot's knuckles had been shattered. Annie met Hilda’s right arm. Unwilling to use her damaged right arm, Annie used the palm of her left hand to direct the blow aside. What she did before in the battle against Palatine with casual ease, now came off as a botched attempt at best. The ring finger and pinky of Annie got shattered, but the blow was pushed aside. She spun in place, slammed the elbow of her left arm into Hilda’s right side, shattering the armor plate and devices within. Virginia jumped in the air, kicking with both legs into the chest of the massive foe. Hilda stepped back, two leg footprints on her chest plate. Annie charged behind the arena owner, not giving her even a moment to concentrate. She grabbed the waist of the foe, using the momentum of the enemy’s movement back in order to throw Hilda over herself and crash her against the energy shield.

The spinal column, or whatever was fulfilling its functions inside Hilda’s massive armor, ended up broken, and the arena owner slid from the energy shield, helpless and immobilized. Hilda’s helmet cracked, showing one eye beneath, mad with rage.

"Hecktricktsen!" She shouted with pure rage in her voice, "Kill them! Kill them all!"

Annie stepped away from the downed foe, looking at the chaos that surrounded the arena. She heard a clicking sound on her shoulder and saw a guard taking aim at her once more. More confused than worried, she looked while the man prepared his weapon for another shot. Surely he understands that he can’t crack through my armor? Annie wondered. Before he could shoot, his shoulder disappeared in an explosion of blood and bone. He fell screaming, while the Relcaimers’ soldiers charged to capture him.

"Annie. Why do you always find yourself in trouble?" Angoro joked over the communication. He put his pistol back in the holster.

"Thanks for the help, lieutenant," Annie smiled back, too tired to try and dodge any gunfire, "Stay safe."

"I am not the one who is injured. Wolf hags Virginia, Annie, stay safe as well."

"Ha!" Virginia sat on her ass, exhaling air from her lungs, "Someone else actually calls me by my name. I like him already."

A warning signal came from one of the wolf hags of Alpha’s pack. Usually, each warlord had ten "fingers" as their "paws", ten wolf hags under their control. Each wolf hag had a single "paw" under their control, five scouts in short. Each scout has their own "paw" to command, five soldiers made up of warriors or males. Alpha’s pack was the biggest, she had several "paws" in her command instead of just two. And now, one of her "fingers" has run into the problem.

The cameras of the soldiers showed Annie how a wolf hag and her troops, assigned to guard one of the arsenals into which they sent in slaves saved from the area of the dog faced man, faced counterattack by the foe.

A group of enemy soldiers pushed the slaves ahead of them, forcing the wolf hag and her troops to stop. Firing the shardguns at this close range would kill the hostages, no matter the aim. The wolf hag quickly made a decision to face the enemy in melee, the power armors of her pack would endure the bullets of the foes.

Hecktricktsen walked from inside the group of the hostages, walking toward the wolfkin, armed with nothing but his bare hands. The moment the wolfkins aimed their shardguns at his legs, he disappeared from their view, overloading the optical zoom of the cameras and making the stone explode in the place where he had just stood. The wolfkins were confused for a moment before noticing that he was standing among them, right behind the front soldiers. They started to turn to face him when the sadist started his carnage.

The stones from his first burst of movement were still in the air when the single palm hit bisected the wolf hag, another punch, like a piston, pushed through the chest of a scout. And he moved on with the killing, and in his wake came heavy-armored guards, with light-armored guards following right behind them, killing the ones that Hecktricktsen left injured. The wolfkins were faster than normal people. Their armor could withstand gunfire. Bullets bounced off their bones. Their shardguns were perfect weapons for close-quarters combat, and the soldiers of Alpha were the cream of the crop, the best of the best in the Wolf Tribe. And yet now they were the ones who were dying, unable to react to Hecktricktsen’s sheer speed and ferocity, unable to fire at the enemies due to the worry about the hostages. His fists crushed through the armor as if the armor was but a paperboard sheet. One of the scouts managed to fire at the sadist, only to find out before her death that his skin was impervious to the sharp shards of the weapons. Hecktricktsen tore off her spinal column for having the audacy of hitting him. Without even using his power, in a single minute, an entire "finger" was pushed away from the arsenal by the sheer might of the dog-faced man, leaving dozens of dead comrades behind.

While the wolfkins retreated, they made a space for the sniper to aim. She was from the group of the regular normies, from the ranks of the soldiers who were advancing behind the wolfkins. Armed with a powerful laser rifle, the woman took aim at Hecktricktsen. Alerted either by his experience or by the bloodlust of the sniper, the sadist turned to the woman. He disappeared from view, running across the ceiling in a blurry line, and jumped right before the sniper. His open palm sliced the woman in two, a casual elbow hit killed one of her bodyguards, while his other hand grabbed a grenade from the belt of the other soldier, activating it and throwing it on the floor. He took less than a heartbeat to kill two people in the power armor. In the next heartbeat, he disappeared, running across the ceiling back to his troops, while the grenade exploded, throwing the soldiers aside. Thanks to their power armors, the people survived, and the retreated wolfkins helped them to retreat.

"Open this door!" Annie heard Hecktricktsen’s words through the cameras of the mortally injured wolf hag.

"Sir, would it not be wise to escape…" Asked one of the guards, before shutting up when Hecktricktsen glanced at him.

"Idiot. The Reclaimers are here," Hecktricktsen smiled, "We are in Pearl. This only means that these fuckers didn’t bring enough numbers with them. Open this door, suit up, continue to push the slaves before us as a living shield, and start cleaning up this place from vermin, level by level."

"But warlords are here… People said that they saw Alpha herself…"

"You leave the warlords to me," Hecktricktsen smiled, looking down at the wolf hag that reached his leg and tried to claw him, only to find out that she did not have the strength to do anything more than pierce through the fabric of his clothes, "Once I get my hands on my armor, Alpha or not, no one will be a problem for me." He reached out and picked up the wolf hag, slowly moving his fingers to her eyes.

"Bel!" Virginia screamed, jumping on her feet. She charged across the arena with renewed strength. Annie looked at her before running right after her, on all fours, cursing from the pain in her paw. Virginia was fast and Annie was unsure of what she was supposed to do when they reached this bastard. They've already tried once and failed.

No matter, I ain’t letting others die, not while I am still breathing. Annie decided. Even in death, a monster remains a monster.

They charged through the corridors, navigating through the map that was uploaded onto their armors. The doors were open for them, the IDs of the Reclaimers were already added into the system, while the IDs of the arena’s guards were slowly being erased by Kassandra and her team. Fighting still raged across them, but the Reclaimers were winning. Only once, Virginia tore through a guard in her path, literally jumping through the woman’s chest, covering herself in blood and insides. Annie mercifully smashed across the fallen foe’s head, ending her suffering.

They came upon the site of battle with the remains of the wolf hag’s pack and Hecktricktsen with his men, just as Hecktricktsen pushed fingers through the lens of the wolf hag, twisting his fingers within and causing the victim in his hand to twitch and growl in pain. She had lost her body below the waist and was blinded, yet the vitality of the new breed allowed her to keep on living, even if for a short while. The guards still tried to cut through the arsenal’s door. Hecktricktsen easily could have broken through them, yet the sadist preferred to spend his time tormenting the wounded.

"Let go of Bel, you fucker!" Virginia screamed, and Hecktricktsen looked at her.

"Trash," He said, before sniffing the air through the nostrils of his dog's half face. Hecktricktsen smiled wildly, the tips of his lips reaching all the way to his ears, "Is this Alpha I smell behind you? Is she coming? Oh, my blood is burning at the mere thought of her screaming in pain before me…" Drool fell from his lips, "I think that I may be in heath right now…"

Another tremor nearly threw almost everyone off their feet. Hecktricktsen stood unconcerned, returning his attention to the arsenal's doors. He frowned, still holding the wolf hag but removing the fingers from the eye sockets of his victim.

"You have touched the flock of the Oath." A voice came from the other side of the door. It sounded nothing like a human voice, rather like someone who was producing the words by scratching two blades against each other. The words could be easily understood, but at the same time, they sounded utterly alien.

"What's it to you? Wanna die?" Hecktricktsen lifted his arm to the door, "Zenith."

Once more, misty jaws came into existence, and the guards near the door screamed, falling on the ground and thrashing from pain. They climb away from the door, trying to get away from the zone of Hecktricktsen’s power. They never managed to escape. The doors exploded forward in the torrent of steel. Hecktricktsen didn’t move an inch, ignoring the steel shards that hit him at the speed of an arrow. They glanced harmlessly away from his body. Virginia screamed upon seeing how one of the shards moved at the wolf hag in Hecktricktsen’s hand.

Something came from within the arsenal. Enormously thick insectoid legs hit forward. One leg killed five guards in full power armor with one swing. Another leg kicked aside the shard that was aimed at the injured wolf hag. And two more pierced Hecktricktsen’s chest, causing him to gasp in surprise.

At this moment, the floor beneath the enemy soldiers exploded, and five forms appeared from under it. Tall, clad in full power armor, the newcomers wielded short energy blades, slicing through the bodies of the enemy guards and pushing them away from the hostages. Unlike the wolfkins, the newcomers’ helmets were made in the shape of a "pot" a single thin line ran across the head, giving space for the thin visor. Annie recognized them. Long golden capes were supposed to be on their round shaped puldrons, but right now the capes were missing. The heraldry, a crimson sword piercing the black skull, was, however, on their chests. The Avengers, an elite group of trolls who assisted in the defense of the Stonehelm. The soldiers of Oathtakers. The enemy guards who tried to resist were cut down, and the rest were pushed away from the hostages.

"Amusing distraction," The voice said. From within the arsenal appeared the bulk of a spider. Thin hair covered its body, eight eyes, pitch-black beady simple eyes, looked at the sadist. The chelicerae of the creature moved, crashing against each other and producing the sound transmitted into the words, "Can you do better?"

Hecktricktsen roared and grasped both legs, pushing them away from his body, while ghostly jaws closed on the spider’s head. Annie knew just how potent the pain-inducing power of Hecktricktsen was, even standing behind him, she felt how a searing pain began to spread across her body, starting from places in which she was hurt. The broken bones began to hurt ten times worse, the pierced skin felt like it was peeled away at this very moment. This creature's head was the epicenter of this pain explosion. The spider trembled for a moment.

"Exquisite." It said, and Hecktricktsen screamed. The scream of the sadist was cut short the moment chelicerae closed on his head, turning it to paste, his legs twitched while the enormous spider was devouring its prey, swallowing it piece by bloody piece. After finishing its horrific meal, it looked at the guards with clear intent, despite them dropping their weapons.

"No!" Annie shouted, charging forward and stopping before the spider, shielding the bisected wolf hag as a precaution. Virginia followed after her, standing right next to Annie, ready to protect her both wounded comrades with her life, "By the laws of engagement, we do not kill prisoners." Annie felt her fangs clatter against each other in fear, she botched the last words. Up close, she could see this being. The legs had fairly prominent spines, but the main bulk of the creature was covered by the furry hair. Several mechanical devices could be seen on the spider’s head, the rear second row of the creature’s legs bore weird weapons mounted on them, looking like wrist cannons, only much, much bigger. Each long leg ended with a claw. This being was enormous, easily dwarfing even Alpha herself. Under the look of beady black eyes, Annie felt like she wanted to wet herself. Something primal, something that she did not quite understand, spread pure horror in her body at the sight of this "face".

"We go by the laws of war?" The creature asked with an unnatural voice.

"Yes! We are allies… I think." Annie replied way too fast with a quacking voice.

"Medics! We have the injured here. Assault teams! Help our allies secure the prisoners." The spider commanded, moving aside, and Annie saw that within the floor within the arsenal was riddled with holes. Vehicles with drills at their ends burrowed from the underground and soldiers in the uniforms of Oathtakers were taking care of the slaves.

"Crawler. Why are you here?" Alpha asked, coming from the corridor, looking around.

Annie felt her blood turn to ice. Crawler, the grand-general of Oathtakers, the slaughter of five warlords, the killer of six sword saints, the undeniable killer, the butcher, the horror of the night. The one who swore to eradicate the entirety of the wolfkins bloodline. The one who killed so many wolfkins that fear of him was imprinted in all lesser members of both the Ice Fang order and Wolf Tribe alive. The second in command after Hive, the murder beast of the Oath. Crawler received his name shortly after the first Lightbringer met his demise. Hive found a vault left from the Old World. The being within promised eternal servitude in exchange for freedom. Hive, the fool that he was, liberated the creature in exchange for eternal friendship instead. The spider spent little time learning about Oathtakers. Upon seeing how low the morale was after the loss of Lightbringer, the spider moved on to show the world that the Reclamation army could be beaten. On this very night, the creature came upon a crawler vehicle. A warlord and a sword saint were part of the defense force of this vehicle. And yet the spider attacked. By the time help arrived, they found a massive vehicle destroyed and most of the defenders dead. The survivors spoke about the great spider being of unrivaled strength. This was how Crawler received his name. He was standing here. Right in front of Annie.

"The flock of the Oath was kidnapped. I do not possess the mercy of Lord Steward, thus I came bringing the reprisal," He moved aside, allowing medics to try and save the wounded wolf hag, "Right we are her to help our unexpected allies," Crawler said in a voice that left no room for objections, "Where do you want us, commander Alpha?"

Alpha nodded, turning her back to Crawler and gesturing for him to follow. Annie fell on the ground in shock, while a troll and a chitin-covered person moving on three legs came to her, bearing marks of the medics. They asked her to remove her armor, and the wolf hag obeyed, still shocked that she was being treated by Oathtakers. And that Crawler, of all people, saved her and the others. The spider legs carried the massive body of Crawler above her and she and Virginia both shuddered in fear, resulting in both medics trying to calm down the wolf hags verbally.

****

Annie and Virginia ended up in the field medical tent, located in the temporary field camp, hidden in the shadows of massive crawler-type vehicles. The battle was still raging within the arena, but this was but a mop up operation. With both Crawler and Alpha out there, chances of defeat were now nil. Alpha briefly left the battlefield to oversee the situation in a temporary camp, leaving Crawler in charge of the joint forces. This was unexpected, but in Annie’s view, a sensible move. The further Crawler was from the enemy, the more prisoners ally forces would receive. By forcing the command duties on this creature, Crawler’s personal assault was slowed down. Dragena visited Annie, shortly before leaving her armor and storming away. As Angoro explained to Annie, during his brief visit, Dragena was still technically on maternal leave. The only reason why the warlord even participated in this operation was because of her sense of duty, the command found no way to keep her back. Where Dragena’s pack walked, the warlord led the way.

The Ice Fang order already contacted Kassandra, offering their own hospitals in the Core Lands for all the wounded members of the Wolf Tribe as a gesture of thanks for the rescue of their kin. Alpha left the decision up to all the wolfkins involved in the operation. Naturally, all of them planned to refuse, but Alpha commanded everyone to think first. Alpha only denied Bel, the wolf hag who was injured by Hecktricktsen, the choice, making the choice for her. The wolf hag lost her upper body, was blinded and refused to accept the cybernetical replacement. She was kept alive through the medical support, but her refusal meant essentially being self-sentenced to euthanasia. Alpha refused to allow her soldier to die. In the Core Lands, a new lower body will be grown specifically for Bel, along with a new set of eyes, while the wolf hag will spend time in emergency care. Expenses for this procedure will be covered by the Ice Fang order and yet this still means that Bel will be leaving the military for almost five years, recovering, getting used to her new body, and being observed by medics, who will ensure that Bel’s body won’t reject new flesh. Bel was less than happy with this development, but was left with no choice. The wolfkins could only dispute the command about treatment of the wounds received during the combat operation in only two ways. Either through petitioning to a higher commanding officer, and everyone knew what Scorpio would say, or by beating the superior in a ritual challenge, which against Alpha was impossible, even if Bel could fight. Virginia seemed relieved by this turn of events.

"I believe you owe us an explanation as to why, in the name of the Spirits, are you even here?" Annie said to Ulrica. All three of them were put in the same tent. The Ice Fang bore no injuries on her body, yet her presence agitated other wolfkins, who viewed her as a potential bad omen. Only Alpha and Dragena were unbothered by Ulrica’s presence, but even Alpha decided to hide Ulrica from the eyes of her soldiers, as the Ice Fang was frightening them. No one would admit it, but it was how it was. The wolfkins had to be content with lying on the ground due to the shortage of medical equipment. This was unimportant; fresh medicaments were being looted from the arena, and evacuation from Pearl's territory would begin in a matter of hours. Annie was just glad that she finally got a set of clothes to wear, even if it was just army gear. She never would have guessed that she would miss such mundane things so much.

"I came to the Ravaged Lands in search of Aranea." Ulrica said, and Virginia spit the water on her body. She put the bottle of water aside and wiped her mouth.

"And you are still alive? Where the hell did you hide from the critters during the night time?" Virginia asked in disbelief.

"Actually, the people in your villages were not aggressive toward me," Ulrica replied, "They refused to answer any of my questions, but provided me with food and water, gave some general advice on how to stay alive, and even provided me with a safe place to stay."

"She probably mentioned that she was not a fighter," Annie said to Virginia, and Ulrica nodded, confirming it. Had the Ice Fang omitted this fact, someone would have challenged her. By mentioning it, Ulrica, due to her also being a wolfkin, unknowingly put herself under the protection of the shamans, and no one in their right mind would go against them. Annie turned to Ulrica, "Who sent you? I thought a pact was made, we wouldn’t get involved with the ice boys and you left sand dwellers like us alone in peace."

"No one. I… decided to come myself," Ulrica saw how Annie raised her brow and continued in a stubborn voice, "It was because of you. After I saw that our cousins send their young into the war, abuse their young physically, the thought of leaving one of our own blood among you was unbearable."

"Did any of you even ask this Aranea if she wanted to return?" Virginia exploded in anger, "Seriously, we don’t make people stick up with us by force! Aside from times of war or during a military mission, anyone could just come to shamans and say that they want to leave."

"So, Aranea is alive." Ulrica said.

"Crap basket," Virginia threw her arms up, "That’s it, I am not talking with you any longer. Alpha is gonna beat the shit out of me again. Argh!"

"I won’t tell anyone…" Ulrica tried to say.

"That’s not how it works!" Virginia snapped, pressing the index finger of her right paw to the palm of her left paw and cursing from the pain in the broken knuckles, "Honor, loyalty, and honesty are not the empty words around here. Don’t even dare to suggest it. I betrayed the warlord, I will pay with my hide."

"They already know. Ygrite spilled the beans to the sword saint Camelia." Annie added and smirked, "Also you just spoke with Ulrica again."

"Irrelevant," Virginia replied sourly, "Crime is a crime. Ok, I am off to sleep." She crawled into the corner of the tent, curled into a ball and wrapped a blanket around her body.

Annie pressed two paws together, ignoring the pain and speaking a silent prayer to the Spirits, thanking them for keeping them safe and guiding them during the mission. She opened her eyes upon hearing a familiar name. Ultis moved and stepped inside the tent, without the power armor that she wore before. Now she was dressed in a simple shirt and pants.

"Wait just a couple of minutes, we will remove it, once I finish treating the patient…" The doctor, an elderly woman with a prosthetic arm, told Ultis.

"No need to bother." Ultis replied and spit something into her paw, causing the doctor to turn around. The scout spit out a ball of metal, covered by a thick layer of both dried and crimson blood, the remains of the flesh from within Ultis’s throat were visible on the device.

"You idiot!" The doctor shouted in anger, charging at the scout and making her open her mouth. She took a flashlight, looking for something within her throat, "You want to remain mute for the rest of your days?" Ultis simply rolled her eyes, patiently waiting while the doctor took a syringe and injected something inside her throat.

The scout nearly jumped from the injection, but the doctor held her jaws in an iron grasp of her prosthetic arm. Finally, the doctor let go of Ultis, turning toward the patient on whom she was working before. Ultis wiped something from the corner of her mouth before walking toward Ulrica and Annie.

"Please forgive me for your treatment, lady," Ultis squeaked in her usual high-pitched voice. When blood appeared on her lips, the scout wiped them with his backhand. Instead of speaking, she gestured with her paws, speaking through sign language, "This was either that, or they would have given you up to that sadist," The scout stepped to the side, making sure that Annie would always be before her and the Ice Fang.

"What?" Ulrica asked in confusion, unable to understand the sign language. Ultis rolled her eyes again and reached for the terminal in her pocket. She typed the words and showed the display to Ulrica, keeping a distance, "Oh… I guess everything is fine now. What about Rexy?"

"Donated it to the zoo in the Core Lands. Will be taken away along with other beasts from the arena." Ultis typed the answer. The scout scratched behind her head, putting the terminal away and addressing Annie through the sign language, "Sorry for arriving so late, wolf hag. I had to check on my pack first. And sorry about the treatment, wolf hag. I was not aware of your promotion. Ready to accept the punishment."

"Just forget, Ultis," Annie replied, being glad that everyone is alive, "Explain to me, why are you bleeding from the throat so often? What was this thing?"

Ultis started gesturing but then stopped, unable to find the right words in her sign vocabulary. She sat on the floor, cross-legged, and took up her terminal once more, furiously typing the words, before showing it to Annie:

"The Omega team asked for my participation in the mission. You remember how I told you that I was a slave before? Well, it turns out that the people who worked for the bastards who killed my family are still running their "hunts", as they call their raids to get the slaves. They knew me since back then and were not aware that it was I who told auntie where the slaver’s base was. Idiots assumed that I really trying to get away from the Wolf Tribe and become a slave owner. Well, they only believed me because Roll and his crew were with me… And because the Omega team did all the groundwork in preparing your "capture" and in revealing the ones who worked with the slavers … But I worked hard as well! And through them, I got in contact with Hilda, explained to her my plan to capture you, got help, and you know the rest."

"That doesn’t explain the throat." Annie noted. Alpha said that the police forces in the Ravaged Lands were already busy capturing collaborators with the slavers. Sadly, many of them lived on the lands of the Regulators and thus were immune to the Reclaimers’ touch. But this trouble was for another day.

Ultis began typing again: "That is a bit of a long story. Back in my years as a slave, I wore a similar slave collar. You know how it is, you don’t come back in time, shock! You don’t bring enough, shock! You sleep too much, talk too much, feel ill… Shock! And if you walk too far, a bomb in your insides," Ultis tapped at her stomach before typing again, "Goes off and you are no more. It stopped normies easily and kept me scared for a long time, until I had…" The scout noticed that Ulrica was also reading the message. Ultis put away the display, her cheeks were turning red. She squeaked, spilling blood from her lips, "Want to spread gossip, Ice Fang? Yes, I was weak enough to become a slave! Ha-ha, so funny, isn’t it everyone?" She spread her arms wide. Patients ignored her, Virginia was loudly snoring in her sleep, elderly doctor casually threw something about the stress to her colleagues.

"I was not planning to spread anything!" Ulrica snarled back, "Why do all of the Wolf Tribe assume only the worst of us? What is wrong with you all?"

Ultis coughed, grabbing and massaging her throat, before reaching for the terminal: "Because this is all who you are! Each time when the Wolf and the Ice meet, the Wolf is the one who ends up being humiliated," Ultis raised a finger, stopping the Ice Fang before she could speak and typed more, "Annie went to the Core Lands to meet with her sis and ended up being attacked by one of your kin."

"It was a bit more complicated than this, Ultis. Ygrite was the one who…" Annie started to talk, but Ultis was already typing.

"I was talking about the situation in the swimming pool."

"Oh that. It was a minor embarrassment rather than the attack, but yeah, fuck Zeke and the Sunblades for spreading all these rumors," Annie nodded before putting a finger to her lips, "But I was a jerk too and at fault as well. I hurt Zeke."

"The Sunblades made an official apology!" Ulrica screeched, but Ultis ignored her, typing more on the terminal and continuing her story.

"One day I decided that I had enough. I hadn't had a sip of water in two days, had been denied food, and was half insane with fear and anger," Ultis wrote on the terminal, "So I went to the farthest cave I could find, as far as I could without a bomb going off. And then I grabbed my slave collar and pulled with all my might, feeling the burning of my flesh because of all the electricity. I lived. Next came the hard part. I ripped the bomb from myself, along with some other parts," Annie remembered the words that Lacerated One said to Ultis. The scout lost a bit more than simply some blood, "Pain knocked me off. I woke up a week later, now fully mad with hunger but alive. Raced all the way to a nearby village and sneaked into a simple looking tent, devouring every scrap of food that I could find within. Then I run and run, afraid of everything and everyone. During the night auntie Ygrite found me and beat the living shit out of me for stealing from her, dragging me back to the camp. No one knew me, thus Ygrite put me into a cage and gave me as much food and water as I could eat while everyone waited for police officers to come. In a few days, auntie made the slaver’s camp disappear. My voice never recovered, and if I speak for too long, my throat starts to bleed."

"But why are you with Dragena and not with Ygrite then?" Annie frowned in confusion. Usually, when the warlords pick up the youth from the pits, the youth stay with them. Transfers existed, of course, but were very rare and only used by the most exceptional individuals. And Ultis was a competent fighter, a trusted friend, and a loyal comrade. But she was not exceptional in any way, aside from being exceptional in her laziness.

"No idea," Ultis typed, "The police and Ygrite wanted to take me to an orphanage, but I whined and cried to be left with the Wolf Tribe. Being surrounded by the strong is safer, you know. I tried my best and never complained when auntie kicked me around like the rest of her troops. But one day, she just sent me to Dragena, saying that Dragena had a free place for a new scout. Personally, I think that Ygrite was angry that I was stealing food from the kitchens, instead of eating alongside with the others."

"That’s horrible," Ulrica said. The scout looked at her, trying to find any signs of mockery in her face. The Ice Fang continued, "But why didn’t you fix your throat? Surely the military insurance covers this. And if not, you are a new breed in the army, thus have access to additional benefits…"

"Have you ever seen our facilities in the Wastes and Ravaged Lands?" Ultis typed quickly, "They look more like a slaughterhouse than a place of healing. Nope, never, ever. They didn’t even give you painkillers there!"

Annie folded her arms across her chest, cursing her side pain and broken paw. She carefully put her paws aside, trying to think. Something bothered her about Ultis’ story. If the scout really was afraid of pain, which was ridiculous since she came from Ygrite, why didn’t she ask for help in the Refugee Center Gamma? There was a plethora of first-class medical equipment over there. This whole situation was weird.

"Ultis," Annie said finally, "The Ice Fang order offered is the medical services of their hospital in Houstad. You will go there and have your body fixed."

"Not needed!" Ultis gestured quickly, something strange flashing in her amber eyes for a moment, "All is fine. Just give me a couple of…"

"This was not a suggestion, Ultis," Annie strictly said, "As a wolf hag, I command you to go and sort yourself out."

Seeing the frantic movements of Ultis’ paws, Ulrica added: "It will be fine. Ultis, you know that it is for the best. I mean, each time you go to toilet…"

"I am always cleaning up after myself!" Ultis squeaked like a bird, resulting in sign language once more, "Annie don’t do it with me, please. What if they put a collar on me again? I can’t stay in there, not in the medical room, not again…"

"Stop panicking, Ultis," The wolf hag commanded, and for a moment, it looked like the scout might actually challenge her. Sheer desperation and fear were in the eyes of Ultis, "I was there, and you saw the result yourself. Relax, breathe in and sort yourself. Think of it as a vacation. We will be waiting for you."

Ultis froze in place, one of her eyes had a nervous tick from anger: "Understood, wolf hag."

"Don’t worry, I will ask someone to watch over you." Annie said, but Ultis bowed with a stone expression on her snout, turning around and storming from the tent, trembling with rage.

The operation was over in a few hours. The Joint forces of Oathtakers and Reclamation Army filled the vehicles with refugees and prisoners and contacted the government of Pearl. Among the prisoners were several politicians from Pearl, including the chief of the ministry of health. Wyrm Lord gave the order to hand them over to Pearl, not wanting to further complicate relations between the two countries. Ivar contacted the president of Pearl, and somehow an international scandal was evaded. Pearl pushed no charges after a military operation on their territory, underground base in which the arena was located, fully looted by now, was to be handed over to Pearl. Hilda, Hekanta, and all the other prisoners were taken straight to the Torment. The Oathtakers took their own people with them, while the state sent their own wounded and prisoners into the capital of Wastes for recovery. Agents of the Investigation Bureau had already waited for an opportunity to question both the criminals and former slaves in order to find out who had supplied the arena with the drugs. Annie and the wounded wolfkins were sent straight to the military hospital, while the warlord led the soldiers back to base.

****

Annie and Virginia waited for their turn in line. They had just arrived back to the base and were commanded to go straight to the doctors to have their wounds checked, bandages removed and replaced with clean ones, and the position of their bones fixed, after which they would pass a full body scan in order for the medics to learn just what exactly was broken within their bodies. In Annie's opinion, this was a boring and wasteful procedure. Lying in a capsule doing nothing while doctors photograph your insides. Not a single wolfkin ever died from a few broken bones, their skeletons eventually had a way to straighten themselves, pulling even bone shards away from organs if given enough rest. Thus, Virginia and Annie arrived last for the checkups, allowing the ones in need to go ahead first.

I am gonna challenge Virginia tomorrow… No wait. I must first ensure that my pack is healthy and on track with their training before calling her... Maybe a day after… Annie wondered, while the door leading to the scanning room had been opened from the inside and a nurse walked to call the next patient. Annie blinked, looking up at the nurse.

She was dressed in the uniform of a nurse, and it fit her perfectly. Gloves covered her paws, and a badge could be seen on the side of her chest, marking her as a noncombatant. Her hair was cut short, but she had grown taller since the last time Annie saw her. Her fur was combed, cleaned and scented with perfume. Svetlana looked at Annie first with tired eyes, then with disbelief in her eyes, then with confusion and finally with anger:

"You!" Both sisters screamed at once, and Virginia looked in confusion, seeing how the smaller wolfkin grabbed Annie by her ears.

"Stupid idiot! We were so worried!" Svetlana dragged Annie’s head closer to see her eyes.

"Svetka!" Annie snapped in anger, "What in the name of the Abyss are you doing here! This place is dangerous!"

"I came working here to see you, you big cusack! Why did you disappear all of a sudden!"

"Dumbass! I heard your talk with your parents! They were right, it was better for me to leave!"

"You damned moron!" Svetlana actually kicked Annie in the chest, yet the wolf hag felt nothing. Her sister was as strong as a normie, "They didn’t want to chase you away! Dads planned to take you with them to help you adjust! We all wanted you to stay!"

"Lies!" Annie snapped her jaws in front of her sister's nose, but Svetlana stood unafraid, only becoming angrier, "I heard them calling me "bad news"! You said that you were afraid of me!"

Virginia moved her eyes from Annie to Svetlana, raising a finger in the air and trying to say something. Both sisters utterly ignored her.

"Oh, for fucks sake, just fucking read the dads’ messages! I was stressed as well and made a blunder, I’m sorry, okay?"

"Read? Why? To learn how they hate me? No need for any of this shit." Annie responded dismissively, and Svetlana howled in rage. But the wolf hag stood by her decision. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, threatening to burst out. The Oaksters probably curse her for luring their daughter here. How could they not, Annie cursed herself right now! "Listen, I’m sorry for disappearing like a ghost as well, but be a good girl and fuck off to safety, please!"

"You are a stubborn, stupid, self-centered, moronic fool!" Svetlana shouted in Annie’s face.

"And you are a weak, reckless, ungrateful idiot who should know her place and live in a safe place like a normal person would!" Annie shouted back, receiving a smack on the head for her efforts, "This place is too dangerous! What if you get hurt! What will your parents think if they learn where you are right now!?"

"They helped me get into the medical school and get a job here, so try and guess what they are thinking!"

"Oh, so now you are pro nepotism all of a sudden?!"

"Enough! You are making my head hurt!" Virginia stomped her feet into the ground, crossing the distance between herself and Svetlana in an instant, looking into the stubborn eyes of the medic. Annie had to force herself not to step between them. Her paws tremble with worry, but perhaps a little scare was what it took to set Svetka right. Virginia sniffed Svetlana, cocking her head in confusion, "You smell like Annie, pretender."

"I am no pretender. I am of the Wolf Tribe, like you…" Svetlana moved her paws across Virginia’s neck and the wolf hag growled, "How long do you have these cracks?"

"From the recent battle. Ignore them, they will heal," Virginia’s eyes burrowed Svetlana. "Same as me, huh… Then you should know that the wolf hags are privy to respect from lesser kin." She slammed her paw against the wall near Svetlana’s head and frowned, "Dammit, my knuckles"

"What is with your paw?" Svetlana quickly asked, taking up paw of Virginia into her paws and looking down at the ruined bones beneath the skin.

"Do I need to call other doctors?" Annie asked in a worried voice.

"Everything is fine!" Virginia jerked back her paw, "I challenge you to a domination match, kin."

"Agreed," Svetlana said, unbothered, while Annie felt the ice shards piercing her heart from horror. This idiot has no idea! Actually, come to think about it, both of them have no idea! The one who has never fought with anyone, and the other who never knows how to hold back! The nurse nodded at the seat, "Wait here, Annie comes first, then you. Once your wounds are healed, you name the place and time."

"Agreed." Virginia said, sitting down and picking up the magazine, frowning at the pain in her paw.

Annie was too shocked to berate her sister any further. She allowed herself to be led into the room and placed into a capsule for the scan. Afterwards, she frowned from pain, while her sister skillfully changed the bandages and began to work on her broken and damaged body. More doctors came from the break, and Annie used this opportunity to slip away the moment Svetlana approved that the wolf hag was ready to leave. Annie swallowed her drool, walking outside in worry. Doctors put her on ten-day leave, but she still had at least one thing to do today. Upon walking down the corridor toward the exit, she overheard a familiar voice in the nearby room and glanced inside through the glass of the door:

"Why do you need all of this?" Ulrica asked, sitting on the hospital bed. The Ice Fang was provided by a set of clothes from the dresser of a member of the Omega team. She was supposed to leave tomorrow, but the sword saint of the Voidrunner household sent a private transport to pick her up and Ultis. The wounded wolf hag was already sent to the Core Lands via air transport.

Ultis was sitting cross-legged on a bed, furiously reading through the Code of Laws of the Reclamation Army. Lucendra was sitting nearby. Ultis moved her paws, speaking through the sign language.

"She is trying to find a legal way to avoid falling into the trap of the doctors and Ice Fangs," Lucendra translated.

"Maybe I can help?" Ulrica moved closer, and Ultis gestured again.

"She is also calling you a demon and demands you to keep a distance from her. Sorry, not my words," Lucendra scratched her back, smiling in apology, "Uh… Sorry for asking, but do all the Ice Fangs look like you? I heard that our cousins have magnificent white fur…"

"I was forcibly shaven in the arena." Ulrica responded shortly, unwilling to say more.

"Ah, similar to me then," Both wolfkins looked at the Lucendra and the warrior smiled nervously, "We never had enough food when I was a cub. And I might eat something from the garbage behind the village... My mom was so scared when all my fur fell out. It took me two weeks of stomach pain before my fur slowly started to regrow."

I am going to cook a dinner for everyone once my paws heal. And one more time when Ultis comes back. Annie decided. She was unsure why, just suddenly felt like this.

While she walked to the barracks, she noticed Kayleen and Roll, the mercenary was without the handcuffs.

"Hi there," Annie said, coming to them. She looked at Roll and said, "Nice to see that you are still alive. Are you moving up in the world or something?"

"Hardly," Roll laughed, "Me and the gang applied to join a penal unit. After the mission in the arena, I doubt anyone will hire us as mercenaries in the future, even after we become free from the prison. On the other hand, the Reclamation Army is willing to hire us, provided we pay for our sins. Spending years in prison or working in the field…" Roll lifted two hands, balancing something unseen on them, "The choice was obvious. No offence, nice to see that you are still in one piece by the way, but I asked for me and my men to be assigned as far away from Dragena as possible. No hard feelings against most of you, but the warlord is a bitch for what she has done to poor Alsyn."

"I just pretend that I never heard that last part. Good luck with your new career, Roll. Try not to harm civilians, or I will have to gut you," She looked him in the eye, but Roll simply smiled, saluting her, "Listen, I am gonna steal Kayleen from you for a while. Don’t go blowing stuff up, ok?"

She gestured for Kayleen to follow her to a nearby bench. Annie collapsed on the bench, unconcerned about her appearance. Too many things had happened in the past few days for her liking. Kayleen, on the other hand, looked pretty well. Bruises were healed on her body, and the broken bones no longer bothered the former wolf hag. Yet some things were in order.

"Excellent job of watching over the pack, while I was away."

"All in a day's work." Kayleen nodded, accepting the praise.

"Listen, I went overboard, and I am sorry for the beating that I gave to you," Kayleen nodded in surprise, and Annie continued, "After my training, I imagined myself a hot shit and let it go into my head. But events of the past few days have shown me that I am not nearly as strong as I thought I was. I can’t protect you all with my strength alone," Annie felt bitterness at admitting this. But a harsh truth is preferable to a sweet lie, "Not yet, at least. And I am not really smart either. The position of the wolf hag is yours if you want it. We can even stage a fight, you can beat me up to your heart’s content."

"Beat it, Annie," Kayleen said, smiling. "The moment you became stronger than me, you became the wolf hag. I lost exactly in the way I always wanted to lose, by being beaten down savagely and fiercely. The strong rule, the weak follow. Such is the nature of our tribe. Stop trying to fight with your nature."

"The strong rule, the weak follow…" Annie looked at the sky, repeating the words slowly. She remembered the way Dragena led her pack. Annie did not feel that she could not fill the warlord’s boots, but maybe she could lead in her own way? She looked back at the scout, "Fine, if the Spirits desire so, then so it will be. From this day on, only I can lay a paw on the members of my pack. No challenges or dominations are allowed, unless I permit it. You are to teach me about all the duties of the wolf hag and help me as my equal. You feel that I am making a mistake, so you call me aside and grill me. No more holding back punches while we are alone. I must learn and learn proper. Is that understood, Kayleen?"

"Yes, ma’am!" Kayleen saluted to Annie, before putting both paws behind her back, "Permission to speak freely, wolf hag," Annie briefly nodded, "You look like shit, Annie. Go on and have a nap or two. We are big girls and boys, everyone will be fine… No, Lucendra, don’t drop this crate for the sake of Spirits!" Kayleen stormed away, leaping across the square, after seeing how Lucendra and other Branded nearly allowed a crate with hissing hounds to fall on the ground. For safety’s sake, the wolfkins were the ones who prepared mutated creatures to be sent into zoos of the Core Lands.

There can only be one monster among my pack. Me. And no one else. Annie looked at her paw. She was not strong enough, not yet. Had she been alone, Palatine would have killed her with ease. By some miracle, she pulled out techniques that she had always botched before, but miracles are in short supply in this world. No, she can’t take baby steps. She has to get stronger, stronger than Alpha and Crawler, stronger than Ravager herself. If she can’t, Svetka will… Sveta will…

She spotted how Virginia was moving to the barracks and stood up from the bench, moving to intercept her before she could come inside. Virginia heard Annie’s steps near the entrance and turned just in time to see how Annie slammed her paw into the wall next to Virginia’s head.

The world went red for a second, when broken bones within Annie’s paw were set aflame. She jumped on one leg, blowing on the paw.

"Annie, are you ok?" Virginia asked with worry, "Should I call the doctors…"

"Everything is fine!" Annie snarled back, cursing herself for the stupidity. She straightened herself, looking in the eyes of this idiot, "Virginia, what in the name of abyss are you doing? Why did you challenge Svetka?"

"She smells funny. Like you. Fakers need to know their place." Virginia shook her shoulders.

"She is my sister, you dumbass! She can’t even fight!"

"Everyone can fight," Virginia countered, "She's like us; all I need to do is teach her a lesson..."

"Listen…" Annie put her paws on Virginia’s shoulders, whispering in her face, "I… Virginia, please don’t hurt Sveta. If you want to, I will be your slave, I will cook food for you, allow you to beat me up, and do anything else you want for the rest of my life. Just let her off the hook," She tightened her grip, "But if you dare to even lay a finger on her, I will kill you. I don’t know how, but I will."

"Interesting. This is what kind of person you think I am," Virginia shook Annie's paws with ease and smiled warmly, "We really need to settle things between us. Find out who is the strongest."

"My pride demands the same." Annie replied, and Virginia turned around, leaving and laughing.

****

Annie put a chair in front of a large display in the section of the communication center meant for civilian use. Granted, the command still listened to all the calls, although they would never admit it, Annie wasn’t planning on doing anything illegal.

Calling all the way to the Core Lands costs some tokens, even for her. The Ravaged Lands did not have much net coverage, though both Iterna and the Reclamation Army attempted to rectify this, however, the harsh conditions in these lands made their efforts futile thus far. Equipment was getting destroyed and damaged by the sandstorms and insectoids. And sometimes by the rowing packs of skinwalkers. Until the day comes when these lands will be terraformed, personal long-range calls will be expensive. The hour was late, and Annie wanted nothing else but to fall asleep, yet duty was paramount. She had to try and help.

"The Wintersong household bids thee greetings, lady," A male wolfkin dressed in a strict black suite appeared on the display. He raised his eyebrow upon seeing who was calling him. No doubt that the majordomo was surprised, the Wolf Tribe members never call their cousins on their own volution. At least Annie never heard about that, "How may I help thee?"

"I want to speak with the sword saint, Camelia Wintersong, if this is okay." Annie licked her lips nervously, unsure how to proceed.

"Are you in need of medical assistance? If so, you can speak with m…"

"No, no!" Annie quickly stopped this pleasant man, realizing what exactly he thought upon seeing her ruined form. He meant nothing bad, probably, but she was on the clock, and she was short on tokens on hand. Almost all her tokens were invested or in the bank. She could only speak for so long, "It is about a personal matter. She knows me. Please tell her that Annie is asking for her."

The majordomo clearly wanted to ask if she had an appalment but decided against it due to the unusual situation. He asked Annie to wait for a moment, and then made a call. In a short while, the screen went black, before switching to show a wide room. The wooden walls of the room were covered with a tapestry of the Wintersong household. Four thick columns made of onyx and covered in golden patterns supported the canopy over the bed, which was visible in the screen. Lady Camelia Wintersong, dressed in a white bathrobe with crimson trim, sat in a beautiful chair before the bed, holding a glass of wine in her paw. The sword saint’s fur was slightly wet, indicating that Annie probably distracted her from the bath procedures. The sword was pressed to the side of the chair, a large worktable behind the bed was filled with numerous papers, carefully and orderly arranged.

"Annie," Camelia pleasantly smiled, "It’s been too long. Are you feeling unwell by any chance?"

"Greetings, lady Camelia," Annie said respectfully, bowing her head to the sword saint, "and I apologize for bothering you at this hour. Please listen to me, I don’t have tokens to establish a connection for long."

"I do believe that you are misguided, Annie," Camelia purred in a sweet voice, "If you check the balance, you will surely see that you have enough time to speak at your leisure. I am of the opinion that a lady should never be in a hurry."

How?! Annie wondered, upon checking the balance on her terminal. According to the information, the Winterson household was paying for the call and her tokens were refunded. Bur, this should not be possible!

"I am forever grateful to you for your generosity," Annie bowed her head again, screaming internally at herself to just shut up and take the gift, "However this time I came to you to ask for help."

"You are always welcome in our hospital, Annie." Camelia smiled, "Or maybe you finally decided to join us? If so, you are more than welcome."

"No… It’s not about me… Listen, you know Ulrica, right?" Annie tried to find the right words.

"Young scion of the Voidrunner household? Yes, but of course. During the balls, we ran into each other a few times. I heard that she left for a trip."

"Yeah… about that…" Annie scratched the back of her head, starting to tell the story to Camelia. The smile soon disappeared from the face of the sword master, she quickly tapped something on the terminal while Annie was telling her story. Once, she even asked Annie to stop calling someone. Finally, she gestured to Annie to continue, and the wolf hag told everything as she remembered it, "This is how it is… Lady Camelia, Ulrica must be kept away from the Ravaged Lands or…" She fell silent, unsure how to speak about the dangers without painting her own people as bad.

"Do not worry. She has way too much free time on her paws, it seems. Once the poor girl recovers her fur and completes a course of therapy, her father and I will find her a proper job. No point in wasting her enthusiasm," Camelia took a sip of wine and said, "The Voidrunners should have told me about her disappearance. I would have taken my own knights to find her," She looked at the glass of wine in her paw, "The Voidrunner household is not as big nowadays as it was before. They are still recovering from the last war. They have preciously few knights and should learn to call on their kin for aid during the troubling times."

"Yes, while we are on the subject of help. You see, I… wanted to ask for your aid myself. Sorry for being selfish and imposing myself…"

"Think nothing of it," The sword saint quickly said, gracefully turning to look at Annie, "Selfish from the mouth of my cousins sounds too interesting to pass. Speak on."

"The Voidrunner household offered to pay for medical expenses…" Annie pressed the index fingers of her paws together, looking down in shame, "And I commanded one of my scouts, Ultis, to visit your doctors. There is also one badly wounded wolf hag named Bel from the pack of Alpha… I thought... Maybe you could send someone to look after them while they are in the Core Lands?"

Annie raised her head upon hearing the soft purring laughter of the sword saint. Lady Camelia pressed one paw to her snout, giggling like a girl: "Oh, Annie. I was wrong. This is not merely something interesting. This is simply adorable. Put your mind at ease, we will look after them."

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