Chapter 61: Chapter 55: The blood debt settled.

Blaguna stood up, the green mist around her was slowly dying, devouring parts of her black leather coat and the ground beneath her. Aranea could still hear the sounds of countless alarms coming from the fortress, accompanied by gunfire and screams of people. She ignored all of it, focusing instead on the woman before her.

Blaguna’s body bore countless cuts and bruises, several bullets were still stuck in her flesh, falling out the moment she looked around herself. Her coat was in tatters, revealing a strapless blue shirt, leather pants and several belts with long hooked knives. Her enlarged pupils moved like a pair of baseball balls in her eyes, looking for a way out. Her lips never stopped moving, one moment they were pressed into a thin line, another shifting to a smirk, then to a smile, before once more returning to a thin line. Even from several meters away, Aranea could taste the smells of sweat and blood that were coming from the woman, her posture betrayed wariness. However, not a single trace of fear was emanating from her, even now, all that Blaguna was thinking about was how to escape.

"Well, what a sorry bunch you are, ganging up on a single woman," She chuckled, looking around, the bullets created ringing sounds falling from her torn skin. The fabric of Nokto’s boots came apart, revealing small streaks of green mist licking and devouring her pants. The blood immediately started clotting around her wounds, "Fine, I’ll indulge you. Any volunteers to try and take the head of grea…"

"Too much of an honor for a beast like you," Scorpio cut her off, resting his massive head on his arms and stared lazily at the regulator with his purple eyes. "The offer of surrender was made and was rejected by you. Everyone, turn her into a beehive, no mercy."

"Watch out everyone!" Aranea shouted, leaping forward without thinking.

Cracks ran below Blaguna. And the wolf hag recognized them. The same cracks that ran across the city before Blaguna flattened it with her blasted mist. The woman wasn’t simply looking for a way out, the blasted monster was making one while feigning weakness!

The stone ground cracked beneath Blaguna’s legs, spitting out waves of green mist, and the woman ducked, evading two shots that sliced across her scalp, tearing off some flesh and hair. The ground itself sank. Aranea had no idea about the volume of the mist that Nokto sent underground, but it was enough to hollow out the ground beneath her, creating a man-made cavern.

Aranea ignored the thunderous sounds, ignored the words of the captain, ignored the shooting of her allies, the few shards that went off mark or were kicked aside by the rising stones, harmlessly crushed against her armor. Slabs of stone were rising briefly from the earth, pushed out by the ensuring destruction from below, and Aranea used them as springboards, jumping toward her target.

Blaguna. She will not escape. Not after what she had done.

The mist coming from beneath the ground licked Aranea’s power armor, eating away at the steel. Aranea jumped higher, intending to land a clear headshot on the blasted woman. But it was too late. Like a cockroach, the woman slipped beneath the cracks, and the stones beneath her joined together, falling down.

She wore special power armor before… Aranea thought, making her bet and sealing her armor completely shut. If she was right, the woman couldn’t really endure her own green mist, at least not for long. Otherwise, Blaguna’s skin started to crack too. If her assumption was right, then…

The wolf hag fell right after Blaguna, tearing at the stone and breaking through after her. She was met with a thin veil of green mist, mist that destroyed the lens that shielded her crimson eye, burning the skin beneath with a searing pain. She tried to blink and found that she couldn’t, the eyelid was gone, but the eye endured. Her right pauldron cracked in two, falling off from the armor, the armor was screaming warning after warning, recommending leaving the hazard area at once. It was impossible to do, of course, the metal lid that protected her mouth burned away in an instant, and the wolf hag felt blood on her lips, struggling not to inhale the air.

But in the end, her bet paid off. She passed through the cloud of green death, locking her eyes on the falling Blaguna, detecting her among the falling rubble. The woman saw her too, grabbing the nearby falling human-sized stone and throwing it at Aranea, knocking the rail gun off her paw. Blaguna reached for another piece of rubble, and this was when Aranea kicked her.

The wolf hag used the fact that she was far heavier than her enemy, falling directly on one of the rubble and jumping from it, making a full spin in the air, before landing her armored heel against the Blaguna’s right cheek, jerking the woman’s head to the side. Blaguna grabbed Aranea by the leg, pulling her closer to herself, before trying to bury the knife in the halfbreed’s shoulder. The gleaming steel pierced both fur and skin, sliding aside when it failed to breach the exo-skeleton beneath. Blaguna’s hand let go of Aranea’s leg, reaching for her throat while the two women were locked in combat.

By Sprits, the woman is strong! Aranea cursed, seeing just a bloody bruise on Blaguna’s cheek, the area around the kick went dark and the bone was probably shattered, but Aranea hoped to end the fight with this kick, if not by killing outright, then by turning Nokto into a plant. Instead, it was the maniac who was gaining the upper hand now. Let gravity do the Spirits’ job then. Aranea grimly thought.

She feigned weakness, allowing Blaguna to press on with her advance. At the very last moment, Aranea turned her body to the side, sliding underneath the left arm of the regulator and pushing the woman before herself. Straight into the wall of the newly made cavern.

Blaguna roared with a muffed scream while her face slid across the ragged stone wall, dragged down by both her and Aranea’s weight, while the wolf hag slammed a knee straight across Blaguna’s spine, desperately trying to break at least some bone in her body, anything that would allow her to take down the regulator, piece by piece if needed.

They hit something, and Aranea’s hold on Blaguna slipped, allowing both women to come crushing down on the floor of the cavern. Looking up, the wolf hag saw a billboard with a picture of a smiling doctor on it, coming down on her, burying her beneath the steel remains. She broke through the billboard, throwing steel aside, noticing with a minor surprise that she was in the remaining part of the Old World.

A desolated city spread far and wide, hidden underground for three centuries. Its citizens were long dead. Nothing but wind from a new opening in the ceiling above moved the dust across the streets littered with abandoned vehicles. Most of the buildings either crumbled on themselves or were in a state of dire disrepair, looking like they would be keeling over at any minute. It was by sheer miracle that she and Blaguna landed on one of the remaining billboards on the road.

The regulator stood up, and the dim moonlight from above shone on her crimson face, the skin was torn and hung like ropes down from her cheeks, her nose was skinned, but this was all. The unnatural body of Blaguna endured the fall and allowed her to stay conscious. The wolf hag’s rail gun failed on the ground behind the enemy, still intact. The regulator reached for the remaining knives and Aranea charged at her.

"Kaleb!" She shouted, uncaring about the stone that was falling from the above, leaving craters on the road. Aranea's claws flashed and met the steel of her enemy, "Kate!" The knife faced the claws on her left paw, forcibly moving her arm away, while the wolf hag managed to slash across the chest of her enemy, drawing blood, "Sly!" She kicked, leaving a cut on Blaguna’s foot, "Yuki!" Aranea dodged a slash aimed at her naked eye and pushed on, feeling how the knife crashed into her right shoulder anew, shattering against the exo-skeleton beneath her skin. Her claws found the arms of Blaguna, cutting deep, "Kostya!" She shouted, a moment before her jaws spread wide and her head moved forward, aiming at Blaguna’s thick neck. The regulator dodged and Aranea closed her fangs on her ear instead, tearing it away, "Man, god, monster or devil, anyone who hurts my friends, my soldiers, or my family will pay the blood price in full!"

"I didn’t kill them all yet, did I?" Blaguna asked, before she headbutted Aranea, halting the wolf hag in her advance. Aranea felt like she was hit in the face with a steel ball the size of a human head, her armor bent under the onslaught. Trying to buy time to recuperate, Aranea punched, landing a hit directly against the lower jaw of the woman. The regulator simply groaned, before smiling cruelly and kicking Aranea in her chest, sending the wolf hag back, "Some were still alive, I reckon. I think I will make it my new hobby to depopulate your precious tribe, to choke the life out of every single person who was ever dear to you. Isn’t this sound fun?"

She leaped after the falling wolf hag, mounting Aranea and pressing both arms of the wolf hag to the torso with her thighs. The wolf hag groaned when Blaguna grabbed her by the throat with her right hand, bending the metal beneath her fingers and choking the life out of her.

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"We were so rudely interrupted the last time we played," Blaguna hissed, raising her left hand and slowly allowing her index finger to close toward the crimson eye, "Such a cute balloon you have right here. Let’s pop it up…"

"Choke on this." Aranea spat in her eyes, confusing Blaguna just for a split second and pushing her arms free. Her claws cut beneath Blaguna’s ribs, finding their way through both flesh and muscle and causing the regulator to scream and recoil. The wolf hag never allowed her to retreat, biting anew and finding the nose of her enemy, closing her jaws with all her might and twisting her own head. Blaguna’s screams reached a crescendo the moment her nose came free from her face, allowing the wolf hag to land two more cuts on the enemy’s body, one in the solar plexus and another beneath the armpit, before throwing the regulator off herself and spitting out the remains of the nose.

Instead of pushing her attack, Aranea ran. She ran directly to her weapon, grabbing it and taking aim at Blaguna, unwilling to take any chances this time.

"Wait! Wait, wait, waiiiiiit!" Nokto wailed, putting one hand on the desolated road and extending the other toward Aranea, standing on her knees, while blood poured from her wounds, coloring her crimson, "P… please! I sur… surrender."

"What…?" Aranea asked, stopping her finger. She wanted to kill this woman, she even had the order of the captain, but the training drilled into her halted her paw. Before she could even understand what had happened, what was asked of her, the ground exploded beneath her feet, releasing the green mist and throwing the wolf hag off balance anew.

"I… idiot!" Blaguna howled, leaping from the place and landing a kick against Aranea’s side, making the wolf hag roll away from the weapon, "Pride, duty, rules, friendship, love… Meaningless shit, all! Only killing matters and you have…" A mist rose from the woman’s hand, and she lifted her hand, ready to strike at Aranea.

Aranea jumped to her feet, seeing her own weapon before her. Blaguna’s screamed some distance away from her, before shutting up and looking around in confusion. Aranea grabbed her weapon, surveying her surroundings next.

They were on the surface, at the edge of the giant hole, standing in the shadow of captain Scorpio, who held Ofelia in his palm. Ofelia waved a finger at the shocked regulator. Blaguna’s eyes looked at the wyrm just once before darting to the side, aiming to jump down once more, covering herself in the green mist.

And the wolf shot. Blaguna’s midsection evaporated the moment the projectile came into contact with her body, pushing away the mist and leaving the woman falling on the ground, her legs falling few steps behind her. Blaguna coughed, spitting blood on the stone ground, and reached out with a trembling hand to Aranea, groaning in a pleading tone:

"I sur…"

"Yeah, not falling for this anymore." Aranea responded, firing anew, and the regulator’s head disappeared, turning in the cloud of blood smoke that flew away into the air.

Done. At least Kate got her wish. Aranea chuckled, holstering her weapon behind her back. She barely heard the thunderous command of Scorpio and the movement of the troops. With Blaguna’s death and the betrayal in her fortress, the Regulators were done.

"Adequate work, wolf hag," Scorpio said, while the woman in his palm disappeared, left to do whatever his bidding was, "This could have been cleaner, if you had only listened to me, but in light of your history with this… individual, I will let this one slide. However, for another matter," Scorpio sighed heavily, "I would like to hear your opinion. You see, Blaguna’s had kids."

Aranea froze, trying to process what she had just heard. Someone was willing to lie down with this monster? Was she a good mother, perhaps? Did Aranea just gain another blood debt?

Naturally, they have only a hazy relationship with their mother, who "created", so to speak, them... for fun, according to my informants. All of them are young, and I am somewhat at a loss… How do you think we should proceed with them, wolf hag?" Scorpio’s voice dropped to a barely audible whisper while his massive head closed on Aranea, covering her whole in his shadow.

Kill them. Aranea bit her tongue in order not to say it. Everything in her burned with a desire for revenge. Blaguna’s offspring! Alive! Her taint is in the world still. The one who murdered Yuki and Kostya and maimed Kaleb and Kate... The deaths and pain must be avenged, without pause, without pause, all must pay... We stop now.! Aranea bit her tongue all the way to the blood, forcing her violent side to step back: "They… send them to school or something. To a proper school, not the one in the Ravaged Lands, it’s not a place for," Aranea looked at the desolation around her weakly, "Anyone really. Send them to someone who can raise them to be proper human beings."

"Fine, fine," Scorpio burst out in laughter, nearly dropping Aranea off her feet with a gush of wind, "I was half afraid that I would have to overrule your decision."

"If so, why did you ask me to decide their fate? If you planned to leave them alive from the start, why play with me?!" Aranea angrily demanded to know, feeling a clutching pain in her chest. Kostya, Yuki, Kaleb, Kate, Sly, her soldiers… She shook her head. The nightmare was over, the deed was done. It was time to bury the rage at Blaguna and regulators.

"Because I am not without eyes, wolf hag. I knew what you had planned to do with one of our prisoners a few days ago," Scorpio’s heavy gaze fell on her and Aranea felt her blood turn to ice, "You’ve worked under Ivar a bit too long, I believe. You dare to make assumptions about who should be allowed to live and who should not. If left unchecked, such delusions are dangerous. Thus, I gave you a test to decide your fate. "

"And… your assessment, sir?" The wolf hag weakly asked.

"For now, I am content with the result," The black wyrm replied amiably, straightening himself and looking at the fortress, where alarms slowly died out, " Everyone dances around the edge of the abyss from time to time, what matters is that one does not fall from the edge. See that it stays that way, wolf hag, or you'll be nothing but a blood smear against the stone," Scorpio's voice dropped to a soft whisper, "You've made the right choices in the end, Aranea. Now, reap the benefits of staying human. Life. This is my recompense to you."

The wolf hag turned around, noticing a figure in the regulators’ colors coming down from the fortress, escorted by the state’s soldiers.

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