Queen's Gambit Chapter 22

Chapter Index:
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Previous Chapters:
Draconic Fortune (Noelle)
1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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Draconic Fortune

Chapter 10

Amen!

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He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. When Kris and Noelle came back to the blacksmith after their visit to the Drakeforger, a lot of weapon racks were empty, swords, sabres and a morning star just left on the floor. The man in the forge himself wasn't present either, at least not where they had seen him last time. They heard something coming from behind another door. It led to a training hall and in it, several wooden target dummies strewn on the floor.

They were broken to pieces, some with cuts, some with brittle dents. And of course headbanger was the one wreaking he havoc in front of two awkward-looking friends and an increasingly impatient host. She was laughing and hacking the blacksmith's dummies to pieces. After trying out all those other weapons, in the end, she defaulted back to what Kris was guessing she would pick from the beginning. "So, you guys gonna pay for her weapon, or what?

Of course, to not cause even more of a commotion, Kris and the others agreed to pay and help put all the weapons back where they belonged. Contented, headbanger picked out a set of leather bands made specifically to hold her axe in place, and hung it off her back. The way she arranged it, she could reach over her shoulder with her left hand to grab her guitar, and with her right hand to grab her axe. It made her attire a little more symmetrical.

With all else set now, they were ready to head to the Dealmaker's Den - uh - the Sinwielder's Den. Granted, the titles weren't exactly the same, but Kris was still convinced they would find the same Samuel, or at least an identical one, at their destination. What he didn't understand though, was that Noelle was becoming more and more nervous, the closer they got to it. Especially when they reached the broad road near the Journeyman's tower, where a bit further along, it stood at one of the corners of the city.

In pink and light blue neon letters, the club's name shone brightly off a marquee draped in short red cloth and hanging over the front doors. Complete with a half full wine glass with a straw hanging off its side. Two bouncers, metal men with long legs stood on both sides of the entrance.

"Lightners. You've been expected. Please, do come in." No searches, no interruptions. One of the guards pulled the broad glass doors open for them. Immediately upon entering, they could smell the tobacco off the lit cigarettes and the alcohol, evaporating off open glasses and mugs into the air. It was a club with walls and ceiling made of wood and the floor of smooth ceramic.

Citizens of all those four kinds unfamiliar to Kris sat along the tables drinking various strange mixes, or having some junkfood like fries or a burger. They were all intently watching the stage, where four golden women lifted their skirts and flashing their legs in a synchronous dance behind one man who took the main spotlight. A goat, but unlike the goat men that Kris figured came to the city together with the Journeyman, Dasher and the others, it was an actual Boss Monster.

Except it wasn't, because Boss Monsters always had white fur. His facial features weren't featureless glowing surfaces like with Ralsei or Samuel, he had normal eyes and a normal mouth. Asriel's normal eyes and normal mouth. And yet, this one's fur and horns were pitch black. He wore nothing but a pair of underpants and a white bow tie, attached to his neck via a thin cloth collar. He wasn't hiding his appearance under an enchanted hat. He really was just a black Boss Monster, regardless of whether or not something like that existed in the light world.

And he sang. He was singing with Asriel's golden voice, dancing ever so slowly along the various other things arranged on the stage. To his left was a throne, covered in white cloth, and to his right, a with a white cloth covering both the person and the chair. When he was just done accompanying his lines with a finger gun, the 'barrel' of which he drew along his entire audience, he froze upon almost pointing it at Kris and the others.

When he noticed them, he stopped and interrupted his song. In spite of him being in the middle of it with no inclination of this being a conclusion, the audience applauded regardless. "Oh my goodness, thank you everyone, thank you. Sorry to cut it short, but I have special guests to attend to. Why doesn't my dear friend here give you a nice distraction instead?"

Slowly, with careful steps, the dancing devil tip-toed down the stairs to his stage and passed the microphone to a human woman in a revealing red dress made of an evenly glittering fabric.

It made him think of Temptress, but being a human woman in a red dress was where their similarities already ended. This woman was significantly older than Temptress. How old exactly was hard to discern, since her face bore the almost doll-like aesthetic of a human face covered in make-up. She had no extra vines wrapped around the top of her head, and most importantly, she had no antlers.

"Thank you, thank you." Before she so much as started her introductions, the woman in the glittering dress bowed multiple times to the already applauding audience. They had started their applause the very moment she got up, giving them an inclination that she was about to enter the stage. "I must say, I've had a blast coming here. Thank you, to all of you. This song is dedicated to one of the first friends I made when we came to this city. Let's hope she hears of it."

An off-stage drummer started off the beat that the rest of the musicians would play to, and she began addressing the audience when Kris' attention turned back to their table.

The host they visited though - he recognized him immediately by his conspicuous and familiar appearance, descended the stairs all the way and put his hands together on his way to him and the others. "Aw, isn't it wonderful to see you again, darling." He made a gesture with his head that vaguely resembled kisses on Dasher's cheeks. "And you two. What an honor it is to see some real lightners, in the flesh."

"You knew we were coming?"

"Who doesn't know? When good old Jay-jay does something, word gets around fast. Oh, what is that now?" Kris was mostly calm. He was more used to meeting almost-Asriels by now. Noelle was trembling in her robe. Ever since they saw the unabashed goat, she was staring at the floor non-stop. "Come on, raise that chin, turn that frown, upside down. Your arrival is a reason to celebrate. Come on now, what kind of a guest host am I? To leave you standing like this, tsk tsk. What am I even doing with my life."

He clapped his hands. "Seamus?" Some of his mannerisms were exactly like those of Samuel. And his servants had the same names as well, apparently. Except that this time, Seamus was a grumbly man in a more unusual suit, made of thin wooden rods like many of the other new denizens of the city. "A table and anything they order, on the house. Come on right over here." The teenagers were hesitant to follow, so he actually had to forcibly push them to their places by their backs.

"Hey?" Dasher gently led Noelle to face him by the chin. "Is there something wrong? You look - not pale, but..." The sudden change in his demeanour gave her a hiccup. And she was no less flustered when she was drawn out of her silence.

"What? No. He - I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You don't look like you do." The usual content smile faded from Dasher's face. He glanced over to Sinwielder, and then back to her. "Does he scare you?"

"No...no, that's not it." She just pushed his hand away, shook her head and continued to avoid looking the horned club owner in the eyes.

"I can assure you, he won't hurt you - well, unless you give him a reason to." The black devil grinned, wiping some water off one of the fresh glasses that had been brought to their table with a handkerchief. "So, Donnie, how long until we can get going?"

Sinwielder placed a hand on his chest, with his clawed fingers stretched out all the way - another mannerism identical to Samuel. "Going? I don't see where my involvement comes in. How do I relate to your task?"

"Does Donnie stand for Donuel? Or Doniel?" The one that had barged into their conversation, was Kris. And he did so with an empty stare.

This interruption left behind a silence across the table that Donnie left hanging there before answering him. "Oh no. Where are my manners? My real name is Donatien. Donatien Francois, but I don't expect you young ladies and gentlemen to be able to pronounce that, Donnie is perfectly fine." The black goat leaned back in his chair and clapped one more time. "Feet."

As though on cue, two nearby waiters came around with a bucket of water and soap, and quickly cleaned his feet with it. Meree seconds afterwards, he leaned further back with another waiter holding his chair to keep him from falling over, and raised his fuzzy, uncovered legs and left them stretched out on the table.

Right where Noelle would have had her meal had she ordered something, and where she was keeping her eyes fixated to avoid looking at anyone else. Which of course now she no longer could. What with the paws of a grinning boss monster staring right back at her. "But I still fail to see my role in this. I knew you were on your way here, but what for?"

The prince decided to speak up instead of Kris. "We're here to pick up the Journeyman's wife. He said she'd be here. Where is she?" Sinwielder nodded over to the front of the restaurant. "Did she get a front row seat?" All the people at the tables closest to the stage, were more general goatmen and yellow women with overly wide and voluminous skirts. No-one that stood out.

"Not down there, on the stage." With his thumb, the devil in name pointed at the singer, who had now gone on to sing 'Fly me to the moon' by Frank Sinatra. "You're looking for Starlet. She's the person singing right now." As to why Kris recognized this song in particular, he preferred not to dwell on it for too long.

Because enough time had past with him not stopping, Dasher saw fit to intervene on how Donnie was treating Noelle. He gave him a gentle push against the shoulder with a fist clenched and kept it that way afterwards. "You're making her uncomfortable."

The human-looking darkner was met only with the half-lidded stare of a man that was tired of the antics of someone that had stretched his patience very thin. "Oh, am I? I never noticed. Do pardon my manners." Only very hesitantly did he withdraw his feet from the table and sit back upright enough that the waiter behind him could let go of his chair and return to serving the guests.

"While we're at 'uncomfortable'." Noelle gasped when she heard Kris pick up this opportunity to ask something she suspected to be on his mind. She was so uncomfortable being here, her chair was two feet further away from Sinwielder - and the table - than it was when she first sat down. "Why aren't you wearing anything?"

All the other guests wore orderly grey suits and bright dresses that were heavily decorated with jewelry and other shiny objects, but modest enough to cover up and obscure their already not entirely humanoid physique. It would have fit the theme if Donnie was dressed like Samuel. Fancy, maybe even with a top hat and a cane. But instead, he was sitting there, with the only patches of fur not on complete display being what that tiny collar on his neck concealed and his underwear.

What Kris concluded, was that unless there was some very specific reason for this, he was like many others they had seen, drawn that way. And if he had ever in his life drawn Asriel naked, and on top of that, completely black, he was certain he would have remembered. Sinwielder smiled at him for a moment, and said nothing. Deliberately leaving it up to him to wonder about it. "Why are you naked?"

And his fur colour wasn't an illusion, like Ralsei's and Samuel's. Otherwise, his eyes and mouth would have just been glowing lights. With his mouth pulled sideways to make a silly, 'upset' face, he leaned as far to his side as he had to, to reach her, grabbed Noelle by the shoulder and gave her a slight nudge. "Why is he naked?" The only thing he could conclude, was that he was - like Samuel - Noelle's work. And that his choice in clothing - or lack thereof, was hers.

Ralsei was about to ask Kris to stop, when the restaurant's owner finally did answer. "I'm a bit of a nudist if I dare say so myself. I was one since my creation. I always walk around like this, no matter what anyone else is wearing. I enjoy it way too much to stop. Poor little Noelle is going to have to deal with it." He gasped and covered the front of his mouth with his hand. "Oh my, speaking of which. You never told me any of your names. I'm just all over the place today, aren't I?"

Dasher gave him a stern look and drew him back to the matter at hand. "There's got to be some piece of intel you have for us."

Donnie just shrugged with his eyes closed and then left his shoulders to drop until they lazily hung off his sides. "I'm not sure what you think my stake here is. Whether that traitorous lass reunites with you, or whether we just behead her, I couldn't care less. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, I had rather we did the latter at this point. We've all been too lenient with each other, don't you think? It's about time people started being held to account for their actions."

Punishing the guilty. More and more, it became clear to Kris that this was his own person, divorced from Samuel, but in all the points that mattered, he was exactly like him.

"This is serious. We have to stop Temptress before she makes some fatal mistake."

"It's too late, loverboy. She already did. Some sins - or rather the mistakes they lead to, are not forgivable. You'll be lucky if she only loses a limb once it's all said and done."

With a growing fury, the archer smashed his fist onto the table. "The rest of us aren't as indifferent to one another as you! What is happening with you lately anyway? We used to matter to you. What's changed?"

With a nail file brought to him by one of the waiters, Dasher's old friend began scratching around at the claws at the tips of his fingers. "You know, back before all this happened, I recall you and Temptress sitting on the couch in my office many times, each time your grip on each other was more shaky - you were worried about whether your love for each other was fading - telling me that in spite of having everything you could have asked for, you still somehow felt...unhappy. Unfulfilled. I'm guessing you got the ring, because that feeling was taxing your relationship and you thought it would help. Most likely, it's what drove her crazy enough to fall for some megalomaniac she's never seen outside of his - dare I say it - shamefully crafted shell."

Dasher had had some time to calm down and tried raising his friend's spirit with a smile. "I don't think it's your place to call anyone's attire 'shameful'."

The devil just rolled his eyes. "My vices are a bold, naked reality that I put on display for everyone. I don't use them as a mask to hide my true face behind. That's just pathetic. Temptress' infatuation is with the shell, not the man that's hiding in it. She's never in her life caught a glimpse of the man inside."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

He waved that question right off. "Believe me, honey. I have first-hand sources. She's only ever seen the armor. Everyone who's seen him has." He had his employees clean his feet again and placed his legs right back onto the table.

"Since all other rules seem off the table right now, I'm going to break confidentiality while we're at it. This unfulfilled feeling you had: It wasn't you two. It was nothing between you. The ring would have done nothing. You had that feeling, and I did, and Jay-man, Starlet, Schleml, Prankster, Old man Naharaim, Emperor, Empress, Father Asmodeus, Mother Lilith, even the angels. Judas, Legis, Tempie, Pottie, Exxie, they were no exception. No-one was. You all joined my list of patients sooner or later, you all told me the exact same thing and I felt the same way myself. All of us feel it and have for a long, long time now." He snorted. "Would you believe me if I told you there was a reason for it? And that I found out what it is?"

"Sure."

"Would you believe me if I told you that as things stand, this feeling will never go away. It will continue to gnaw at our being for the rest of our lives until we have all been driven mad enough to throw our lives away like Temptress. And one single person is to blame."

"Who?"

A faint chuckle escaped the devil. With tired eyes, he grinned back at the archer. "We can't change it, so why waste any more thought on it? Right now, there is a girl with antlers out and about who is in dire need of comeuppance." The more he went on, the more visibly angry he got. He began bending the file with the force of his hand. "Very, very painful comeuppance."

When the force in his hands was strong enough to bend the metal enough for it to turn brittle and break off, the sight of it shook up Noelle enough to squeak. After this, the devil closed his eyes and cast all the rage off his face. With his calm smile back in place, he got up. "But enough of this. There will be enough bloody murder to cry in the future, right now, let us raise those spirits a little."

By now, the citizens in suits and dresses put their cigars and wine glasses aside to applaud the human woman on the stage. She bowed and thanked them and made her way off the stage, past the demon who ascended it alongside her. "What a wonderful performance, Starlet." Donnie blew her a kiss. "What would we ever do without your light gracing our lives every day."

While he paused to wait for the overeager audience to calm down, Kris couldn't help but think that something was off. Something was different. "It fills me with pleasure to announce to you that we have a few special guests of a nature we could never have asked for, but who - in our greatest times of need - decided to appear anyway."

One of the two chairs covered in white cloths - formerly on the back of the stage - the empty throne specifically, was gone. But before he could think about it much longer, he was blinded by the sudden spotlight shining on their table and the festively dressed singer sitting down next to him and Ralsei.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you Kris and Noelle! Real lightners! In person, and braving any dangers that came their way, they came here. To save us from the impending tyranny. They will charge headfirst through the purple swarm of succubi that Temptress commands, put an end to her reign before it begins and seal the fountain, stopping any more mischief of bloodshed from happening!" They cheered and clapped at the group of five that had been put on the spot. "Can I get an amen in here, everyone?"

With glee, the audience chanted in unison. "Amen!"

With sideways motion with his fist, the devil further egged them on. "Can I get a 'Halleluyah'?"

Again, everyone around them joined together into a choir as though this wasn't the first time they did this: "Halleluyah!"

Grinning all the more widely, their host turned around and gestured for the dancers behind him to get off the stage, which as swiftly as their skirts allowed them, they did. He then turned back to the audience, but never ceasing to keep an eye on Kris and the others and slowly approached the side of the stage. The throne that was covered in white cloth was gone, but the chair on the right was not. It too was covered in a white blanket, and with it, a person that sat on the chair.

That chair was what the Sinwielder was walking up to. "In fact, why don't we take our prayers and praises a little further, and bring in a woman of god." In a decided and swift motion, he reached for the blanket and in a single move, sweeped it right off the robed dragon that lay beneath. It was Faith, the dragon nun. And she hadn't had the time to change her clothes. She was still wearing the same coif and robe, both still full of holes from her fight with Dasher.

At once, the heroes got up. Kris checked for the exit, but it was blocked by seven human women. They had long hair in all colours from red, blond and brown, and were stripped completely bare and covered up only by oval mirrors with golden frames that they held up in front of them. One of them had in one hand the front end of a large blanket that she had drawn after her on her way around the edge of the restaurant.

The messy nun was furious. Her gritted teeth were on display and trails of smoke rose up from her nostrils. "You!" She pointed straight at Kris and began charging his way.

Dasher got up, drew his epee and ran past the other guests to jump on the stage. But when he was about to cut into the nun's path, he felt the stinging pain of his left arm being cut open. "Not so fast." When he jumped in the opposite direction and turned to this unexpected threat, he saw the Sinwielder, smiling at him, with an epee of his own. "I'm your opponent here."

With a concise slice from above, he had struck him when he wasn't paying attention to him. He hadn't paid attention to him, because he trusted him, and here he was, forcing him to keep his eyes on him. He had to keep his distance, and that alone wasn't enough, as Donnie soon came closer and began attacking him. He had to parry his attacks.

After a while of fighting back and forth between long-time sparring partners, Dasher's and Donnie's weapons came to a halt, pressed against each other by the middle of their blades. A non-verbal agreement for a moment of respite which Dasher rightfully used to ask: "Why are you doing this?"

"We made a deal. She offered me a generous sum if I keep you from getting in her way."

The guests, including the Journeyman's apparent wife Starlet, all got up and either gathered in a corner, or outright left and were allowed to leave by the women with mirrors. When Kris approached them with Noelle and the others though, they closed ranks. When he tried to push them out of the way, one of them simply pushed him back and launched him onto the floor with a concise kick.

When he turned around, at the edge of the stage, he found that familiar toothy smile looking back at him, that was always followed by a chase or immense pain when he saw it on Susie. The nun jumped off the stage and stretched her right arm out. Out of the ground shot this same tome from before. About a square metre large, almost equally proportioned, heavily bound, framed and reinforced with a gold-brown metal.

On the front cover, the golden plate in the middle had a cross engraved on it. Instead of opening it and summoning a weapon from her holy book, as she did with Dasher, she just grabbed it with both hands and charged for Kris with the book raised like a battle hammer. Past all the soon vacated tables, she charged right for him, leaving Noelle and Ralsei completely beside themselves, not to mention Headbanger.

She charged right past them unabated. He was trapped. The only way away, was out, and the naked women - some kind of concubines to the Sinwielder, he figured - were blocking that route. All he could do, was summon his sword swing it upwards from below to gain momentum and apply all the force he could muster into countering the attack when this weaponized holy text of hers surged down onto him. She was trying to pummel him with the holy book. Taking 'bible-thumping' to a whole new level.

Somehow, using a step forward to position himself right under the nun's 'weapon', he was able to block the attack, with the blade of his sword - the 'Baphieblade' with the pentagram at its lower tip plainly visible - pressed against the centerpiece of the bible's metal frame. He had to dodge to the side when Faith spat a gust of flame his way and leveraged both their weapons sideways and down to buy time for him to retreat off to the side and gain some distance from her.

Her next attack, a horizontal swipe of her book in an attempt to launch him off his feet, he could dodge just by jumping back. He knew he wouldn't be able to parry her attacks forever. They were too heavy. She could put too much force into them for him to hold on against them. When she next attacked him, he was worried that he might have not dodged back far enough.

Apparently he had though, so it only slid against the tip of his blade. Which cut right into the tome. Seeing that gave him an idea. The bible's frame was solid, but the rest of it, while very heavy, was still just a book. Made of wood, paper or parchment, which was all flammable. Any book, even when covered in those thin plastic films, could burn if you really tried to make it, and he had a fire-breathing dragon on his side.

Strike after strike, the nun's attacks wore him down. The strain on his joints when he smashed his blade against the metal plates on all corners of her holy book, became more painful each time. But while he held on, he made sure his 'retreat' made an arc that circled right back to Noelle and the others. When he got close enough to Headbanger, she helped catch the giant tome surging down on them with her bare hand. He seized the moment and shouted "Fire!" at her.

"What?"

"Breathe fire!" When Faith pulled back the bible to strike out for her next attack, Banger finally realized what he meant. "Just do it!" She took a deep breath, and when she released it, a steady burst of fire shot out of her mouth. At first, she apparently hadn't understood what Kris wanted from her and was directing it at Faith. It took him pointing at the book for her too adjust it upwards.

Faith would have responded in kind, but getting set on fire as well as the book burning up staggered her and caused her to let go of it. Fully ablaze, it dropped onto the floor, and the sparks began igniting the wooden planks around it.

The fires were enough to set off the fire alarm. Shrill sirens drowned out any other noise in the club, fire sprinklers on the ceiling began coating everything around them in water. In hindsight, Kris should have expected this. Parts of the bible fell apart, others remained intact. And the frame held it all together and gave Faith something solid to grab it by.

To make it worse, now that parts of the corners had burnt, off, Faith's bible was lighter, which only allowed the dragon to wield it more quickly than before. Yet worse, after stepping back to gain a little distance from Kris and Banger, Faith actually did open her hand with her palm pointed at her scripture and through a light in the shape of water rippling around something that emerged through its surface, she pulled a shortsword to wield in one hand while swinging around the book with the other.

He was getting worn out. She was too strong for him alone to take on. They outnumbered her four to one, this shouldn't have been so difficult. As soon as the fire had begun, the rest of the guests cowering against the walls, made for the exit and were allowed outside by the concubines.

To his relief, when she next raised the book in another attempt to crush him, her more easygoing lookalike on his side had pulled up her new axe and held it up by the upper half of its grip to catch and stop it with both hands before it could reach him. When Faith then tried to strike or stab Banger with her short-sword, Kris stepped past her, pressed the blade of his sword against hers and forcibly pushed it off to the side.

With both her attacks canceled out, Ralsei came around as well, enchanted his scarf, swung it to wrap it around the arm Faith was holding her scripture with, and pulled it back. When she tried turning to him and forcing a gust of immediately dispersing fire through the torrents of water, Kris, for the first time now, raised his sword and surged her way to bury it in the back of her shoulder.

There wasn't much of a point to killing anyone, if what the Drakeforger said was right. But with the water helping along, he could see if they could bleed her out enough for Ralsei to pacify her. Right after he did though, he had to push himself off of her with one leg and back off, as she let go of her book and swiped at him with her sword.

When at this point, she was careless enough to leave her sword just hanging there, Headbanger took advantage of that and struck it out of her hand, leaving her unarmed. "Stop."

That only further infuriated the nun. She snarled at her and bore her teeth. Then, she fixated on Kris, tensed her arms and shoulders enough for it to show through her sleeves. She opened her mouth, aimed straight for his face, with her clean teeth pointing right at him, and leaped his way. He tried stepping back, but the slowly rising water took him so much by surprise, he fell over.

His life flashed before his eyes. He was convinced he was going to die and have to do everything over again. But while Faith was already off the ground with one foot, dark, thorned vines shot out of the ground and the ceiling, reaching for the nun gone feral.

They wound themselves around the front of her arms and legs and slowed down her movement. When she realized, she hadn't gotten as far as she planned, she pushed through the vines towards the human with sheer force. Then, more vines appeared and wrapped themselves around her. And then more, and then more.

She was able to tear through some of them, but in waves of four, more and more painful-looking vines grew out of surrounding surfaces and constricted Faith, until she couldn't move at all any more. She didn't stop braving through until she was encased in a pillar of vines, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Beyond that, the longer each vine lasted, the more it grew wider, solidified and took on a wood-like appearance, complete with visible bark on the strands.

Once Kris had recovered from expecting his impending doom, he looked to his side to find the possible cause of what was happening. Trembling all over, Noelle stood in place, with her staff held with both hands. A green light shone around its bramble-covered tip and small, brown, serpentine lines extended out of it, which when looking closer, looked like the same thorned vines that were holding the now grunting dragon in place.

He crawled a little further away from the nun before he got up. Then he came closer again, only to be snapped at by terrifyingly fast jaws.

When Faith realized this wouldn't work, she tried setting the vines on fire, but by now, they were so thoroughly encasing her, she couldn't move her head and what little she hit, was extinguished mere moments later by the still running sprinklers. In one burst of anger, the nun tried struggling free, but her efforts achieved nothing.

The vines actually wound themselves back, pulling her along with them. "No! Satan!" Her head could barely move, but her eyes drew everyone's attention to the Sinwielder, who was sitting at the edge of the stage with Dasher, both their feet dangling off its side. "Damn you to hell, Satan! Why are you not helping me?"

Donnie smiled and dismissively shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, Faith, dear. My end of the bargain was to keep him from getting in your way." He pointed to Dasher and then wagged his finger at her. "You said nothing about doing your job for you." With a long shrug, he spoke up. "Now then, lightners. Your battle with her is all but done. Finish it, and my ladies will see to your departure."

"No! I won't accept this! Do something!" But her pleas were to no avail. A deal was a deal, and Sinwielder had kept his end of it. Kris and Ralsei knew what to do. Soon, Headbanger got a good idea, too. They began searching for any spots that the bramble vines didn't cover and inflicting more and more wounds on their enemy.

Until the prince determined that it was enough. She snapped at him with her jaws when he brought his glowing hand closer. "Keep your dirty hands off me, you depraved harlot!" The light in his hand flared up and reached her face. But even when it did, she kept struggling.

"No! I won't be put out of commission by the likes of you!" But her eyes weren't completely open. He tried casting his pacify spell again. "No!" Her resistance didn't fool anyone. She was struggling to stay awake. "I refuse to let it end like this!" She struggled more, but Noelle's vines held tight. After Ralsei's next attempt at pacifying her, she kept going, albeit with pauses. "No! You filthy deviants! This isn't the end, I..." One more time, he used his magic, and finally, her arms turned limp and she fell asleep, properly this time.

They all took a moment to reassure themselves of Faith not waking up. Kris reached for his chest, but it was covered in his still dent-free chestplate. His heart was pumping like crazy. Faith's rather feral outbursts scared him to death. When he was certain that the fight was over, he suddenly felt so weak, he sagged against one of the tables and had to support himself on its surface to not stumble and fall over. "Are you all right?" The prince came over to pull him back up, even though he didn't really need it.

Now that her help was no longer crucial, Noelle froze in place and let go of her staff, which tipped over and fell into the slowly rising water. Those hoses just wouldn't stop running and the water filled up the building faster than it could seep out through the cracks and gaps. Kris struggled, not so much walking over to Noelle, and rather lumbering her way, with conscious effort not to fall over in each step.

Even after the time it took for him to get to her, nothing about her had changed. With glassy eyes, her mouth open and trembling in an awkward way, she stood there, frozen in place. Only her hands, for lack of a staff to hold, had lowered themselves. "You did it." She didn't react. He stepped right to where she was looking and even looked her in the eyes. Nothing. "Hello? It's over, she's asleep."

She was broken. It was all too much for her from the start, but she kept herself together for the most part, so Kris always assumed it was all okay in the end. But it wasn't. Now she was stuck, just as her father warned him she would. He grabbed her by the upper arms and held her a bit more gently. "It's fine. She's asleep, and I'm here." It didn't work. All this wasn't personal enough to get through to her.

He had to do something he really didn't want to do. He came as close to her as he was comfortable with, dispersed his sword and ran his arms under hers. Holding her by her back, he pulled her forward . He pulled her as close as his need for personal space allowed. He made sure that the skin on his neck was making contact with the scratchy fur on hers. "It's all right. I'm right here. She can't do anything to you. There is no reason to be afraid."

She could hear him. That was what Noelle's first thought was when the scared motionless doe regained her ability to form coherent thoughts again. Even through the solid armor, she could feel and hear Kris' agitated breaths. He was as scared as she was - or at least he had been. "I'm here, I'm not leaving you, and we're going to make it through this. I promise."

Most of her senses were numbed in the panic attack she suffered. It took her a moment to realize how she was even able to sense his fear like this. He had pulled her into a hug. A 'kris-hug', but a hug nonetheless. Hugging Kris was something that happened against his will. And she stopped forcing that from him as they grew older. Even after several years, without any other indicators, she could tell it was him just from how it felt like hugging a lamp post.

He was doing his best to show physical affection - on his own volition - in front of all these people. What had happened with him? What happened to the Kris she knew? That worry lingered for a moment, but not for long. Being held like this was nice. She liked what of his body wasn't covered, warming her up against the cold water showering down on everyone from above.

The longer he stayed like this, and all the more when she softened up her stance, the more she felt confident about this change. New Kris? Dark world Kris? Suddenly friends-making sociable Kris? She didn't know what it was, or how to call it, but she started to see that being afraid of it was silly. He could claim the shut-in she knew was the real him all she wanted, but she could tell that wasn't entirely true. He was changing. And now she was confident, that it was for the better.

Her eyes were still closed when he let go of her and drew back. Even pulling himself off of her embrace with a little force. When he was back at a distance comfortable for him, he held her by the shoulder once more and looked her directly in the eyes - this time with her looking back. "Better?"

Now, no longer afraid of losing the Kris she knew, seeing him care enough to engage her like this put a smile on her face. "Yes." He knelt down to pick up the staff and lead her closer to the exit. "Thanks."

"Shall we go outside?" She nodded and followed. The concubines finally made way and opened the door, causing the subsequent flood of water almost to pull everyone off their feet. When they made their way outside, the Sinwielder of all people sped up to walk alongside them, which gave Kris an occasion to ask him: "Why did you install sprinklers that never stop?" The water was almost reaching their knees by the time the door finally opened.

The devil - with no sense for the mood of anyone else as usual, shrugged. "Journeyman said to prepare for dragons. Dragons breathe fire. So I thought 'the more water, the better'."

He turned to Noelle one more time to make sure she had recovered. "I'm fine. You can let go." He was holding her by the arm on their way out and only let go, now.

When the rest of the water flooded out of the building and onto the street, and the water level at their feet lowered itself until there was none to speak of any more, the water pressure they all felt subsided. And so did the tension, both inside the building. For quite some time, everyone watched the spectacle as the sprinklers finally turned off and the water spread out onto the rock.

"So." the ruined club's owner broke the silence and directed his open hands towards his older singer, who didn't seem very fazed by everything that happened at all. "You got who you came for. And my business with Faith is concluded as well."

Donnie took a few steps away and patted his hands to press and shake off some of the water. Then he clapped his hands. "Ladies! Gather around." Immediately upon being called, the concubines, with no shame, followed him straight onto the road. Still bare, and on display for all the bystanders and passerbys to see. "It's time for us to take our leave."

As though on cue, the human women all stood closely side by side from each other in a row. Then they got on all fours and each one placed and strapped her mirror to her back with a red band, all mirrors together creating a quasi-deck chair that the devil moved on to sit on. Like this, moving sideways on all fours while never breaking formation, the concubines took their leave as ordered, and carried the devil with them.