Chapter 3: Showdown in Kharlla's Domain

"You now face Elli, the greatest marksman in the world!" Elli stated as she readied her arrow in its bow, and aimed it directly towards Merle. "My arrows will pierce your skin and bring you to submission!"

She then released the string, firing the arrow right towards Merle's head.

As quickly as the arrow bolted the distance between Elli and Merle, Merle brought up her sword and held it in front of her face, forming some sort of shield. The arrow bounced off of its steel, and was deflected elsewhere. Immediately after, Merle dashed to her left, finding cover behind one of the pillars lining the room.

She heard rapid footsteps approaching her, a sign that Elli had given chase after her. Before Merle could react, Elli had reached her, and she had already prepared another arrow in her bow. With her sword, Merle swung at the archer, who dodged the attack by jumping high into the air. While airborne, Elli rained down several arrows onto Merle. Merle rolled out of the way, narrowly dodging each one.

With Elli able to quickly attack from both the ground and air, Merle looked for some kind of cover. She looked towards the fallen Queen who had gotten an arrow through her head; perhaps she would provide for a good shield. However, this idea quickly fell apart, as the Queen had begun to dematerialize in a glowing white dust.

Meanwhile, Elli had landed on back on the floor, and started to dash towards Merle. This caught Merle's attention, and she again struck her sword towards her. Elli blocked the strike with her bow; even though it looked like it was made of wood, it was in actuality very difficult to even cut just a little.

"What is your purpose!?" Elli said as the two struggled to overpower each other. "What do you gain from turning against us?!"

Merle did not answer.

"Do you not see who you're up against?! Not only me, but Empress Kharlla as well! Even if you manage to defeat me, the Empress will skin you alive! Why side with the humans, who have brought their own destruction upon themselves?!"

"What I gain is seeing the happiness of humans as they are given new hope," Merle answered. "A new hope for the future and to change their world for the better. ...They can't do that if they're being toyed with and slaughtered like they are now!"

"Humans can never change! That is the one thing that we are certain of about them! Humans are nothing more than a fault in evolution! If they were truly an intelligent species, they would have taken better care of this planet!"

Elli swiped her bow to the right, knocking both her and Merle out of their deadlocked strike.

"How can you be so blind?!" Elli continued. "You of all Children, whose hatred of the humans was unmatched by any of us?!"

"...I have changed." Merle positioned her sword's tip so that it was pointing towards Elli. "And if I can change, so can humans." She then charged towards Elli, her sword leading.

"Nonsense!" Elli scoffed as she braced herself for the oncoming strike.

~~~

Trey ran as fast as he could through the corridor, artificial lights high on the walls illuminating his way. His lungs were nearly out of breath, and his legs had long since become tired. However, he continued to push himself. He knew that he had to hurry. Hurry to Kharlla's room, where Maria was apparently being held.

As he ran, he wondered if the Queen he had befriended, her name Merle, would be able to defeat Kharlla. As the guard Queens constantly stated to the humans inside the fortress, Kharlla was the most powerful Queen in the region. Trey did not know how far said region expanded, but if the guards and even the likes of Ryia and Elli were afraid to cross her, then Kharlla must have been a fearsome warrior indeed.

In any case, he hoped that Maria was still well, and that no harm befell her. Even if Merle were to fall against Kharlla, Trey would be able to find some silver lining as long as Maria was alive.

Soon, against his wishes, he stopped and began to pant heavily. He had nearly overexerted himself. He looked ahead, and saw that he was still quite a ways away from his destination. He sighed heavily.

"I need to hurry..." Trey said to himself, a bit discouraged.

As he started to run again, he heard what sounded like a motor approaching from behind. He turned and saw an older man riding a motor-scooter; only a few of these motor-scooters were deployed around the castle, and all of them in possession of those tasked with quickly delivering goods and orders around the fortress.

It was just Trey's luck that one should pass by.

"Hey, wait!!" Trey yelled out as the man passed him by.

The man stopped, and turned to face him. "What is it? I'm in a hurry," he said with an annoyed expression on his face.

Trey approached him. "Could I borrow this?" he asked as he grabbed the handles.

"Are you crazy? No." The man tried to push Trey away.

"But it's an emergency!" Trey pleaded. "I need to get to Kharlla's room and save my friend!"

"Kid, your friend is probably dead meat by now. Now move." The man shoved Trey aside.

Catching his balance, Trey immediately charged the man, shoving the man off of the scooter with a shoulder tackle. The man stumbled back a few steps before falling onto the floor. Trey then stepped onto the scooter and grabbed its handles.

"Sorry," Trey apologized, "but my friend is in trouble. I just need to get to the elevator at the end."

Not giving the man a chance to strike back or even say anything against him, Trey sped away from the scene on his newly-acquired scooter.

"I'll give it back!!" Trey shouted back at the man.

With the motor-scooter, Trey would be able to reach his destination in relatively little time. He did feel bad for ruining the man's job, but he felt that the greater good trumped all. He would be willing to accept any punishment coming to him as long as he could save Maria.

Those thoughts coursed through his head as he rode through the corridor.

~~~

Merle crashed into the wall behind her, having been dealt a powerful kick by Elli with such force that the wall was cracked severely. As Merle recovered, she quickly dashed to her left as four arrows were shot at her, impaling the wall where she had previously been.

Merle continued to run around the room, dodging and parrying every arrow fired towards her. She knew that she could not continue like this; Elli was successfully keeping her at bay with her marksmanship. Not only that, but even drawing near the deadly archer posed danger, as Elli had proven herself somewhat capable of close-ranged combat.

"Dammit," Merle muttered to herself.

She took cover behind the farthest pillar; no doubt that it would not provide an adequate hiding place for long, but it gave her a bit of time to think. Merle had to get close to Elli, and find some way to--if not kill her--incapacitate her so that Merle could move on to her real target.

"You can't hide from me!" Elli shouted as her rushing footsteps drew near.

Merle could hear that she was approaching from behind to her right. Before Elli could get the jump on her, Merle dodged to the left. In a timely fashion as well, as Elli appeared not even a second after and shot an arrow where her head had been. Standing there, she shot several more arrows at the fleeing Merle. She dodged nearly all of them, but one came so close to her face that it left a cut on her cheek. Another one managed to pierce her left arm. She let out a short scream of pain as the sharp edge of the arrow burrowed into her flesh, leaving the stick and end of the arrow exposed outside of the skin.

"You're getting slow," Elli said.

Merle knew that Elli was right. She was constantly keeping her on the run, avoiding barrage after barrage of arrows. It would only be a matter of time before Elli got in a kill shot at this rate.

She could not keep dodging any longer. She had to stand her ground and end this fight now.

After the last volley of arrows died down, Merle changed her direction and charged right towards Elli. Not breaking her stride, Elli brought up her bow and began to fire several arrows at her. Using her sword, Merle parried away and shielded her face against the bolts. More arrows grazed against her skin, leaving behind cuts and bruises from both the tips of the arrows and the air pressure around them.

Before long, she had reached Elli. Merle went to thrust her sword in her chest, but Elli leapt backwards into the air, causing Merle to strike nothing but air. Before she could land, however, Merle jumped up after her. Taken by surprised, Elli prepared another arrow, but Merle--sword readied--struck her bow and parried it downward, sending Elli hurtling down to the floor below with it.

Elli landed on her feet with a bit of recoil, but recovered rather quickly. However, Merle--also having landed-- immediately rushed after her. This time, Elli pulled back her leg and swung it at the approaching Queen. Merle was hoping for this; dropping her sword, she grabbed Elli's leg with both hands.

"What!?" Elli exclaimed in a state of shock.

Afterwards, Merle began to spin around, twirling Elli as if she was a mace on a chain. She spun faster and faster, all the while Elli demanded that she be released.

"Fine, here you go!" Merle said, before releasing her hold on the archer.

Elli flew at high speed through one of the pillars--completely obliterating it--and crashed head-first into the hard wall. Leaving a big hole in the wall, Elli fell to the floor, her body twitching momentarily, before becoming motionless.

Merle stood there, breathing heaving while watching Elli. Nothing happened to her body after a minute of waiting; she was not dead. However, she was unconscious, which to Merle was good enough at that point.

She pulled the arrow embedded in her left arm out, giving her another shot of pain as fresh blood poured from the wound. She threw the arrow to the ground, and then picked up her sword.

Then she moved on from the room, exiting through the large door that Elli was guarding.

~~~

"Oh thank god!" Trey said as the elevator came in view.

There were several other people also waiting to board it. This elevator took the human inhabitants of Kharlla's castle through each of the three floors, though the third floor--where Kharlla's room was located--was rarely accessed by their own will. Most of the people up there were brought up there by the Queens.

As the motorbike came to a stop, Trey hopped off of it and rushed to the line of awaiting people. Hi heart was racing, as he was very much eager--impatient, even--to board the elevator up to the dreaded third floor.

"How long have you been waiting?" Trey asked the woman at the end of the line.

"I just got here," she answered.

"Oh..."

The woman noticed his apprehensive demeanor. "You in a hurry?"

"Yeah, I need to get up to the third floor fast. It's an emergency."

The woman gasped, and others in the line also overheard this and looked behind them.

"Why ever would you go there?!" the woman asked.

"A friend of mine is in trouble, and I need to rescue her!" Trey replied.

"But you're throwing yourself in danger by going there! If Kharlla sees you, you're dead meat!"

"I know, but I can't leave her up there like that! Besides, Kharlla might not be living for long, anyway."

This comment especially got everyone's attention.

"I made friends with a Queen who's going to kill her and free us," Trey said.

"Right, and then she'll just take us back to her hideout," said a man further ahead in the line. "You really believe these bitches care about us?"

"She's different!" Trey exclaimed. "She already killed Ryia when she was about to kill me! I know she'll come through for us!"

"...Ryia's dead?" said another woman.

The people curiously looked among each other, this news seemingly a big relief for them.

"Yeah, she is! I saw Ryia disappear right before my eyes after Merle killed her!"

"'Merle'?" said the first woman. "She told you her name? ...I still think this is a setup."

"You're being way too naive about these Queens," another man stated. "They're here on a mission: to enslave and eventually destroy all of us."

"It's a trick. You're being strung around like a fool, and it's gonna end with you dead."

Trey sighed. "Believe what you want. I know that she'll come through for us."

The entire lot became silent for a few minutes, before there was a dinging sound from up ahead. The door of the elevator opened up, and after a group of people walked out of it, the line in which Trey was waiting in poured into the elevator. It was a rather tight fit, but they all were inside by the time the door closed, and the elevator began to rise.

"Friendly Queens..." one of the men said under his breath, though Trey and likely everyone else could still hear it. "What does he take us for?"

Others nodded and voiced agreement with his comment.

Trey decided not to push the issue any further; they would just have to see for themselves that Merle was different from the other Queens. He remained silent as the group rose higher and higher in the fortress.

~~~

At last, Merle had arrived on the third floor of the castle. Looking around, the hall was not too much different from the floor below, complete with a long rug and pillars. However this hall was slightly longer than the one on the floor below, and at the end of the hall was a pair of large doors. No doubt that Kharlla, her true target, was waiting inside.

Merle approached the doors, and after taking a deep breath, she pushed them open, a loud creaking noise sounding throughout the hall.

She walked inside of the room, a long chamber illuminated by the sun shining through the windows on either side of the room. At the end was a rather elegant-looking Queen sitting on a large hair. Her eyes were deadlocked on the intruding Queen, a look of indignant curiosity in them. As she drew closer, Merle also noticed the four humans--three men and a woman--working below her at her feet; it looked as if the humans were cleaning and polishing her nails.

"So, you've come, traitor," Kharlla said. "I suppose not even Elli was able to bring an end to your treachery."

"It's over, Kharlla," Merle said as she stopped several feet away from the throne. "You will not live to see another day; I will strike you down right here."

Kharlla sighed. "To think that you were once Mother's most prized Child... She would be heartbroken if she were awake to see how you have been repaying her."

She kicked both of her feet, sending the humans flying onto the small stairs and floor in front of her. Afterwards, she stood up and began to walk towards Merle.

"Don't you see?" Kharlla said as she uncaringly stepped towards the humans in her path; they screamed and tried to get out of her way, but it was all in vain. "Humans deserve to be trodden down into dust", she continued as she treaded each of the humans flat, leaving behind their mangled bodies in pools of blood and flesh. "...Just as I did to those just now. They do not deserve mercy, they do not deserve life, and they absolutely do not deserve this beautiful planet tainted by their hands."

Seeing Kharlla's callousness ignited a fire within Merle, as she gripped her sword even tighter than before.

Kharlla stood on the floor in front of the stairs leading to her throne. "Humans have lost their right to exist. It is our duty to purge the planet of the virus known as Humanity."

"You all are not 'purging' anything," Merle said. "All you have been doing is squatting on this world while terrorizing the Humans. You're not even giving the Humans a swift destruction; instead, you're prolonging their suffering."

"That doesn't matter," Kharlla stated. "Eventually we will exhaust the last human on the planet, and then we will leave. This planet will live on as a beautiful world teeming with all sorts of life, without the plague of Humans. However, you will not live to see that day."

Kharlla reached down and touched the ankles on both of her feet with her hands. Then, what looked like large wings composed of white light sprung forth from each of her ankles, as she stood upright.

"For your crimes, I will not allow you to show your face to Mother or to even see the error or your ways," Kharlla said as she rose into the air. "You will die here with the humans that you love so much."

Merle brought up her sword and readied herself, as Kharlla then charged her from the air. Merle swung her sword, but Kharlla numbly dodged the attack and punched Merle in the cheek. Merle was knocked back several feet, but quickly regained her composure. However, before she could even try to strike back, Kharlla flew towards her again, this time kicking her in the chest with both feet.

The attack was so powerful that Merle flew back into the doors behind her, crashing into them and falling into the floor. She looked up at Kharlla, once again suspended in the air by way of her ankle wings.

She struggled back to her feet, and rushed towards Kharlla again. Kharlla charged her as well; Kharlla struck first, swinging her right leg at Merle, but Merle ducked underneath it. She attempted to slash at her other leg, but Kharlla quickly ascended above. Merle looked upward, and quickly rolled out of the way of Kharlla's right foot coming down on her like an axe. The foot slammed into the floor, causing the room to tremble.

Merle knew that this would be a problem. Unlike Elli, Kharlla was very much adept at close combat, and she was much more faster than Elli was. Not to mention that Kharlla had the added advantage of flight.

Merle stood upright as Kharlla rushed her again at high speeds. Upon reaching her, Kharlla unleashed a volley of kicks at Merle. She tried her best to dodge and parry them, but eventually the still-bloody bare sole of Kharlla's right foot landed a strike on her face and sent her hurtling once more. Merle landed on the floor, her sword falling out of her hand and landing nearby.

As Merle reached for her sword, Kharlla--having quickly closed the distance between them--stomped down on her arm with her left foot. Before Merle could react, Kharlla also stepped on her face, pushing it to the side and pressed her cheek against the floor.

"Just like a Human," Kharlla said above her.

Merle struggled to free her arm from Kharlla's left foot, but she was exerting so much force that she could barely move it. With her left hand, she tried to push Kharlla's foot off of her head, which also served to be a futile effort. In fact, Kharlla responded by pressing down harder as the wings on that particular foot grew slightly larger.

"I want you to beg for mercy," Kharlla demanded as she stepped down even harder.

Merle was silent, bearing the pain being inflicted upon her as much as she could.

"...BEG!!" Kharlla shouted.

"...Never," Merle curtly replied.

Gritting her teeth in anger, Kharlla lifted her foot from Merle's head and held it high above her. Then, it quickly descended, the wings on its ankles having grown bigger than they had been before.

~~~

As Trey exited the elevator--having arrived on the third floor--he heard a loud crash on the other side of the thick wall, and the floor shook along with it. No doubt that the battle against Kharlla was already underway, but he had no idea how it was playing out. He hoped that Merle had the upperhand, and that Kharlla was only minutes away from death.

He ran from the elevator as its door closed behind him, and ran for the opening into the danger zone of Kharlla's room.

~~~

Kharlla's foot rested right beside Merle's head to her right. Right before Kharlla's foot had stomped on her head, Merle had pushed it to the side with a quick motion of her free left hand. The look on Kharlla's face showed that she was surprised at this, as she likely expected to end the battle there.

"Damn you!" Kharlla exclaimed as she flew off of Merle's body and floated in the air above her. Then, she started to spin around, the wings on her ankles having grown so much so that at the speed at which she spun, she looked more like a cyclone of white light.

The "cyclone" then fell upon her.

Merle quickly dodged the attack as Kharlla struck the floor where her chest had been, with so much force that the aftershock sent a fierce wind in all directions. Grabbing her sword from the floor, Merle stood as the cyclone disappeared, leaving behind a seemingly-stunned Kharlla on one knee; it seemed that that particular maneuver used quite a bit of her energy.

Seeing this as an opening, Merle quickly rushed towards her, sword in striking position. Kharlla of course took notice and jumped out of the way, albeit at a slightly lower speed than before. Merle slashed at her vertically, cutting into her dress as the tyrannical Queen dodged.

Merle smirked. "You should know better than to unleash your best skills when the battle is still young."

"...It does not matter," Kharlla said, having calmed down slightly from her burst of anger moments ago. "You did not pierce my skin. And you can guarantee that I will not let down my guard again."

"The damage is already done. Thanks to your last move, you're exhausted. It's going to take time for you to recover fully. The tides of battle have turned in my favor."

With that, Merle charged Kharlla once more, as Kharlla braced herself for the clash.

~~~

Trey reached the opening into Kharlla room, and upon entering he was met with the sight of Merle trading blows with Kharlla. He stood there in awe; this was the first time that he had seen anyone or anything fight toe-to-toe with Kharlla. Perhaps Merle might be able to defeat her after all, he thought.

He snapped back to reality, and looked towards the throne. Staying against the wall, he made his way towards it; luckily for him, Kharlla's back was turned against him, and her attention was on Merle, so he could easily run to the throne so long as Merle kept her preoccupied.

As he ran, he took quick glances back at the battle between giantesses in the room. They seemed to be evenly matched at first, both of them dealing and dodging blows.

He eventually reached his destination. He took quick notice to the flattened bloody bodies on the stairs; the sight made him gag, as well as made him worry. He gulped and stepped close to each one and examined the remains in detail; he hoped that one of them did not belong to Maria.

After examining the fourth and final splatter, he let out a sigh of relief. None of the bodies belonged to Maria.

"...Trey?" said a familiar voice from above.

He looked and saw his friend Maria standing at the edge of the top stair before the throne. The tan-skinned, dark-haired young woman was watching him with a worried look on her face.

"Maria!!" Trey excitedly said. "You're safe!"

She nodded, and looked nervously towards the battle between Merle and Kharlla. "What's going on? Kharlla had said that a "rebel" was coming this way, and there was a lot of noise in the castle earlier. Now those two are fighting..."

Trey grinned. "That's my new friend, Merle. She's going to kill Kharlla and save us."

Maria's eyes widened. "Really? Are you sure?"

"I saw it in her eyes... She really is different from the others. Plus, she saved me from Ryia."

A tall and rather muscular man walked out to accompany Maria. He had several bruises on his body; Trey wondered where they had come from.

"What's this talk about us being saved?" the man asked. "Tell me you don't believe her."

Trey nodded.

The man shook his head. "Kids these days..."

"Maria," Trey called. "Let's get out of here. Our suffering should be over very soon."

"Trey... Are you sure about this?" Maria asked with concern.

"Yes."

The two stared at each other; Maria looked directly into his eyes especially, as if she was reading his very soul.

"I'll trust you, and her," Maria finally said.

"You gotta be kidding- You too!?" the man said is disbelief.

"Are you coming?" Maria asked him.

"If Kharlla catches us trying to escape, she'll torture us to death. Count me out."

"You're going to die anyway if you stay here," Trey said to him.

The man merely waved his hand at Trey in a dismissive manner, as he walked away from the two.

"Forget him," Maria said. "Let's go."

"Right." Trey nodded, and held out his hand for her.

Maria walked to the edge of the stair and jumped off. Trey took her hand in his, and the two turned and climbed back down the stairs. After reaching the floor, the two began to run in the direction from where Trey had come from.

About halfway through their trek, there was a loud thud. Both of them looked towards the battle scene, and saw Merle laying on the floor against the farthest wall. Kharlla was levitating just slightly above the floor, the wings on her ankles shining brightly.

"Well, it seems that I have regained much of my strength," Kharlla said. "So much for your so-called advantage."

There were groans heard from Merle as Kharlla floated closer to her, and then dropped back on the floor. Then, she started to kick Merle's chest against the wall. Each blow caused Merle to release an audible gasp of air.

"Look at you!! You can't even fight back!!" Kharlla taunted as she kicked her. "Is this what the Humans are relying on!? Is this what they are pinning their very future on!? If that's the case, then they are completely hopeless!!" She then laughed manically.

"Oh shit!" Maria exclaimed. "Are you sure she can beat her!?"

"Just keep going!" Trey said as he hastened his pace and pulled her ever so tighter.

The kicking sounds came to a stop, as did the laughter. Trey looked and saw Kharlla backing away from the fallen Merle.

"In fact, I'll show you just how hopeless these humans are," said a becalmed Kharlla.

Trey and Maria continued to run; they were very much near their destination, where they would take cover within the castle walls until the battle had reached its conclusion.

"We're almost there!" Trey announced.

The duo had very much reached their goal.

...Until a gigantic bare foot stomped down in front of them.

Both of them came to an immediate stop and slowly looked upward, towards the face of the sadistic Kharlla high above them. She wore an evil grin on her face as she looked back down upon them; Maria, shaking in fear, held onto Trey as he tried his best to put up a brave front against the giantess.

"Did you think that I did not notice you?" Kharlla said to them.



[End Chapter]