Chapter 4: The Fall of a Queen

Trey and Maria stared up at the imposing Queen Kharlla as her foot, its toes adorned in fresh lavender polish, blocked their path to safety. Trey could feel Maria's body shaking against his, and despite the brave facade he was putting on, deep down Trey was rather frightened as well.

They had not seen or even heard her coming; she had met their escape as quickly and quietly as one could imagine. Trey cursed himself for not paying enough attention to the giantess' position, and instead focusing so much of it on the opening in the wall.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kharlla asked. "Trying to escape from me?"

Trey felt Maria trying to back away from the terrifying giant.

"...Wait, who are you?" Kharlla looked as if she was trying to get a closer look of Trey. "You weren't here before. Are you trying to play the hero, rescuing his princess? You humans and your follies..."

She then started to reach down for the couple. Maria started to scream as her hand drew closer.

"G-get back!!" Trey shouted, a hint of fear in his tone. "Don't come near us!!"

Kharlla laughed. "Fool. As if you can tell me what to do."

Her massive hand had reached the two, and its fingers latched onto Maria and pulled her away from Trey. Maria screamed even louder as she tried to reach out for Trey, who in turn tried to pull her back with no avail. Maria was lifted off of the floor as Kharlla stood back upright.

"Trey!!" Maria screamed.

"Put her down!" Trey yelled. "Stop!!"

Kharlla pulled Maria closed to her face. "So it's this human you're after. She did a decent job cleaning up that failure's blood." With her other hand, she stroke Maria's face, who winced once the massive finger touched her skin.

"Don't hurt her!!" Trey yelled.

"Yes... I think I'll keep her. I'll put her in a place from where you'll never be able to retrieve her."

Her free hand withdrawing, Kharlla pulled Maria closer to her face, or more specifically, her lips. She then opened her mouth and shoved the frantically-screaming Maria inside.

"Noo!!!" Trey's eyes became watery as he watched Maria disappear inside of the massive mouth. "STOP!!!"

Kharlla's mouth closed, and then--after flashing Trey an evil smile--she began to chew. Trey's heart sank as he heard each of the audible crunches that emanated with each motion of her jaw. He stared up in complete disbelief as he watched Kharlla's mouth chew his friend into bits; a drip of fresh blood even pouring out from the side of her mouth.

Then, after what seemed like an agonizing eternity, she swallowed.

"Delightful," Kharlla purred.

Overcome with despair and anger, Trey let out a loud cry and began to charge the Queen. Tears streaming down his face, he began to pummel on Kharlla's foot with as much force as he could muster.

"YOU BITCH!!!" Trey shouted. "GIVE HER BACK!! GIVE HER BACK OR I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

As large as she was in comparison to him, each blow dealt a sharp pain on his fists, but he did not care. At that moment, he wanted so badly to take revenge on this Queen who had coldly killed his dear friend by treating her as a snack.

"What is this?" Kharlla asked curiously. "This little human has gone berserk. You humans have always let your emotions hinder your rational thought..."

As Trey went to charge her again, the massive ped pulled back right before he could lay upon it another flurry of punches, causing him to stumble forward. Then, just as he looked ahead, the same foot rushed towards him, crashing into his chest with tremendous force and sending him flying back halfway across the room.

He landed with a thud, his chest in excruciating pain from the kick--some of his ribs must have been broken--and his back also hurting from the hard landing. He tried to stand up, but the pain he was experiencing prevented him from doing so. All he could do was clutch his chest and watch as the sadistic Kharlla floated after him, the wings from her ankles shining brightly.

"I don't know who you think you are," Kharlla said as she approached him, landing on the floor just mere inches ahead of him. "But if you think that a pitiful human can even hope to kill a Queen, then you are sadly mistaken."

Kharlla then lifted her right foot over him; he could see a bit of blood already plastered on her pale sole.

"Your life ends here!" Kharlla exclaimed. "I will grind you into dust, you miserable excuse of a living being!!"

Her foot then began to descend, as Trey turned his head away and closed his eyes, unable to watch the object of his impending doom fall upon him. He had never felt as helpless in his life as he had been at that moment; he was not only filled with sorrow, but also guilt, that he could do nothing to save Maria as she pleaded for his help. And now, he would meet the same fate that those before her throne had, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Within seconds, he knew that it would all be over.

...Just then, he heard what sounded like a bursting noise from his right. He opened his eyes and saw a crescent-shaped blast of light speed towards Kharlla. This obviously has also gotten Kharlla's attention, as right before her foot was able to stomp down on him, she had to leap out of the way to avoid the projectile, which flew some distance over Trey and cut into the wall to his left.

Now floating high above the floor, Kharlla--as well as Trey--looked towards the source of that attack. Merle was standing up, breathing heavily while brandishing her sword.

"Merle..." Trey muttered.

"Your fight is with me, Kharlla," Merle said aggressively. "Leave the human alone."

Kharlla sighed. "You still have a bit of fight left in you...? And a new technique, even. But look at you. You can barely stand after that move you did. ...Fine. I'll finish you off, and then slowly torture the human to his demise."

With that, Kharlla began to levitate towards Merle.

~~~

As Merle panted--her sword readied in a defensive position--she knew that she was nearing her physical limit. That last attack--a "sword beam", if you will--had succeeded in drawing Kharlla away from the defenseless Trey, but at the same time it had required too much of her physical energy to even pull of the attack.

She watched as Kharlla drew closer. For a split second, she considered her "last resort" technique, the Overdrive Burst, but she knew that if she even tried to use it, Kharlla would just counter with her own Overdrive Burst.

The only thing she could do was defend until she saw her opening, and go for a killing strike.

Just then, as the wings on her ankles briefly grew larger, Kharlla shot towards her. Merle braced herself as Kharlla approached her from the air at top speed.

Upon reaching her, Kharlla attempted a roundhouse kick with her right leg, which Merle parried with her sword. Kharlla followed up with a flurry of kicks, both roundhouse and thrusting. Merle again worked to parry and dodge each one, but one of them connected right into her chest.

She reeled back--clutching her chest with one hand while kneeling slightly--and looked up at her opponent just as Kharlla had raised her right leg high into the air. The wings on its ankles grew as Kharlla brought her foot down upon her.

Merle shielded herself from the blow with her sword, but Kharlla's strength was remarkable; her foot was continually pressing down on the steel with more and more power. Merle did not know how long she would be able to keep up her defense.

With as much strength as she could muster, she managed to strike away Kharlla's powerful leg with a powerful swing of her sword. However, Kharlla simply spun around and deliver a kick with the same leg squarely on Merle's face. The impact sent Merle flying back through the room, landing on the floor several feet away with a loud thud. She wiped her face, finding fresh blood coming from her nose.

Kharlla leapt into the air, and began to rapidly spin around again, her ankle wings extending and forming a spiraling funnel of light around her body. Then, Kharlla quickly descended towards her, the entire mass resembling a drill of sorts. Merle tried to protect herself with her sword, but Kharlla was too quick; the tyrannical Queen's attack fell onto her chest and began to spin upon it like it was indeed a drill. Merle let out an audible gasp of pain as Kharlla's feet spun into her gut with sheer force made even more intense with the spinning.

After several seconds, the spinning came to a stop, leaving Kharlla standing with her feet firmly planted in Merle's gut, still pressing into it as hard as she could. The pain was nigh-unbearable; Merle felt as if there was a hole right in her chest.

Kharlla flashed an evil smile. "You weren't able to dodge that time."

Merle did not respond.

"Too bad. You arrived with so much ambition, even." Kharlla shook her head. "No, not ambition... Arrogance."

The weight on Merle's chest became slightly lighter as Kharlla lifted her right foot high over Merle's head.

"And your arrogance will be the death of you!!" she yelled. "This is the end, you foolish traitor!!"

The foot--its wings expanded once more--fell upon her at high speed.

"Nooo!!" Merle heard a small voice off in the distance--likely Trey--shout.

Right before the Kharlla's foot made contact with Merle's face, Merle tightly gripped her sword and thrust its tip right into the leg, just as the flesh of Kharlla's bare sole made contact with her face. Though Merle's head was still pounded against the floor with force, the power behind it was mitigated somewhat with the blade being buried into her flesh.

Kharlla yelped in pain as her foot retreated. Merle tried her best to keep a firm grip on her sword's hilt, until Kharlla finally jumped off of Merle, causing the sword to slice a large gash into her leg in the process.

Despite her head aching, nose broken, and her chest throbbing in pain, Merle mustered the strength to stand to her feet once more. Meanwhile, Kharlla floated a few inches above the floor; the gash was leaking blood, which poured down her right leg and dripped onto the floor. Kharlla wore an expression of both pain and anger on her face.

"How dare you!!" she said.

"The only one arrogant here..." Merle pointed her sword towards Kharlla. "Is YOU, Kharlla!"

Kharlla gritted her teeth. "DIE!!!"

She flew towards Merle once again. She went for a punch to her face, but Merle used her free hand to grab her wrist and end the assault. With this opening, Merle thrust her sword towards Kharlla's chest. Kharlla apparently sensed this, and flew backwards, freeing her arm from Merle's grip. However, Merle did manage to stab Kharlla right before she retreated, cutting into her white dress and slightly into the skin. The rather elegant dress soon became stained with a patch of red that grew slightly bigger.

"Curse you!!" A very angry Kharlla shouted. "You'll pay for your insolence!!"

"You're letting you emotions hinder your rational thought," Merle calmly said, echoing what Kharlla had said earlier.

"Shut up!!"

"I think I found your weakness. I would think that even you would have been able to avoid that last attack."

"I said shut up!!"

Kharlla charged Merle yet again. This time, she began to kick at her with her right--and injured--leg. Merle used her sword to guard and parry each of Kharlla's attacks, until Merle found an opening and delivered a hard punch to Kharlla's right cheek. Kharlla reeled away, but Merle did not give her a chance to recover.

Now going on the assault, Merle began to slice at Kharlla, cutting into her dress and her arms as she tried in a futile attempt to guard the sharp blade with her bare arms. Despite not being fully-recovered herself, Merle did not let up. She went for Kharlla's neck, but Kharlla blocked the sword with her bare hand, cutting up her palm as she worked to push the blade away from delivering a likely-fatal blow.

Merle kicked Kharlla in her chest, knocking her back several feet. Kharlla cried out in frustration and charged Merle again. Right before she reached Merle, Merle quickly dodged out of the way and--before Kharlla could reorient herself--drove the hilt of her sword into Kharlla's spine. The blow sent Kharlla flying onto and across the floor a few feet.

"You're teasing me..." Kharlla said as she lifted herself off of the floor. "You could have easily killed me there."

As she stood to her feet, limping a bit on her right leg, she turned around and faced Merle.

"You fool!!" she angrily blurted. "You're making fun of me!! Who do you think you are!?"

Merle did not respond.

"That's it!!" The wings on her ankles grew larger as she started to levitate into the air. "This ends now!!" Then, she shot herself towards Merle.

Merle smiled. "Yes." She said under her breath. "This will end now."

As Kharlla reached her, she kicked and swiped at Merle in fury. Merle guarded each blow, before quickly dodging to the right and kicking at Kharlla's foot. Kharlla stumbled forward, which gave Merle the opening that she needed.

She used the last of her strength to quickly charge energy into her sword, which began to glow with a white light. Right as Kharlla recovered, Merle swung her sword with both hands, unleashing a crescent-shaped blast from its blade, one smaller than the one she had used before. Just as Kharlla prepared to attack again, she saw the mass speeding right towards her. She tried to jump out of the way, but to no avail.

The crescent sliced into and right through her abdomen, dissipating several feet away afterwards.

Merle breathed heavily as she held her sword towards the floor in the same position that she was in after firing the crescent. Kharlla wore an expression of shock on her face, before her mouth opened, spilling out blood from within it onto the floor. The wings on her ankles shrunk until they were completely gone. Then, her upper body fell off of her pelvis and onto the floor; her lower body followed after, it falling backwards instead. Blood poured out of both ends.

Kharlla was dead.

Merle let out a deep sigh of relief as she dropped her sword's blade into the floor and attempted to balance her weight against it.

~~~

Trey could not believe what he had just witnessed. He thought that he was dreaming, that he had passed out due to the pain of being kicked by Kharlla.

"No way..." he said to himself. "It can't be..."

Trying his best to bear the pain he was still feeling, he slowly stood to his feet, while clutching his chest. He looked over at the bisected remains of the tyrant Queen Kharlla, and then over towards Merle, who looked to be trying her hardest to remain on her feet despite using her sword to remain standing.

Just then, an overwhelming sense of happiness took over his body, and thus, he let out a shout of glee.

"Alright!! She did it!! She really did it!! She killed Kharlla!!"

Despite his pain, he began to run towards the victorious giantess.

However, the large doors at the end of the room burst open, and he immediately came to a stop. Another Queen was standing in the doorway: the archer Elli.

She looked into the room and caught quick sight of the remains of Kharlla. A look of sheer horror appeared on her face.

"Empress!!" She shouted, before turning her attention towards Merle. "You killed her!? But that's impossible!!"

"I'm surprised you're awake already," Merle said. "I was going to finish you off once I was done with Kharlla here."

Elli gritted her teeth in anger. "You should have killed me when you had the chance. I will never forgive you for this; first Ryia and now Empress..."

The atmosphere became tense as the two Queens stared at one another.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Merle asked.

Trey wondered what was going through Merle mind at that point. She had just prevailed in a very brutal battle against Kharlla; Trey hoped that Merle was not pushing her luck.

Elli shook her head. "Unfortunately for you, I cannot summon my bow right now; it seems to have withdrawn while I was unconscious. Otherwise you would have already been dead." She turned around. "But we will meet again, and I give you my word: I will avenge Empress Kharlla. Even if I have to give my life doing it." With those words, Elli departed from the room, the doors closing behind her soon after.

Merle stood there, looking towards the doorway for several seconds. Trey slowly approached the tired and bruised giantess. To his right, he noticed Kharlla's remains glowing, and light particles floating from them into the air. Merle turned around and caught sight of this as well. Both she and Trey watched as Kharlla's glowing body disappeared, like dust particles being blown away by the wind. Only the blood she had spilled remained on the floor.

"That's one more sent to Mother," Merle stated.

"You were awesome!!" Trey excitedly shouted to her as he approached her. "I can't believe you actually killed her!!"

She nodded with a smile. "I told you before. I was going to defeat Kharlla."

"That you did!! Amazing!!"

"Trey." Merle suddenly got a concerned look on her face. "Are you hurt? She kicked you pretty hard."

"Oh..." Trey realized that he was still clutching his aching chest. "Yeah, but I'm still alive. Wish I could say the same about Maria..." He turned his head towards the floor to his right, and closed his eyes. The image of Maria being devoured by Kharlla as well as her bloodcurdling cries for help were well-burned into his brain. Then, he looked back towards Merle. "She's been avenged, so I hope she can rest in peace."

Merle looked behind Trey, towards the now-vacant throne. "Who is that over there?"

Trey turned and saw the battered man from earlier, whom had refused his and Maria's offer to escape with them.

"I don't know," Trey answered.

Merle gripped her sword with a slightly-tighter grip, before it glowed white and disappeared into her palm. Taking Trey into her hand and placing him on her breasts, she walked towards the throne to meet the man at the throne. As she drew near, the man appeared to be afraid of her, and retreated underneath the throne.

"Don't be afraid," Merle said in a gentle tone as she kneeled down before it. "I won't hurt you."

After a minute or so, the man slowly crept out from underneath the throne. "Who are you?! What do you want with us?"

"My name is Merle," Merle answered. "And all I want is for you Humans to live in peace. This is your planet, and neither Mother nor the Queens have a right to take it away from you."

The man let out a short scoff. "I don't believe you!! You're just saying that to make us drop our guard, and then you'll just enslave us as well!" He looked towards Trey. "Some of us aren't weak-willed enough to be taken in by your words!"

"I don't blame you for not trusting me," Merle said. "But I'm telling the truth. I bare no ill will towards Humans."

"Feh!" The man had completely made up his mind to not believe her.

"Merle, I don't think you're going to convince him," Trey said. "He's right. Even though you killed Kharlla, a lot of the people here will still not trust you. They're as paranoid as he is."

Merle sighed. "You're right. I'll leave him here for the timebeing."

Trey nodded. "Yeah. He'll go downstairs on his own later."

Merle stood up. "Is there anyone here who can look at your wound?"

"Mrs. Watkins can," Trey answered. "She's the wife of the guy who leads one of the colonies on the first floor."

"Well then, let's go."

Merle turned around and walked out of the large and quiet throne room, leaving the untrusting man alone inside as she closed the large doors behind her.

The giantess made her way downstairs to the first floor. The halls were empty; not a Queen was in sight. Merle must have decimated each and every one in the castle. Not that there were many of them in the first place. Without the sounds of the Queens' heavy footfalls, the entire castle was quiet, almost eerily so. It was much too large for a small group of humans to live in by themselves. Now that they were no longer trapped inside of the castle, perhaps it was time for them to finally move on.

Merle finally arrived on the first floor, as she looked around at each of the doors lining the wall to both her right and left.

"They're in the 2nd door from the end on the left," Trey guided.

Merle nodded and headed towards the door that Trey had pointed out to her. Upon reaching it, she opened the door, and both she and Trey were met with the sight of the small human colony inside. Of course, the people there also took notice to their entrance--or more specifically, Merle's entrance; to them, she was a new and unfamiliar Queen, and they reacted accordingly: they began to panic.

"Hey, wait!!" Trey yelled out. "Don't be scared! This is Merle, and she came to help us!!"

His words had no effect on the people, who all soon retreated into their abodes.

"Maybe if I put you down on the floor, you'll have an easier time explaining things to them," Merle said.

"You're right," Trey agreed.

Merle lifted Trey from her breasts and placed him onto the floor before her booted feet. He then ran towards the colony, where not a soul remained out in the open.

"Hey, it's me!" Trey shouted. "Listen, don't be afraid of her!! She's here to help us. Hell, she killed Kharlla!"

After about a minute, a few of the people peeked out of their tents and slowly crept out of them. Others followed after. They nervously glanced over at Merle, who merely watched the entire process from across the room.

"Trey," Mr. Watkins called as he approached him. "What's going on? Did you just say that this Queen... killed Kharlla?"

Trey nodded, and went on to explain to the people everything that had happened, starting from how he met Merle in the first place, how she came headstrong into Kharlla's fortress and killed each Queen, and ultimately fought and defeated Kharlla in a very brutal battle. He also mentioned Maria's death, which drove a few of his listeners to tears.

"Poor Maria..." said a distraught female. "Being killed like that... Terrible..."

"Yes," Mr. Watkins nodded. "It is indeed a sad fate. I hope that she's in a better place now, one without the suffering of this world. She was such a kind soul..."

"Mr. Watkins..." Trey said in a soft tone.

"But about this 'Merle'... Are you truly going to trust in her?" Mr. Watkins looked towards Merle. "Even though she saved us, I don't completely believe that she has our best interests at heart."

Several voiced their agreement with him.

"Well, you guys can believe what you want," Trey said. "As long as this place is Queen-free, that's all that matters, right?"

"For now," said a male. "But who knows how long it'll be before another Queen hears of what happened here and take over this castle again?"

Trey realized that he had forgotten to mention that Elli was still alive and had escaped from the castle.

"Did you want me to look at that bruise you got?" Mrs. Watkins, an older woman standing next to her husband, asked.

"Oh, yeah." Trey lifted his shirt. "She got me in the gut, but I don't know if she broke any ribs or anything."

Mrs. Watkins reached out and touched his chest, applying pressure at several points on it, particularly on his ribcage.

"I can feel a few broken ribs," she said. "Wait right here while I get some bandages; it's all I have right now..."

"Whatever works," Trey said.

~~~

His still-aching torso wrapped tight with white bandages applied by Mrs. Watkins, Trey rode on Merle's shoulder as she walked out of the room.

The colony was going to remain in the castle and decide what to do next, or rather, where to go. Merle had given them the directions to a passage in the valley that would lead to an underground shelter. They were suspicious of her words, but Mr. Watkins decided to take Merle's suggestion into consideration. It seemed that he at least was warming up a bit to Merle, if only a little bit.

However, what shocked much of the colony was Trey's own declaration: "I'm going to travel with Merle." Several of them tried to talk him out of it, saying that it was too dangerous and that he would end up becoming a slave or even sold off to another Queen. Trey was undeterred, stressing that Merle's eyes showed him a sincerity in her intentions to save humanity.

Mr. Watkins, while also against him going with Merle, merely said to do what he felt was right for him, and that he would be praying for his safety, and that--should Merle indeed be telling the truth--she would be able to accomplish her goals.

With a few more parting words to and from Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, as well as the colony that believed him to be insane at best or brainwashed at worst, Trey departed with Merle, leaving the colony alone in the otherwise empty room in the equally-empty castle.

As the two walked onto the outside world, they looked towards the horizon, where the sun was setting beyond the valley, painting the sky and the landscape with a beautiful red-orange hue. A serene end to an otherwise crazy day. He never thought that his life would take such a turn as it did that day; that he would find a Queen who had humanity's best interest at heart, and proved it by killing Kharlla, among others.

Nor would he ever forget about Maria, his one true friend who met her untimely demise that day. He vowed to keep her memory alive for as long as he was, and for her sake he would help in any way to turn the Earth back to the way it was before the Queens arrived.

Merle turned her head towards Trey on her right shoulder. "Are you ready?"

Trey nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Past the valley. There, we're going to meet some friends of mine; they can also take another look at your wound."

"Are they Queens like you?" Trey asked curiously.

"No. Humans."

"Oh." Though Trey became a bit more eager to meet these friends of hers. "How long will it take to get there?"

"Not long." She looked towards the sky. "Though it'll be night by the time we get there."

"I'll stay awake until then." Trey chuckled.

Merle smiled. "Don't be afraid to fall asleep. I'll put you somewhere where you'll be safe."

"No, I want to see the scenery as we go. I haven't really had a chance to see what the world out here looks like. Just as long as no Queens attack us."

"Oh, you won't have to worry about that," Merle said, before she started to walk ahead. "I'll fend them all off and protect you."

"That would be great. And I know you'll be able to do it, too. You're amazing."

Merle blushed slightly. "Thank you. Now, hold on tight!"

The giantess walked towards the direction of the setting sun, walking by the forests and trees below her and towards the valley where the two of them had first met. Trey was more than curious to see the humans that she had befriended and where and how they lived. As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, Trey felt himself becoming drowsy.

"No..." He said to himself. "Stay up until we get there safely..."

It would not be long now. Not long before he would be able to finally rest easy. Until then, he took in the sights of the world around him.

[End Chapter]