The next day I was awoken by the sound of an alarm bell being rung like crazy and men outside the prison scrambling everywhere.  I stood and looked through the tiny barred window.

Men with rusty swords and battered shields, some looking starved or half dead, All looking ill equipped to handle the approaching enemy, ran this way and that. Chaos.  From what I could gather, the sisters of Zahra had been spotted heading this way and that not everyone was in on the plan to hand me over to them.

Right on cue, an older man entered the prison door, and demanded me.  The guard acknowledged him, and actually stood from his seemingly permanent position with his feet up to walk down and unlock my cell.
Seeing the guard now made me realize how big this guard actually was.  His face was still not visible in the dimly lit prison, but I could see that he was every bit of 8 feet tall.  He dwarfed the other man as they stood in front of the cell and he opened the door.  

Without being asked, I stood and walked out of the cell. I could tell that the man who had come to fetch me had something he wanted to say. . . Likely accusatory in nature, but my stature, combined with the guards, must have made him rethink it.  Instead he just followed me outside the prison.

There, the 7 kingdom slayers were waiting for us.  The 4 older ones had calm, unphased looks.  The two boys seemed to be worried and harken wore a scowl.  There was also another human, already on his horse.
Just then, we all felt it. . . The ground begin to rumble under our feet.  On the wall, men began to shout to each other in panic and get into battle positions.  It was the same quake I had felt after I had killed Zahra, but this time it wasn’t as rapid or frantic.

The sisterhood was moving at a leisurely pace, and what we felt was just the tremors of massive beings simply existing. . .

“The time is now!  You need to go, NOW!” The older slayer woman commanded.

Immediately, I was lifted, and tossed on to the back of a horse on my stomach.  The man who had retrieved me from the prison mounted it, sitting in front of me.  Another human man pulled along side him, and together they rode out through the main gate to the city, before the heavy steel gate was slammed shut and locked down.

I couldn't see anything but the ground from my position, but I could tell we had gone about 300 yards when suddenly both the rumble and the horses stopped abruptly.

“Gods help us. . .” I heard the man riding my horse say under his breath as he beheld the small army of giant women.

He was slow to get off of his horse, most likely unsure of exactly what he was going to say to these behemoths that would spare his city their wrath.  

“He-. . . Hello!” began, his voice meek.  “We. . We know why you've come. . . And. . “

He froze in place as one of the women merely shifted her weight from one foot to another to get more comfortable.

“And. . . We have brought you what you have been searching for.” He finished, pathetically.

“And what might that be?” I heard one of the women ask, confidently.

A second later I was being dragged off of the horse and I was roughly tossed on the ground. I stood up, but was slightly confused as there was nobody in front of me.

Just then I heard someone clear their throat to my left.  I turned slowly and my vision was then filled with the all encompassing force that was Zahra's sisterhood.  My sight stopped on the nearest pair of feet in front of me, about 10 feet out.

My eyes travel up from the brown calf height boots, to the common trousers, then up to the long sleeve shirt. . . From the stomach down,  this could have been mistaken for a man. . . But from the chest up. . . Large breasts straining her shirt, cleavage bountiful.  Face as beautiful as any woman you would ever see, complete with her ever present look of disinterest.  Freckles sprinkled upon that face, and topped by her thick, shoulder length, scarlet hair at 115 feet tall and armed with the most tried and true giant weapon of all time.  The club.

Giselle.

One of two women that make up Zahra's leadership and the unquestioned enforcer of the sisterhood.  She was known for her uncanny ability to find payment dodging deadbeats when they were at their most drunk and when they had the most money on them.  She was feared and respected by not only slayers, but human and giant men as well.

More than once I had stumbled out of a pub and down a dark alley, just to find myself snatched up into the darkness and carried out into some dark corner of the woods were Giselle would proceed to beat me to within an inch of my life and take every penny I had.  Somehow it always seemed like nobody who could stop her was ever present during these abduction either.

Funny.

There was a quiet murmur as the woman got a good look at my face. Some chuckled, others fidgeted slightly. 

This wasn't looking good for me.

To my left, Giselle’s right, was the other half of the leadership of the sisterhood in Zahra's stead. 

Silvia.

She was the same height as Giselle, but unlike Giselle, there was no mistaking Silvia for a man.  From her bare feet and wooden ball anklets, up to her long skirt and wide pocketed sash, bare midriff to her frilly blue sleeveless top, necklaces and trinkets, equally as beautiful face, albeit an infinitely softer expression, up to her long blonde hair, twisted into one long braid that reached all the way down her back.  Her personality was also much more laid back then Giselle, and she hardly ever raised her voice or her fists in anger.  It was easier to let the other more aggressive women handle it.

Silvia was one of the dancers in the sisterhood, and widely agreed upon to be the best lay they had, although most men weren't picky.  I can without shame say that Silvia had shown me a good time more than a few times when I was in good standing with the sisterhood.

Beyond them, I counted 13 other women, to the left and right of the main path, as it wasn’t wide enough to fit them all.  They stood among the short trees that made up the edge of the forest .  

“Here he is!  The man that killed your leader in her sleep!  Antony Lockwood.” The man said, loud and clear.  

I looked back to the two women in front of me.

“Hello ladies!” I said, smoothly.  “Giselle. . . You're looking. . .dapper?. . This fine morning!” I finished, sticking a knife in the sore spot that was her style.  It was usually only giant men that gave her shit about her masculine attire, but even they couldn’t always get away with it.

I watched her face scrunch in embarrassment and anger as she lifted her boot up above my head to stomp me into silence.  It was obvious. . . That wasn’t what she had in mind for my first words to her after they finally caught me.

She was just about to level me when Silvia put her hand up to stop her.

“Not here!. . .You will have more than enough time to make your feelings known later. . . . We all will.” Silvia said, staring down at me, coldly.

“thank you, Sil-“ was all I got out before Silvia lunged forward, her foot landing right next to the men with the horses as she bent over.  I didn’t expect it, and so I couldn't dodge as her fist pounded me into the ground as she knelt on one knee.

“That doesn't mean you get to speak!” She said, calmly as she ever did.

Her sudden movement caused the horses to panic, and pull away from their riders, but they got them under control before the dust settled on me.  When it did, I was struggling to breathe under Silvia’s knuckles.  My hands were still cuffed, so I couldn't lift her fist or do anything besides lay there.

I groaned as I felt Silvia dig her fingers into the earth as she effortlessly wrapped me in her fist.  I was squeezed painfully with the rocks and gravel that she had picked up as she lifted me up to her chest.

“Does. . . The payment suffice to avoid bloody battle today?” the city leader asked, obviously afraid.

Both Silvia and Giselle were quiet for a moment, before Silvia spoke.

“Yes, we will take him and go. . .” she decided finally.

I heard the man give a sigh of relief.

“I. . . We have his sword as well. . And the keys to those handcuffs.” He said, taking the items from his horse and approaching the women's feet.

Silvia bent at her knees, using her hand to hold down her skirt in modesty, before she took the items from the man.  No more words were spoken and the two giants turned to leave.  For a moment it appeared that the plan to give them the slayer was a complete success until. . . 

Silvia stopped as she heard a whistle and a split second later, one of the giant arrows from the city wall whizzed past her shoulder.  It was followed by a loud THWACK and then came the blood curdling scream as the sister in front of her caught said arrow to her chest.

From what I could see from my view swallowed up in Silvia’s fist, the woman stumbled back and collapsed into the trees. From there everything went silent for a moment, before chaos erupted from the situation.

Four women rushed to the aid of their fallen sister.  Silvia’s grip tightened on me.  She wasn’t strong enough to flat out crush me when I was fully rested, but I really couldn't breathe either.  Behind her, the two men had realized that they were in the worst possible place to be and so turned their horses and tried to ride as hard as they could back to the castle, but it was too late.

Giselle lifted her club above her head and smashed it down on the men.  Horses and humans were obliterated in a single muddy smash, as the ground shook with her strength.  As a reaction, the rest of the people on the wall let fly with their arrows.

The battle that was to be avoided with my capture, had begun all the same.
“Surround the city, and kill them all!” Giselle roared, narrowly dodging an arrow.

Without warning, Silvia lifted me to her chest, and stuffed me down her shirt, between her big breasts.   I was jostled as she began to move to engage the humans and as much as I would have loved to stay in there, I had other things I needed to attend to.

With my hands I fished under my tongue and produced the actual key to my cuffs. It only took me a second to get them off, and from there, I had to figure out how I was going to both escape, and get my sword back, so I could go on offense here.

As gently as I could, I climbed up the vines of chain and necklace that Silvia kept around her neck.  When I popped to the surface, I saw that she was leaning over the fallen sister, but It was obvious she was already gone. That left only 14 more enemies to go. I knew it was risky to escape now with these 5 women huddled around, but the thing about giants is. . . They can be clumsy when a group is trying to deal with a single small target.
I waited until it seemed that they were all focused on removing the arrow and that is when I dropped out of her shirt, and down between her legs.  To my left, Silvia had my sword between her fingers, as she used her hand to keep balance on the ground.

Here was my chance.

I sprinted over to her hand, reared back, and punched her wrist as hard as I could. I felt my fist connect with her bone and it was confirmed with the brief yelp of shock and pain, emitted from her mouth as she dropped my sword and clutched her hand to her chest. 

The other women looked up at her, confused but by the time any of them noticed me, it was too late for them.  I let a prayer rip and the woman directly across from Silvia was cut clean in two, her blood spraying the two women to her sides as her halves fell to the ground. 

My actions were immediately met with the appropriate response.
Screams of terror from the fact that their friend no longer existed. 

It was progress, but I had zero time to recover, as Silvia nearly managed to stab me with a dagger she produced from her thigh.  I had no choice but to run away at that point but that definitely wasn’t ideal.  All slayers knew that fighting giants out in the open was certain death.  

With nothing to hinder or cramp their movements, giants could be incredibly agile.  Not to mention, their ability to cover ground.  As fast as a slayer was for short distances, out in the open, we were easily run down and trampled flat.  That was the case now, as I had to immediately dodge a booted foot that landed right beside me, the impact throwing me off balance.

I stumbled, nearly falling to the ground, but managed to stay up, just in time to avoid another stomp aimed where I was going to be. I was able to slash at the ankle, drawing blood from an owner I didn’t know as I desperately tried to make it back to the city.

Meanwhile, in the cities wall, all of the giant bows had been fired, and now humans struggled immensely to reload them.  The weight and length of an arrow large enough to kill a giant took 8 human men to handle and even position in the bow.  Not to mention the one or two horses it took to draw it back. The whole process would take about 20 minutes at best to reload  Slayers could do the job fairly easily, but with total number of us limited, ultimately the bows went empty and stayed empty.

Especially once Giselle went on the attack.  She waited until she was sure that the humans didn't have any arrows loaded, then she charged the wall. It only took her three steps to get up to full speed and from there, the wall had no chance.  The wise humans who saw her coming got as far out of the way as they could.

The rumble of footsteps was already overwhelming, and hers could be felt above them as she approached moving faster than anything in the human realm traveled.  She was pathetically peppered by human arrows, which, while they were sharp enough to pierce her skin, they were also much too small to feel like anything more than a mosquito bite. Everyone who chose to stay and try to hold her back paid the price.

At the last second, Giselle turned and used her hip and shoulder to check the wall.  Being 150 feet tall, it rose a little ways above her head, but it still wasn't designed to withstand that amount of force.  What happened to it was catastrophic.

In a cloud of dust, dirt and bricks, both the movement of the wall, and the pressure wave tossed the men like ragdolls.  The unfortunate ones fell off of the back side, plunging 150 feet to their deaths.  Everyone else was disoriented and dazed as they lay amongst the rubble.

They could do nothing as a giant hand pierced through the dust, feeling for anything and ultimately finding a bow, before grabbing and tearing it from the top of the wall and casting it down to the ground, taking the poor horse that was tethered to it, with it. 

From the other side of the veil of dust, a prayer nearly clipped Giselle’s head.  Likely just a blind attack.  She was unwavering and as the smoke cleared, she was finally able to see what her body slam had done to the wall.  

Not only was the area of direct contact cracked and caving in, now possible to be breached, but it was abundantly clear that the entire wall was now out of square.  Looking down the line at it, it was visually waved and buckled around the entire city. 

With that, Giselle stepped back, and lifted her club. Now the shorter slayer from before was standing to face her, sword drawn.  If Giselle was intimidated, she didn’t show it in the least, swinging the heavy, blunt instrument down with all of her strength.  

The man managed to block her attack, but still he was buckled, crumbling to his knees.  Giselle removed her club, but before the man could recover, he was snatched up in her hand.  He was able to resist being crushed outright in her fist, but she had other ways of taking him out.

Giselle really wasn’t into fancy moves and believed that straight forward and direct was the best way about everything.  This was no different as instead of trying to crush the man in her hand as a show of strength, she merely tossed him forcefully to the ground, some 100 feet below.  While slayers were very durable, a completely unbroken fall from 100 plus feet was enough to put anyone down for a while.

This was no exception, as the man hit the ground and never recovered.  He didn’t even try to stand, and seemed to just accept his fate.  With a quick and efficient stomp, Giselle ended his life, before pushing forward and completing her breach in the wall, smashing clear through and scattering all of the humans on the wall. 

Meanwhile I was having issues of my own.  As was the problem with short legs, it only took about 3 strides for the sisters to surround me.  They said nothing.  There were no taunting grins.  This was just business for them.  Subduing me so that they could avenge their fallen sisters slowly and intimately.

Not surprisingly, they were apprehensive of me.  I had just cut one of their own in half and the same could easily happen to them if they weren't careful. The woman directly in front of me, a tan skinned dark haired 100 footer had a large spear pointed at me.  To her right, Silvia still shakily held the dagger.  

Behind me, a scantily clad black skinned women with a short sword. And finally a pale, Buzz cut 80 foot younger giantess with a run of the mill broad sword.  I had to admit that this situation wasn’t looking good for me.  I turned around slowly, keeping an eye on all of them at once. 

They feint stepped in and out, trying to draw my attention one way or another to create an opening, so I did the most simple technique.  I let them think it worked.  I lunged at the tan skinned one, knowing the one with short sword would see an opening.  My plan worked perfectly .

As soon as I committed in one direction, I felt the tremors behind me, and quickly spun while charging a prayer.  The woman barely saw it coming and had no choice but to half dodge, half block the attack, knocking her off balance and taking a chip out of her sword.  As she stumbled I saw an opening of my own, and rushed to get a cut in her, but out of nowhere I was blindsided.

The force sent me sprawling 80 feet to my right and I just caught a glimpse of Silvia retracting her foot from kicking me.  I regained my balance mid tumble, skidding to a stop, before I immediately retaliated with a prayer straight from the death goddess.  Both Silvia and the tanned skin woman got wide eyed and had to physically dive out of the way as the monster, 150 foot tall blade of energy ripped up the ground and tore off through the field.
With this, I saw an opportunity to try to escape again.  I sprinted through the gap left by the two women, heading desperately back toward the city walls.  Unfortunately, as I passed by, the tan skinned woman, who was laying on her side, made an ill conceived grab for me.  

I easily pinned her hand down with mine, and out of spite, I plunged my sword down through the top of mine.  She let out a scream as it sunk through and out her palm.  Her other hand rushed in out of instinct, not to grab me, but just to hold her other.  I quickly pulled my sword and stepped out of range of that hand.

I could have left it at that.  I don't believe she would have continued to fight after such a wound, but I had a duty to all the men fighting in the city, and to all the families who lost everything “because of me.”   

With a prayer and a flick of my sword, she too was gone in a splash of blood.  Immediately I turned and continued trying to get to the wall, but I could tell that behind me, spirits were beginning to be broken as weeping was heard from her sisters.  These casualties would either break them all together, or strengthen their resolve to completely flatten the final town in the whole south of the human realm.

At this point it seemed like even Silvia was having second thoughts about this battle.  She didn’t make a move to grab me as I ran by, perhaps for fear of what I had just done.  As soon as I was passed her, she stood and regrouped with her sisters . 

I was able to make it around the back side of the city and a guard let me in.  I sprinted back towards the main entrance, where I could tell the kingdom slayers were fighting with Giselle. It didn’t take much consideration for me to leave her to them.  Instead I headed to the opposite side of the gate and began the long climb to the top of the wall via a wooden ladder.

I had just about reached the top when suddenly something heavy impacted the wall, partially caving it in a few feet to the left of where I was climbing.  It took everything I had to not be thrown from the ladder as it swayed back and forth.  Unfortunately, men on top of the wall were not so lucky, and I watched a handful fall to the ground below.

I was able to save one man from death as he fell passed me.  Reaching out, I managed to snag him by his shirt and easily hauled him up with me, before letting him go.  He thanked me graciously, before returning to his post.
Running to the outer edge of the wall, I saw who had caused the impact.  A brown haired, eastern coast giantess had shoulder charged the wall, but lacking 30 feet on Giselle, she wasn't able to pound her way completely through, and that would be her undoing.

Without being tall enough to see the top of the wall, she didn't see the cauldron of hot tar above her. A second later, two humans poured it down on her.  It splashed most of her face and down her chest.  Instantly her screams of pain nearly deafened us.  First she tried to claw it off of her, but her skin only peeled.  She stumbled around briefly, before running into the wall and knocking herself over but also toppling all the men who weren't prepared for it.  There she writhed in pain.

While I, and most of the men on the wall seemed perfectly fine to let her lay there and suffer to the fullest, I guess the leader of the kingdom slayers had more mercy than I, because she lifted one of the giant arrows.  In swift, flawless form, she threw it like a spear from overhead, piercing the giantess through the chest, pinning her to the ground and silencing her screams.  

The men cheered for her, but she didn’t celebrate.  That is because she had seen me and was now walking in my direction, sword drawn.  By this point, I was done talking and sparing lives.  People said that slayers had a certain bloodlust and once it was triggered, it was possible for it to become uncontrollable.  

I was feeling it now.  

It was unwise for this woman to be standing in front of me. .
She must have felt the same way, because she didn’t try to say anything either.  She only covered the distance between us in one sprinting step, before our swords collided. 

We furiously traded and blocked blows.  I had to admit that her swordsmanship was exceptional.  Most times, even though slayers used swords, they didn’t actually have very good swordsmanship because fighting a giant was nothing like fighting someone else with a sword.
Fortunately, my parents pounded sword training into us from the day we could hold a sword until the day we left home .  That is why my sister was the one who was responsible for training young slayers at the capital now.  
This woman was using standard kingdom style.  An effective, but predictable style that relied on overpowering your opponent to cover your own openings.  The trouble with this style, which I have argued with my sister countless times about, is that if your opponent doesn’t fight as brutal or directly as you, then you can be easily tipped off balance and create large openings. 

I just needed to wait for that opening.

By now, the humans had turned to watch us, worried looks on their faces.  The intensity of every strike caused a blossom of sparks and high pitch ringing and the wall beneath our feet began to crack as the energy of the blows had to be transferred somewhere. 
We fought, moving slowly around the wall, closer to the edge and that is where I saw an opening.  Not big enough to kill her, but I pushed in close, grabbed the front of her shirt, and threw her off the front side of the wall, forcefully. 

Her eyes got wide as she fell, but lucky for her, I hit my target.  The woman fell and struck the next approaching giant.  That was the last I saw of her, turning my attention to the next threat.  To my left, Silvia was approaching the wall.

The men were struggling to get an arrow loaded, and the horse was struggling to pull on the slippery stone wall.  I ran over, grabbed the draw string and easily pulled it back.  Next I took and aimed it but by then, she had gotten too close.  With a quick adjustment, I fired it anyway and the arrow launched, screaming passed Silvia and hitting another woman in the shoulder. 

I lost sight of Silvia below the wall, and for a solid 2 minutes we all just held our breath, no man daring to look over the edge.  What happened next was completely unexpected.  

It happened so fast that my eyes almost didn’t catch it, but I know it happened.  Over the wall and quick as lighting, 9 leather whips with knots tied in them obliterated every human in a 25 foot section of the wall.  They were simply turned to a bloody mist before my eyes.
I was barely able to defend myself, swatting at one of the whips, although it was too thick to cut at all.  The vicious attack completely splintered the bow as well, showering everything in wood shards. 

This was something new I had not gone up against, but whatever it was. . . . It was deadly. 

As the leather tentacles were drug back over the edge of the wall, I knew I had to come up with a plan.  Avoidance would be the easiest, but at the same time, time was of the essence.  We had taken a solid chunk out of the sisterhood, but there were still more than enough to wipe us out.
Going back over the wall was an option and I would have the element of surprise but while I might kill Silvia, I would still be trapped between that wall and all the women closing in on the city.  

My thoughts were interrupted by the whips returning.  There were no more humans to take care of, and I was more or less expecting them this time.  The problem with this weapon was it was perfectly designed for fighting slayers.  The many tails were meant to give the wielder the best chance at hitting a very small target.

So basically, short of jumping completely clear, there was no avoiding it. .
Again I managed to block the attack, but this time I decided to try something else.  Instead of letting her pull it back, I grabbed one of the whips and began to pull.  A second later Silvia began to pull against me.  With both hands I knew I was likely stronger than her, but I was still holding my sword in my other hand and as such, I was drug slowly to the edge, even though I dug my feet in.

Making a split second decision, I put my sword away and grabbed the whip with both hands.  Immediately, she was unable to pull and I began to back up, until Silvia’s hand appeared above the edge of the wall holding the handle.

There was a pause as she put all of her weight into stopping me from pulling and it worked.  Following up, her other hand suddenly gripped the edge and in a swift movement, I felt her kick off the wall and her face appeared in front of me as she tried to climb over.  
It happened so fast that I couldn’t react as this massive being moved above me.  I was knocked back by her, but that wasn’t the major problem.  The wall couldn’t support her weight and began to collapse as she crossed over.  It crumbled in an avalanche of stones at dirt down on to the city below, burying it and me in rubble. 

It took me a second to get my bearings and I heard Silvia get up, and begin walking around. I climbed out of the ruins of the wall to see that another giantess was climbing through the wall.  I drew my sword and launched a good size prayer but she was too close and it didn't have enough time to grow.   

She used her own sword to block the attack.  It worked, but as was typical, it took a large chip out of her blade and knocked her off balance.  Normally made steel weapons human or giant, weren’t durable enough to hold up to prayers.  That is what made the three daughters capable of fighting on level ground with us.

Their swords were made of the same material as ours.
The woman caught herself and tried an attack of her own with a fast downward smash. I took the brunt of it, blocking overhead.  She followed up with the standard slayer fighting move of a kick while their sword pinned the slayer down, but I was expecting it.  

I wasn’t able to completely dodge it, but I took most of the force off of it which still resulted in being kicked through 3 buildings in a row.  Recovering quickly , I was just about to throw another prayer at her head, when I was hit by blunt pain from my left.

I was thrown 50 yards, before recovering and landing on my feet.  Looking up, I saw that Silvia had thrown a large chunk of debris at me.  Now her, the woman from a second ago, and another who had just entered through the hole were all standing above me. 

Silvia had another chunk of building in one hand, and her whip in the other.  The other woman still clutched her sword, and the final woman had a club.  We squared off with me standing in the middle of the street.  Silvia reared back, and hurled the piece at me, perfect in her aim.  
I easily punched through it, causing a cloud of dust, which must have been what the woman with the sword was planning on because as soon as she thought I couldn't see, she attempted to stomp on me. Unfortunately for her, I saw it, only moving far enough back to avoid getting trampled.
With her defenses down, my sword plunged its way down through the top of her foot. Pulling it back out, I had just enough time to dodge as she took a desperate swipe at me before she clutched her foot.  It was the perfect time to finish her off, but Silvia intervened.
Her arm raised, and she cracked her whip in my direction. I was barely able to scramble behind a crumbled brick wall to avoid being pulverized.  Still they struck the wall and disintegrated it, leaving me nowhere to hide.  I bolted from the rubble in her direction and was just about to counterstrike when a sharp, bowed, horizontal orange prayer ripped from my left.
It soared to its mark, the woman whose foot I had stabbed, clipping her left side.  She spun around in a fountain of blood and crashed into the wall, dead.

I looked in the direction it had come, to see Harken standing on a rooftop, axe drawn. As much as I disliked her uptight attitude . . . I had to admit that she looked like a proper slayer now.  Her uniform was caked with dirt and blood and her hair was a mess as well. Her scowl was no longer one of contempt for me, but the standard face of an awoken slayer. . . 

She didn’t waste any time, disappearing below the roof of the building.  I wasn’t really sure if she was going to help me or not.  What I did know is that didn’t sound like Giselle was battling slayers anymore.  I could still hear the screams of men, and the thunder of her footsteps, but at this point she may just be exterminating them. 

The woman whom harken had cut down must have been important to the woman with the club, because she flew into a rage. She narrowly missed me with a savage smash that send chunks of earth and buildings everywhere. Before I could gain my footing, she kicked, catching me in the chest and throwing me against and through the wall of a building across the street.

I knew immediately what was coming next and dove through the last part of the wall on my own just as the club obliterated the entire building.
“Hey!  Calm down!  Getting aggressive is how you make mistakes!” Silvia urged, putting her hand on the woman’s shoulder.

“I don't care!  I'm so sick of slayers even existing!” She cried, passionately as she stomped on another building and decimated one more with the club.
I sprinted down the street to flank them but suddenly I was dodging another club strike that hit right behind me, throwing me to the ground.  A second later, I was on my back, struggling to hold up a boot sole. We struggled back and forth but the fact is, without interference, this was a battle that slayers lost 95 percent of the time. 

Imagine it like trying to hold up someone your own size who has their entire body weight above you and on one foot. 

Inevitably, my arms gave out and a split second later I was smashed under her foot.  All of the unpleasant sensations of being crushed flooded in as she just stood on me for a moment fullweight, as if expecting me to somehow push her back up. 

Eventually she did step off of me, but as the light flooded back to me, I saw that her boot was still poised above me, and immediately I was the victim of a brutal stomp, followed by a savage twisting.  Again her foot rose.
I’m sure I looked ragged by now, as one gets when being hammered by indescribable weight.  Just from previous experience, I knew I could take at most, 3 more stomps before my body would cease to move and then I would be flattened.

Seeing her foot descend again, I made a desperate attempt to roll out of the way, and luckily her foot print wasn’t deep enough yet that I couldn’t get out.  I was able to narrowly avoid it, the air from beneath her foot blowing in my face. 
Looking up, I saw Silvia, the club lady, and a new , orange skinned, white haired giantess, standing above me.  For the first time today, I began to seriously doubt my chances of survival. . 

“Stand up, you scum.” Silvia commanded, coldly.
Wobbly, I stood, still brandishing my blade.  None of them were on their guard, so apparently I didn't look like I was capable of fighting anymore and maybe they were right.  My vision came and went, and I was finding it hard to stand up straight.

That being said, I couldn’t follow Silvia’s movement as one minute she was standing straight and tall, and the next she was bent at the waist.  The next was her open palm next to me before I was spitefully slapped and slammed into a wall before stumbling back to my knees in the center of the street with my arms at my side, sword in hand.

“Why don't you call her here?” Silvia asked, crouching over me, and lifting my chin with her finger. 

“Who?  Your mother?” I asked, with a bloody grin, even though right now I probably couldn’t back up that bravado.

I didn’t have the focus to even evade as Silvia’s palm lowered over my head and crushed me back into the dirt. She let the pressure rest on me for what felt like an eternity. I was pushed well past the point of being able to breathe.  Though I struggled as much as my worn out body would allow, I was still brought to the brink of passing out. 

I’ll admit. . . . In that moment I was a little curious as to where the death goddess was. . .  I mean, against Juliette. . . She was more than adamant about not only lending me her strength, but taking over my body entirely.  Now, I was getting pummeled, and she was nowhere to be found.

 Just as I was about to fade out, Silvia released the press, and her hand scrunched and formed a tight fist around my head, dragging me up from the dirt. My screams were muffled as her fingers pushed my shoulders down, effectively stretching my neck as she lifted me off of my feet, dangling me.

“You know who I'm talking about!” Silvia snapped, showing the first bit of anger I had seen from her. “We all felt it that night.  And everyone knows of your tendencies.” She finished, giving me a painful shake that might have snapped my neck of her grip wasn’t so firm. 

“Summon her here. . . NOW!” Silvia demanded, tossing me roughly to the ground, before wiping my blood from her palm. 

To her surprise, I was laughing.  Not my normal laugh, but an unstable laugh of a man creeping ever closer to death as he coughed up blood from having his head nearly squeezed off of his body. 

“You honestly don’t know what you're asking for. .” I laughed. “Look how many of your sisters are already dead!. . . I. . I haven't even begun to get started!” 

With that, using all my strength, I slowly struggled to stand, using my sword as a crutch.

Silvia looked like she was on the verge of tears now.  Her look told me the entire story.

(How could someone so small generate this much heartbreak and devastation?)

What she did next actually managed to surprise me. . . 

“GISELLE!” she hollered, as tears ran down her cheek through her glare of hatred.  

The rumble that has been a constant since Giselle had breached the wall was suddenly silent. . . Then footsteps heading in our direction, before Giselle appeared in the clear sky above me.

What I saw was troubling. . . 

Dangling from her fist by their uniforms, were the bodies of the male kingdom slayers, minus the one she had crushed on the outside of the city. Their bodies were in less than mint condition.

Giselle said nothing, as she just looked over the situation with an all encompassing scowl.  Silvia stood, and embraced her, burying her face in her shoulder and wrapping her arms around her.  I could hear her beginning to cry. Giselle really wasn't the touchy feely type, but she put up with this.
I was honestly so taken with the impending pounding that Giselle was planning, that I didn’t notice Harken was standing beside me, holding her axe in both hands.

“Can I. . . Help you?” I asked, trying to sound clever, but my voice was too ragged and weak to really convey any whit. 
“Just shut up!” She snapped.  

 
I glanced over at her.  Her eyes were glued on her fallen comrades and I couldn’t tell if it was rage or crushing despair she was feeling.
“I'm only doing this because Lady Lockwood made me promise I would.” She stated coldly. “If it came down to us or them. . . I promised I would save your life.”

“Huh. . . “ I said, thoughtfully.  “Big sis always looking out for me, I guess.” I said, before collapsed to my knees.

“Stand back up!  I can’t do this alone.” Harken urged, panic in her voice as she faced down the looming threat.

“Listen. . . Harken. . . “ I began, although it was becoming hard to even form a coherent thought by now.

“I’m going to need you to forgive me for whatever happens next. . . “ I mumbled before. . . . 

I asked for help.