They walked by the piles of corpses, human, goblin and hobgoblin alike. The Ephesh bodies were scraped up and cleared by the logistics crew. Amelia probably could've gone for a few bites, but decided it was for the best. She already had a set of backups stored; more would be too excessive. But the thoughts that plagued her mind were of resilience.
She'd grown up in a home with a roof over her head and hot dinners on occasion, but by the time she reached ten, it was clear her parents had stopped caring. She learned to cook, clean, and take care of herself early on. Plus, she was fortunate enough to have a fun uncle who took her skateboarding, got in some martial arts and let her watch horror movies. She'd had some grit, enough to smile and nod at criminals who stunk their way into her customer service jobs. More than enough for bitches and bastards who gave the weather and the news, and even turned the other cheek when a milkshake was thrown over her because the drink's guy was incompetent.
"Akatsuki," she whispered, "The pipe."
She rolled her eyes but understood there was at least something, or so Amelia hoped when she handed it over with some herbs already stuffed inside.
Amelia lit it with the shitty pyromancy to light a candle from her thumb and took a whiff of the oaky scent. Shut her eyes and enjoyed the textures that reminded her of home.
Akatsuki placed a hand on Amelia's shoulder for her to stop, "Sabreman," she said.
He turned and stopped also.
"What's going on with you?"
"I don't know, maybe my womb was just hijacked by a fucking fairy," she snapped and regretted it when Akatsuki's eyes darkened, "Sorry... something feels wrong. I shouldn't be over it already. I shouldn't be able to pick myself up and want to fight after that. It's not precisely rape but feels... tantamount to it."
Akatsuki shook her head, "Carbyne, much as I can understand, we must insist you focus on the mission until we are done here."
Transfiguration, she placed a hand on Akatsuki's that still rested on her shoulder. The woman was warm, comforting despite her prickly surface. Suki's eyes went from their hands to Ammy's own.
She spun around after letting go, "I shall do some reconnaissance, Sabreman, watch her."
"Certainly," he said quietly.
They stood in silence until Amelia finished smoking the mixture stuffed into the pipe and put it in her bag. She glanced over at Sabreman, who kept his eyes on their surroundings.
"So, after seeing the fairy, what do you believe?"
"I will wait for confirmation of either belief, but I still choose to remain of the opinion that all things can be explained through the scientific method."
She shrugged and squatted down, "Believe what you want then."
"It is quite indecent," he said, "What has happened to you without your consent."
"It has its perks," she tapped her fingers to distract herself with the echoing sounds, "I chose to accept it."
"Like what?"
"Never mind, I'd just distract myself with sex and that's no good for me right now," she folded her arms, "I've got a long list of questions for Tolmyr."
"I'd imagine so," Sabreman said, "That man is too much of a believer to be in his position."
"Sabreman," she said, "With a woman like Akatsuki around, you never once tried to make a move?"
"That is none of your business, nor anyone else's."
"Just making conversation, indulge me."
"Don't misunderstand, she's probably a great woman in bed. But I'm not looking for her comfort in any way, shape or form. So it's pointless."
She looked at him rather fondly, "I see... you're after a relationship?"
"Are you offering?"
"Maybe."
"You're supposed to laugh at that or say no."
She blinked, "You made a joke?"
"Come off it, woman."
"The answer is yes, just not now."
He opened his mouth to speak, but clamped his gob shut instead.
Amelia laughed, "Thank you, I feel a little bit better now," and continued laughing, "Oh, and I'm serious, I want to make you a man in my harem."
Transfiguration, the resilience, respawn and endless pleasure... not once after sex has she yet felt any tiredness. She flexed her arm, and I keep getting stronger and stronger. Now her womb was capable of bringing fairies back to life.
"We go around to the right and leave explosives in the chain of tents; we should also kidnap one or two of the cultists for intelligence." Akatsuki said, "Amelia, I want you to handle that. Kill anyone that gets in your way once you've selected a man and a woman to subdue." Akatsuki said, "Are you listening?"
"Yes," Amelia replied, "Point me in the direction and I'll get it done."
She nodded curtly, "Sabreman, do you have stuff that'll sit and go off when something else hits?"
"Piss easy," he said.
Akatsuki squatted down and cupped Amelia's cheek, "I'm sorry this is happening all at once, but unfortunately, you're stuck with me, Carbyne." She leaned in and kissed her forehead, "It's time to work. I'll give you a treat once we're done for the day. I promise you that."
Amelia felt the ignition of desire in her sickly stomach, her lips pressed into a line at the strange feelings, "Anything I want?"
"Yes."
She shoved her feelings down and wiped her eyes in case there were tears. The confusion from her lack of reaction or shock mixed with the drive to push forward was a mess of knots and wires in her head. But she could press on, which all but confirmed something had changed. Akatsuki offered a hand, and she took it and stood up. Her dark eyes were still possessive, like she wanted something. But this woman was reliable and supportive in her own way.
The three paced into the next cavern, which opened to a wide space after a few minutes of walking. The lanterns dulled in comparison to the glowing crystals in the walls. The question of what it was hung more heavily in the air, but nobody knew, nobody wanted to know. They passed more tools lodged in the walls, others broken and a few splatters of dried blood. She squatted down to see if her sense of smell had improved and took a sniff. Human blood, certainly human blood. She rejoined the other two who'd slowed to allow her to do her bloodhound business and returned to the regular pace with them.
The next area was alive with drums and shrill singing as if they had no idea that invaders had already breached the shaft and taken many of their number. They sneaked around the side to the right. Sabreman set to his sapper business of setting explosives while Akatsuki kept sharp eyes. Amelia could already smell the semen and sweat from the rutting worshippers who partied around a massive Ephesh. This one was shaped like the demon that had skewered her with the head of a lizard. Six arms, each with blades held except for the foremost two, which were furred human-shaped hands, if a carapace could have fur.
These Ephesh were unique, carved and textured well in their shells, and she wondered if Ephem had taken the time to carve each of them, her precious revolting children. But what Amelia couldn't wrap her head around was the fact that this one had a human penis that these cultist women took turns worshipping. Some of the men, too. The thing would kill on penetration. One of the gangbangs in the tents by them ended. Amelia had decided she'd snatch all four of these cultists once the traps were all set.
Akatsuki raised an arm, "Any further and we're caught, the Epesh is behaving strangely."
Ammy glanced between the tents to see that it had begun to remove people from between its giant legs. It raised its head to look down its nose to the right and left.
Amelia spawned ethereal hands just under the tent and made the snatches, but missed a few mouths. Screams loosed before she covered them. Only a few of the other orgies paused before they continued. She breathed a sigh of relief. The shitty singing was an extraordinary cover. She dragged them across the floor without a care for their injury as the group crept out of the party people area. Sabreman casually tossed a small black sphere back as they walked away, which exploded as they had left the cavern on the way back toward the sacrificial chamber which where Captain Gideon scowled.
"You three are insane," he said, "Good work."
"What happened?"
"We came across some imp corpses, chewed on by Ephesh," he said, "If demons didn't make them, who did? Well, that's the obvious logic, but Ephem is known for her trickster nonsense, so she was willing to sacrifice imps to piss us on the wrong trail. Which now means we need to speed up our timeline."
"This is all conjecture," Sabreman, ever the 'reasonable man,' retorted.
Captain Gideon stared indifferently, "This is why you're simply Nullshade Support Eastal and not Sergeant any longer."
Sabreman cocked his head to the side.
"I'm sure the papacy will enjoy putting them to the question," he snapped his fingers and soldiers marched over, "Take them to the questioners."
"Sir," they said and took the cultist men and women from Amelia's spell so she could allow them to dissipate.
Gideon sat on a rock, "First, their cult, from what we've identified of their scrawl, believes Ephem will open a portal to 'the true world' in her dungeons."
Sabreman scowled, "Nonsense, that's just an excuse for them to die."
"Excuse me, Captain," Amelia said, "I'd like to hear them talk, to see if they really believe this."
"You have your mission first," he said, "Speak to one of them once you're done if you manage to keep one alive."
"Sir."
Akatsuki cleared her throat, "We should go again, and Captain, a favour."
"Burn the bodies, block up the shaft so it only has one way to go," he waved her away, "I'm Lily-May's student despite her being years younger."
Akatsuki bared her teeth with a hiss, then marched away.
Amelia and Sabreman followed after.
"This time, Sabreman, I want traps in the cavern. Amelia will throw an empowered mace in and hit that stupid ephesh in his penis to get his attention."