“You’re looking a little scared there, little mountain. Have you given up after a simple greeting?”
Eris’ melodic voice was absolutely terrifying for the dwarven general Asar.
The range of emotions he was going through on this day was nothing short of staggering.
The warnings he’d received from the king spoke of a demonic dragon with monstrous physical prowess and nightmarish magical abilities.
He had expected that creature to be leading the army, but instead it was this beautiful elven woman that more than tickled his fancy.
But after receiving a surprisingly powerful and unprovoked attack, he realized that this woman was much more than a pretty face.
“The bride of a monster is no less a monster.” Asar said defiantly.
He readied his axe and shield while making a harrowing war cry and leaping into the air.
Pretty or not, she was a threat that absolutely had to be neutralized.
The gem on Eris’ forehead changed to a beautiful purple color, and she fired a second beam from her temple.
After the first attack, Asar would not be caught off guard a second time, so he placed his shield in between himself and the blast.
As false god grade equipment, his shield came with a special effect that reduced damage from magical and physical attacks by as much as 60 percent.
Now that he was prepared, an attack from this elven woman would only tickle at most.
When the beam connected with his shield, the dwarf smiled when he realized that his defense had indeed not failed him, and he raised his mighty axe high above his head.
“Sorry, lass but you’re done!!”
BANG!!
Asar’s axe split the ground like a hot knife cutting through butter, and a cloud of dust burst up into the sky.
Asar noticed that his axe suddenly felt quite a bit heavier than it did a second ago.
When the dust finally cleared, he could see Eris standing atop his weapon, not a single speck of dirt on her black and gold dress and certainly no signs of damage.
She suddenly looked at Asar’s shield and smiled happily. “Oh great, it’s growing well!”
“What?”
On his left arm, the shield he was so proud of had received some surprising design additions.
There were now strange dark green plants growing through cracks in the bronze shield.
The plants grew and wrapped around the length of the shield, seemingly feeding off of whatever nutrients that they could.
“I wasn’t sure that it would work since a metal shield is not exactly organic, but it seems as though as long as there is a substantial amount of magic in an object, they can feed off of that too.”
Eris was quite pleased by the fact that she was able to learn this much about her own abilities.
She couldn’t wait to tell her husband all about this day, and show him the fruits of her labor and claim the prize of a full interrupted evening in his lap.
‘Maybe he will ravish me, and I’ll be able to have his child as well… Hehehehehe…’
“Gah! What is this you witch!?”
“Hm?”
Eris looked down at the shield and realized that the seeds were finally beginning to bear fruit.
The dark vines growing along the shield began to produce a red, watermelon-sized fruit.
However, these fruits split open halfway, and revealed a mouthful of pointed teeth that were, coincidentally, also made from bronze.
The plants wasted no time in trying to bite at the foolish dwarf closest to them, snapping their beautiful and shiny teeth like they were in desperate need of more nutrients.
Aras had recklessly tossed his shield to the side, and produced a fireball with his open hand.
Throwing it at the fruit, his vision only became wider when he realized that the plants only fed on the magic in the flames, and as a result grew bigger and gained the ability to breathe fire.
“Witches and their damn tricks!”
𝑜𝑣𝐞xt.𝗇t
“I’m not a witch though?”
“I can’t fucking tell!”
Ripping his axe out of the ground, he forced Eris to perform a backwards somersault with the utmost grace and fragility.
It would have been extremely captivating had Asar not been primarily focused on ending her life.
“All you know how to do is cast your cheap trickery and dance away! Further proof that the battlefield is no place for a woman!”
Eris’ beautiful face showed traces of a frown as if she found the dwarf’s words to be incredibly insulting.
“What a weak man you are. You blame your lack of ability on trickery and circumstance. I may do the least amount of fighting out of all of my family, but I believe I am much more suited for battle than you.”
“Silence!”
Asar stomped hard on the ground, and waves of jagged earth shot up from the dirt and headed directly towards the dark elf.
Eris reached up into her hair and broke off a piece of one of her antlers that immediately regenerated.
The piece of antler became a two meter tall bone white scythe that looked much more like a graceful tool for gardening than the weapon of a reaper.
‘I’m a bit rusty since it’s been such a long time, but training like Father-in-law’s never really goes away. ‘
She knew that she didn’t have to switch her method of combat, but something inside of her kept nagging her to.
She felt that her victory would be all the more satisfying if she beat this man at every conceivable level.
Twirling around her scythe, she waited for Asar’s attack to come within a close enough distance and cut it with perfect precision.
BOOOMM!
As she expected, the look on Asar’s face when she suddenly switched to weaponry was priceless and well worth the faint feeling of discomfort.
Raising his axe in a beckoning gesture, he taunted the dark elf one last time.
“Want to play a man’s game, do you lass? If it’s a lesson ye be wanting I’m more than happy to instruct!”
Eris raised her scythe like she would not shy away from the inevitable clash and the two of them lunged at each other with their weapons poised to strike.
Inwardly, Asar was sneering like he found all of this to be a big joke.
Eris may have been faster than him and in possession of some weird magic, but in a clash of physical strength he would reign supreme.
Elves aren’t known for their physical strength after all.
But in all honesty, Eris knew that already.
At the last second before their blade’s connected, she changed the trajectory of her weapon, and stabbed him directly in the thigh.
Asar’s eyes went wide as a terrible pain assailed his body and he let out an unflattering roar.
“AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! YOU BITCH!”
“I win~”
“FUCK Y-“
Before Asar knew what happened, Eris placed her slender hand over Asar’s bulbous face.
Suddenly, the dwarf felt like all of his strength was leaving his body at a drastically unfair rate.
His body began to desiccate, and all of his energy that was being used so poorly before was now being given to a much more deserving Eris.
After a full minute, the dark elf removed her hand and looked at the results of her handiwork.
Asar’s formerly healthy brown complexion was now a deathly grey, and his dark hair was now as white as snow.
While he was still alive… it would be rather difficult for anyone to call this state of his ‘living’.
Judging by the sound of his wheezing, it was very clear that he was having great difficulty even drawing breath into his lungs.
Eris removed her bony scythe from the leg of Asar, and the once great dwarven general fell over like an empty husk.
Not one for sentimental words, Eris simply raised her scythe and separated his head from his neck, signaling her victory.
“THE SIXTH EMPRESS IS VICTORIOUS!”
“SUCH POWER!”
“HER BATTLE WAS SO MOVING!”
Eris was startled when cheers erupted from all around her, and she scratched her cheek in embarrassment from the sudden attention.
She was so focused not her battle, she did not realize that a large part of her army had been watching her battle.
“GLORY TO THE SIXTH EMPRESS!”
“SING HER PRAISES LOUDLY FOR ALL TO HEAR!”
“IS HER POWER NOT TO BE CELEBRATED?!”
Cheers and desperate applause erupted around Eris, and even the soldiers who were still embroiled in their own battles took part.
Everyone was completely moved by the way she fought as well as her overwhelming victory, and soldier morale was higher than it had ever been.
Bekka and the newly evolved Lailah were also taking part, and seemed to be cheering even more loudly and obnoxiously than all the rest.
Eris looked towards the hill above the city where the rest of her sisters were no doubt waiting patiently and watching this entire spectacle with great interest.
With her usual cheerful smile, she held up her fingers in a V shaped victory salute as she basked in the celebration.
–
On the hill above, Valerie, Audrina, Lisa, and Lillian were sitting crosslegged on a blanket watching the battle.
“Did any of you know that she could do all of that?” Lillian asked.
“Nope.”
“No.”
“I think absorbing that energy made her butt a bit bigger.” Audrina could be seen squinting her eyes as if she was trying to make a surefire observation on her sister’s assets.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…What? I’m not really surprised by her ability, she was in Asmodeus’ army for a long time after all. I was always certain she wasn’t helpless.”
“Then should we maybe stop babying her so much?” Lisa proposed. “She can clearly take care of herself.”
The four of them looked down at their cheerful sister who was surrounded in an ocean of people who were all singing her praises.
The shy smile on her face and her clearly flustered appearance painted an adorable and gentle picture, a trademark of the women that they had all come to love so much.
Such a gentle and carefree smile should always be protected.
“No, I think she still needs our help.” Audrina said.
“Right? She’s such a gentle sweetie that I would feel terrible if anything were to happen to her.” Agreed Valerie.
“She’s been putting up with our overprotectiveness for this long, I’m sure she can handle a bit more.” Lisa added.
“If husband were here, he would say the same thing. ” Lillian confirmed.
The four of them nodded in unison, all of them reaching the same conclusion at once.
If Eris were here, she would sigh in defeat when she realized that all of her efforts to prove herself had been for naught.
But once she saw the amount of love that went into their thought process, she would no doubt resign herself to her fate with a wry smile.
It seemed like in this family at least, she was destined to always be seen as the innocent flower that no amount of harm could befall.
No matter how many men’s heads she cut off.