It was hollow and shallow. She felt hollow and shallow.

The perfect triumph she imagined all these years were-

"Get down!"

In less than a second, her eyes caught the briefest glimpse of a black beam fired directly at them from deep within the army. Despite the heavy metallic burden the titan wore for protection, Eos quickly used her entire body to block the full force of the oncoming attack, but not without drawbacks. Both of them were sent flying as she heard the loud wail of pain from the ruthless beauty.

Landing on both her feet without worry, Eos held her damsel in distress in a very unladylike manner. Vy was wrapped in the titan's left arm by the waist, snuggly tucked but not too uncomfortably tight. Despite the size and heavy gait she let people assume of herself, Eos was actually a very nimble swordswoman. Keeping up the façade of a slow tank was something her mother had taught her; giving false impressions was just as important as having a good first impression, both towards one's enemies and allies.

Yidhra's avatar slowly dissolved into black mist as her time in this world had expired. Although she had shown a pained expression to whatever had hit her, she knew for a fact the resistances of said Level 90 summon were very close to her own, being able to withstand a barrage of spells. Playing the part it needed to as its final act, she wanted the higher powers in the horde army to think they had a chance, or else every one of them would have just fled.

Everything was playing out just as Viridi told her it would, though she hated admitting it.

Her ears suddenly pricked to attention. Two bodies stomped their way through the blood-soaked ground just within her hearing range, their armor and trinkets clattering rhythmically against their bodies. Turning her body so Vy was shielded from the oncoming attackers, Eos thought about whether or not the person who fired the black bolt at them was close enough to fire again.

Staring her down, a brawny orc charged at her with a large axe, swinging full force with both of his arms. "ARGGHHH!" He grunted in front of the titan, bringing down the sharp end of the black axe straight down center.

Putting up her best performance, she blocked the full force with her armguard. All she could feel from it was the sound of scraping metal and sparks flying, as the black axe skimmed off her armor and made a loud splash when it struck the puddle of blood underneath their feet.

Coordinating their attacks in sequence, just as Eos began her counter, she heard the heavy stomping of hooves from behind – a minotaur. Without looking back, she prioritized protecting Vy, switching from holding the princess at her waist to hugging her closely to her black armored chest. A pair of slashes breezed down her backside, leaving nothing but sparks and no visible damage to her or her armor.

Right in front of her, the orc had already wound up a horizontal strike to cleave off her head and the child she carried. Wanting to feign their attack as successful, Eos lightly kicked off the ground mid-block to pretend the orc was strong enough to send her flying. In a better position than before, her two attackers were right in front of her sight, all the while she kept her ears attentive for the individual who shot at them.

In a tiny voice, muffled by being tightly held against the black armor, Vy tried to clear the vertigo from her ears and the spinning in her mind, "A-Are you okay?! What happened?!"

Looking down at the princess's heterochromatic eyes, wide and alert from the adrenaline in her tiny body, Eos replied in her ever-calm voice, "Oh, you know, being shot at by a mage. Nothing my mother wouldn't want me to do. Are you okay?"

Never been this up close to an orc attack before, the axe-wielding maniac instilled fright into her heart at first glance. She was only still in one piece because the titan had used her body to block every attack sent their way, making sure she was out of harm's way first. After the initial shock of seeing the horrifyingly disfigured plant monsters weaned, she was sure Eos had a noble heart. The heroics of using one's own body as a shield for another was not something to be taken lightly. Appearances aside, Vy was sure she was in safe hands.

Landing on her feet again, she stood wobbly beside the massive knight in black armor, her mind still in the state of waking up from a lackadaisical dream in a faraway land full of fairytale endings. The adrenaline pumping through her aging heart snapped her out of the daydream, as she made a thorough check for any bodily injuries. "I'm unharmed."

In unison, one by one, demihumans of every race formed a circle around the duo, encircling them and leaving no room in sight for even a mouse to sneak through. Locked shoulder-to-shoulder and with so very little room to move, orcs of every size could be seen as far as Vy's short height would allow her. In the sky were harpies and other avian humanoids, patrolling around them like vultures looking out for scrapes to eat.

Among the crowd, several figures were pushing their way forward onto the scene. Vy could make out the crazed, hungry lustful look some of the demihumans eyed her with, while others glared at her with animalistic fury. Breaking through the masses, the axe-wielding orc she saw attack them earlier reappeared. Not versed in their culture and custom, she could not tell who was their chieftain, but taking a good guess, anyone reckless enough to attack a demigod was probably their leader.

Thankful she traded up in guardian angels, Eos had already assumed a defensive stance with Vy close by. Using a piece of cloth, she had made a hammock for the empty chalices, while still carefully holding onto the one still filling up. Despite the rampage the naked female avatar caused, Vy could not fully tell if their numbers had dwindled at all. The hour-long slaughter had barely dented the main fighting force of the horde, making Vy reconsider if jumping straight into combat was the smartest approach.

A gale of wind breezed through the dirty battlefield was the only sound heard by both parties. Completely cut off from any escape route, be it sky or land, Eos stood silent, continuing to assess every possible method of attack. Even if her older sister considered herself to be the sole genius among the Noble Sisters, Viridi was only a master of the macro of a battle. The ancient elf would be able to plan a fight from beginning to end, anticipating every move her opponent could and would make. However, the start had now long passed, and just like a chess match, the midgame was an important factor which decided who would win the end game. Right now, on the battlefield, where the tide could turn given enough bad moves, Eos was far superior than Viridi in the micro of a battle.

Gently grasping the young elf's hand, Eos put her plan into motion. '[Silent Magic - Mantle of the Fallen].'

Streaks of purple light immediately caught Vy's attention, quickly outlining the seams in her guardian's armor before the demigod put both her gauntlets around her helm.

Seeing Eos's face for the first time, the titan's beauty was completely different from her sister's heavenly glamor. Long black hair reaching the armor's waist flowed downward – whereas Viridi's allure was certainly divine in nature, Vy could not help but feel Eos's own came from another world altogether.

"I'll be back," Eos said. With a single smooth motion, she plopped the black helm down onto Vy's soft head. The enchantments took full effect, as the rest of her armor detached itself from her, stripping her of any protection and resized itself to fit into a smaller and more delicate body, fitting perfectly tightly around the small elf's body. Eos was left bare with nothing but plain undergarments covering her chest and loins.

From the slits in the black armor forced onto her, Vy viewed the titan's full body in all of its glory. Tightly worked muscles encapsulated Eos's entire frame, from the demigod's neck down to her calves. What should have been breasts were instead bulging, firm pectorals, accompanied by finely chiseled abs closely woven together. Vy's heart skipped a beat several times while she felt her cheeks flush with attention. Her mind stopped all of its functionality and was replaced with a metronome, swinging between if she should swoon over such handsome stature or be jealous because of her own flabby body. Eos's light olive tan seemed to have come from working her muscles in the early sun, a stark contrast to Viridi's own alabaster white.

She soon realized she was not the only one whose eyes were glued on Eos's surprising build.

Stretching her arms and legs, Eos let out a happy grin from the excitement she had stored up since leaving her home. With her top priority of protecting Vy out of the way, her armor would ensure no harm befell the fragile elf child while Eos had a little bit of fun with the New World natives. Putting away her mother's priceless sword long ago, she enjoyed the tingle from cracking her knuckle, loosening the tension in it. Exposed as much as a lady could be without being outright indecent, she was sure their attention would quickly switch to her in their simple minds. In truth, she wanted to use herself as bait for the magic caster who had shot them earlier, and making herself an easier target would surely be too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Barely taking a step forward, the front row of orcs kneeled impressively smoothly to reveal several rows of archers at the ready with their crossbows. A small tornado flicked about in her ears as the arrows quickly made contact against her body. The first arrow struck clean, hitting her upper chest as the wooden shaft made it halfway through her flesh; the second arrow was only able to sink its pointed tip, drawing not as much blood as the first; by the third one, it barely left a graze on her skin, unable to penetrate. The rest of the volley of arrows had no effect whatsoever on her.

The crowd of orcs reacted just as Eos would expect from seeing her strange biology at work. Slightly irritated from the surprise attack, she yanked the second arrow out while breaking the first in half, before pulling the rest out. Behind her, she knew her mother's armor had perfectly protected Vy, allowing Eos to continue her arrogant saunter without worry. Arrows were still being shot at her, yet none of them had the same effect as the first two, much less three. When the orcs finally realized their artillery no longer worked, those with axes and mauls were the first to swing at her.

Bringing down both of his great axes once again, Eos was face-to-face with the same minotaur who attacked earlier. Leaping in front of the crowd of orcs, the muscular man-bull swung at her with two vertical slashes, hoping to cleave her into three separate pieces. The minotaur's right axe made contact with her right arm, almost completely severing it from her body. The finely-sharpened cleaver-like blades nearly broke through both her bones – however, almost was not going to cut it against Eos's Outer Realm heritage. As her left forearm absorbed half the damage her right side did, she quickly countered with a swift kick dead-center on the minotaur's open chest.

Sending the hulking body of the bull flying back several feet, only stopped by the orcs behind the towering monster cushioning him. Eos continued her assault forward. While she did not possess the same ultra-fast healing Viridi or Toreii were blessed with, Eos was still proud of her own strengths in battle. If the first three or so attacks did not outright kill her, she would return the favor tenfold.

The first unfortunate orc closest to her wrath had his head explode into pieces of grey matter and skull fragments. Despite almost losing the limb, Eos's right hook delivered enough excessive force to punch through a fully grown orc with ease. Having shed half her weight in armor, Eos's trained footwork regained their nimble ferocity, easing herself into a forward elbow strike at the orc covered with his brethren's blood.

No, that's not quite accurate – she's always this fast irrespective of her armor; she only chose not to showcase her speed.

From the wayside, Vy watched with rapt attention at the brawler's unwillingness to go down or slow-up. Seeing Eos's change from steadfast titan to unyielding juggernaut with the flip of a switch consumed her immediate attention. Locked within the resized armor, it took several minutes before she noticed the onslaught of waylay attacks on her backside. As if it were a gentle breeze tickling her, the full might of axes, clubs, and mauls struck her back, yet she could feel nothing of their impact. Once again blessed by the sacred items of her godly patrons, Vy could not help but feel the need to heal her guardian's injuries. Having given up her only source of defense, the elf princess harbored guilt within her heart for being the main reason Eos was going half-naked to begin with.

Soaked in blood — the orcs' and hers — Eos only needed to land a single decisive blow to kill any of the demihumans. Although she was the only one among her sisters to carry a sword, she was more comfortable brawling to the death. When things got down and dirty, nothing felt better than letting her fist solve her problems. Despite what Viridi would openly say about her boorish ways, Eos found great enjoyment out of just beating the life out of everything standing in front of her. Rather than having any defensive countermeasures in her fighting style, she opted for an all-offensive blitz, allowing her biological make-up to be her only defense.

Her right hook was followed up immediately by a left hook, trailed by a series of jabs and uppercuts to mow down every orc in her vicinity. Having leaped right into the middle of a random orc battalion after kicking the minotaur, swords and spears stabbed deep into her body, but Eos never gave it the slightest mind. Regenerating ever so slowly from the spell she prepared earlier, Eos was still mindful to not let her bloody frenzy distract her from drawing out the magic caster.

Utilizing her godly strength and physique as well as a combination of all her limbs, a trail of bodies began littering the floor as she killed more and more orcs. Faster and faster each body dropped, but there was no end in sight for a single fighter against an army of several million. Eos's adaptive biology had already ensured she no longer took damage from physical attacks, giving her more reason to go even more ballistic. Punch after punch, kick after kick, body after body, more blood pooled onto the ground below and the experienced orbs were sent flying to where she safely left the princess.

Vy was unable to move from where she stood, or move any of her limbs, for that matter. Lifting her arms felt like it was being slept on by that gigantic tree she saw Viridi was taking care of, and she quickly gave up on trying. However, what shocked her the most was her inability to cast magic while locked in her new metal prison. As if she were under house arrest, it seemed the armor's only purpose was to shield her from the orcs surrounding her, but at the cost of her magic. With nothing to do but collect the orbs coming her way, Vy's heart started to panic when the blood on the ground started flowing toward where Eos had jumped.

Flowing like a torrent, the crimson blood sprouted tendrils not too dissimilar to what Yidhra's avatar used earlier. Every orc quickly ran away from the spot, giving her a good view of what was forming.

A giant congealed ball of blood formed right in front of her bleeding guardian, as it spread dozens of sentient tentacles from its body . A young man, barely of age and dressed in gaudy red robes, stood upon a solidified pillar of blood. Wearing a smirk of someone who always looked down on others, the unknown haemomancer crackled from the distance.

Eos stood by patiently, removing the metal blades and spear points broken off in her body, causing her wounds to open up and accelerating her blood loss. Calm as ever, she evaluated the change in opponent with careful attention, keeping her eyes on the caster rather than what he had summoned.

"Were you the one who shot at me earlier?" she openly asked.

"Oh? So you can talk properly. I thought those muscles were taking all the blood from your brain," the young man laughed in the face of a demigod. "As for being the one to shoot you, I'm afraid not. Blood is my specialty, my brutish lady — Archduke Izyaslav of Zyther, councilmen of the Horde Alliance."

Unamused and without hesitation, Eos had grabbed a headless corpse by her foot and tossed the lifeless body at the crimson pillar the blood mage stood on. Before it could reach him, a tendril had flattened itself into an ultra-thin blade and sliced the body cleanly in half. Guts and entrails splashed on the ground while all the blood continued to swirl into the archduke's blood sphere.

"That was incredibly rude! I was mid sent- HEY! Stop throwing bod-! HEY!"

Left and right, dead bodies were cut in half before it could reach her intended target. If she wanted, Eos could have just leapt and tackled the bloodmage onto the ground, but recklessly charging a mage would land her more than just a scathing lecture from her mother. With the sudden appearance of the overly-obnoxious blood sorcerer, the horde had begun their counter attack. Back to being surrounded by an orc circle as if she were the next fighter in a gulag, their smirks told Eos the haemomancer was well above their current level.

Feeling the inrush of blood on her feet, she soon found both her legs grasped by the bloody tendrils impeding her movement. The slow rattling of wooden wheels reached her ears as Eos watched the crowd part itself for their siege weapon: a ballista needing the full strength of six orcs to push forward, with a giant harpoon pointed directly at her. At almost twice her height in length, she guessed the rudimentary missile was meant for adolescent dragons.

Remaining as calm as ever, the smile she wore never faltered or changed as the ballista fired. Spewing blood and entrails from where the missile pierced her abdomen, the metal ripping through her muscles and stomach, blowing out her spine and backside. The sharp point lodged itself deeply in the ground behind her, leaving a gaping hole where it entered and exited. Yet, Eos did not even bother to tend to her wound, breaking free of the tentacles and strolling to where the ballista had stopped as if nothing had happened.

Despite all the damage she was taking and having shed most of her defensive stats to protect Vy, Eos still had her massive healthpool. As the only frontliner for the Noble Sisters, she had to survive everything – even compared to her older sister's greatest summon, a living piece of Gaia itself, she would win a war of attrition by a vast margin. Thanks to the spells she had prepared beforehand, Eos was under the guise of taking lethal damage. Having been born with the sole purpose of taking damage from a full party of DPS, Eos was proud to shoulder anything which could hurt any of her sisters — even if one of them deserved to be smacked from time to time.

As if an undead was walking among them, the circle of orcs around Eos slowly increased in area. With the orcs stepping back in caution, it was now only Eos and the annoying mage she had the displeasure of talking with. Tightly grabbing the bloody harpoon which pierced her, Eos contorted her biceps to increase the blood flow into them. Like she watched her mother do many times before, her body took the stance of an Olympian, ready to throw the javelin.

"Barbaric to the very end!" He screamed with a hateful leer.

Returning her smile with a disgusted look of his own, the blood sphere reformed into a protective barrier in front of its caster. Eos paid it no mind and focused wholeheartedly on her aim. Using more force and power than the machine shot her with, the missile launched from her hand at ear-bleeding speeds, ripping through the air.

~~~ SPLASH!

A small sonic boom propelled the surrounding orcs backwards as the sharp metal broke through every barrier of blood between the two combatants. Pierced in the exact same posture as she was, the body of the bloodmage quickly landed on the ground with a soft thud and in two pieces, causing all the blood he had gathered to lose all sentience. The ground went back to murky brown and red as the blood soaked the already-drenched dirt.

Eos cautiously walked to where her kill laid seemingly dead, still weary of the blood she was stepping on. Although she had meant to deal some damage to the bloodmage, Eos was not expecting to rip his body asunder, tearing his spine in half as they did to hers. The soft muttering from surprised faces around her spoke volumes about how unexpected an outcome it was, which meant the dead haemomancer was someone of importance in the horde army. Scanning through the crowd with each step to the body, she immediately stopped in her tracks when his experience orb did not appear.

"[Abyssal Mausoleum]!"

Underneath her feet, dozens of blood hands grabbed every part of her body, dragging her into their oceanic depths underneath. Eos was completely submerged and out of sight while her opponent slowly surfaced. The bloodmage slowly rose above the puddle of blood where he had originally died, smirking at the female giant who had fallen for his trap.

"If you don't drown, I'm sure the pressure will kill you," he taunted, watching the top of the titan's head submerge, leaving only a fizzle of air bubbles where she disappeared behind.

Every orc on standby watching anxiously and tensely at the bewitching vixen who was strong enough to put all of them to shame. As a race who took pride in their physical superiority, watching someone else outmuscle them put a large damper on their egos. If not for the bloodmage, every living orc would have found their skulls punched to pieces. A quiet mumbling spread among them over what had just occurred, and how so many were killed so quickly by the unknown voluptuous woman. Ultimately, all their attention came back to the armored child, still standing exactly where they left her.

Izyaslav leisurely dissolved the decoy body he used earlier, reabsorbing the blood into his clothes, making them shine even brighter. Behind him were his fellow council members, Uldric gingerly lending a shoulder to a bruised Asterion. Both warriors looked to where the haemomancer had sealed the demon, wondering if she could spring back to life at any moment. Wasting enough of his time on such a barbaric woman, the bloodmage walked back to where the elven child was, ready to confront who he assumed was the real mastermind behind the attack on their camp.

Without moving an inch from where the titan left her, half a dozen orcs were still trying to make any kind of headway into breaking the vantablack armor Vy now wore. Even at their full strength, Vy could barely notice any force from them. Watching the direction Eos had leaped away to, she found a gasp leaving her mouth when she saw the bloodmage, minotaur and orc chieftain return in the demigod's place.

"Come out of there, witch! Your monsters have been slain," exclaimed Izyaslav. Raising his hand, the blood tendrils on the ground formed sharp weapons meant to pierce through the joints of a full body armor.

Vy watched helplessly as two greatswords made entirely of blood swung down heavily, right where her shoulders met her chest, intent to rip Vy limb from limb. Despite the repeated strikes where the armor should be weakest, Vy felt… nothing. However, underneath her feet, each strike sent a shockwave down to the ground, causing her boots to sink lower and lower into bloody dirt.

Shaking the very ground and splashing brown blood into the air, the two greatswords were joined by a maul and a spear. Hovering just above the child's head, the hammer was twice her total size in the armor, as the blunt end swung back and landed dead center on the chest piece. Like water on sheet metal, the blood hammer gave out before Eos's armor did. Clicking his tongue in frustration, Izyaslav summoned more and more weapons from the blood of the fallen orcs. Swinging down with the intent to kill each time, every weapon lost their shape after connecting. Without a shadow of a doubt, there was no way any of them could break through.

"[Blood Sarcophagus]!"

Unamused and quickly losing his temper, Izyaslav dispersed all the weapons, instead going for a crushing motion. Closing the palm of his hand around Vy's shape, a blood sphere quickly concentrated on the armor and shrunk with crushing pressure inside. The vantablack color was smothered completely, as the red condensed tighter and tighter around the black suit. No longer wanting to separate user and armor, Izyaslav was going to finish what he started no matter what it took.

"Why won't you di- WAHHH!"

Uldric looked quickly to what had startled the bloodmage, as he watched a single hand jutting out of the blood-soaked ground. It grabbed onto the haemomancer's boot and he was swiftly yanked down into the puddle of blood. Both him and Asterion took a step back in precaution, not knowing what happened to the strange magic caster. Several minutes passed, and air bubbles continued to break the surface where Izyaslav disappeared… until the moment someone resurfaced, making them watch in horror.

Eos was drenched from head-to-toe in blood. The once silky-smooth black hair dripped frivolously with the blood of the thousands of victims the haemomancer had stockpiled. While she's slowly healing, heavy purple bruises still covered her entire body, and carrying the lifeless body of Izyaslav in her right hand, dragging him by the collar of his archduke outfit. His body was unharmed, but his neck was clearly lulling in the wrong direction.

Being the first person to ever survive the full force of their bloodmage's killer wrath left most of the orcs slowly backing away in fear. A dead council member, a powerful one at that, left a nasty impression in Uldric's mind. He was very thankful for the death of Izyaslav, but he simply traded the haemomancer for an even more terrifying monster. While still supporting Asterion, he backed away slowly, watching the same blue sphere escape from Izyaslav blood-red clothes as the rest of their fallen troops, confirming the bloodmage's death.

Naturally, with its caster dead, the ultra-dense blood sphere surrounding the black armor collapsed faster than smashed pudding. The royal elven princess was neck-deep in the impromptu crater from the earlier onslaught… still immobile and immaculate in the impenetrable fortress of godly metal. Although she had been sidelined, Vy still kept up her duty of keeping the chalice safe and collecting an unusually big glob of blue from the bloodmage into her brown goblet, finally finishing filling the rest of the needed experience points. She saw two other cups pulled forward, both also filled up to the brim, before disappearing into a black void.

Eos was the first to break the silence creeping across the battlefield, as she dropped the bloodmage's lifeless body onto the ground. "Was he someone important?" She asked no one in particular.

The dual-wielding minotaur answered her while still holding his bruised chest, "Not anymore… Who are you…?" Despite the glaring injuries on the muscular titan, to survive Izyaslav's blood prison so easily made his previous perception of what she could actually survive completely wrong.

Smiling from cheek to cheek, eager to be asked that very question, Eos enthusiastically answered, "I am Eos, second daughter of the Goddess Toreii, and the second eldest Noble Sister. I'm terribly sorry about your friends and families who have died. It's nothing personal; just doing what is being asked of me."

The crowd and council members heard no malice or arrogance in Eos's voice, as if she were merely stating facts, and it was up to them if they wanted to believe it or not.

It was now Uldric's turn to speak up, having seen many of his fellow orcs die in a single blow, "What exactly have you been ordered to do?" He observed she was merely indiscriminately killing them off with nonchalance, as she didn't specifically target important council members like how someone who truly cared about this war would.

"Hmm? To fill the chalices. Plain and simple," Eos replied, calm and straightforward.

To Asterion and Uldric, she was basically announcing she was here to collect souls. Thus far, the Chieftain was unable to deduce the reasoning for filling the chalices. He witnessed her strange ability to withstand brutal attacks with ease, regardless what they threw at her… until eventually, every attack ceased to have any effect it previously did. They originally believed there was a chance at victory when they got her to bleed – all of his kin knew bleeding meant weakness – however, his dead allies proved otherwise.

"And what happens to us after you fill these chalices?" Uldric asked, wary of subjugation under another monster.

"Well, to be honest, that's not really up to me. I'm just- Wait, hang on…" Eos said, pausing mid-sentence as she raised a hand to her ear to accept the incoming [Message]. "O' great older sister of mine, for what do I owe this pleasure? Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry I'm not living up to your expectations. Please accept my deepest and most humbling apology, dearest sister. Ehh? I'm DiSiNcLiNed tO aCqUiEsCe tO yOuR rEqUeSt."

Everyone watched in shocked silence when Eos held up a finger to ask for a moment of their time while she had this very public conversation. Here and there, some coughs could be heard from the crowd, attempting to draw her attention back, but the babbling titian was more immersed in her own personal affairs than the potential threats around her, implicitly implying, 'None of you matter.'

Uldric wondered if this would be the only time he would've had the chance to escape while he could.

"Sorry about that. New orders from the higher up: no witnesses," explained Eos. Reaching back into her inventory, she pulled out the silver vampiric blade she hid away earlier. Although not very long when compared to her towering size, [Crissaegrim] was not a sword to be taken lightly. Finally taking the situation seriously, she carefully took a stance while drawing back the blade, enjoying the quiet hum of metal on air.

Every orc within Eos's vicinity surrounded the minotaur and Chieftain, using their bodies to hide both of the council member's presence. It did not matter how many bodies were thrown at her, as eventually, Eos would cut down every last one. Knowing Viridi and her 'master plan', Nanami was more than likely stationed at the boundary of the large army, waiting for any deserters.

Almost on cue, every warrior charged at her while roaring mightily… before their bravery was soon silenced by several metallic rings.

Skinless bony fingers lightly tapped the skeletal throne the lich was sitting on. Through his blank, black eye sockets, the undead watched his fellow council member carefully. The tent they had used for their meeting was now completely empty of all beastmen, with only him and the plague doctor left. The black suit and the avian beak seemed to have sealed the entire world away from whomever was inside, but lately, the lich wondered if it was actually the other way around — if the suit was meant to seal him away from the world.

Never once seeing the man inside the suit, the lich wondered if there was even a man inside. Although he had conducted numerous experiments on dead bodies to increase his potency in necromancy, the doctor was one contender in the dark arts able to give him a run for his own money.

Having been undead for almost two centuries, Dyfiir Ouofer could summon skeletal warriors from the dead bodies of fallen humans and orcs alike. He considered his skills to be second-to-none among liches, but whatever the plague doctor was, it was not meant for living eyes to witness. For many years now, he considered the almost-silent creature to be a rival, challenging him to newer heights of undead abilities. Yet, even Dyfiir had respect for the undead he created. His sense of honor for his loyal creations was born from watching the willingness of the orc chieftain and his orc tribe. Despite having no real emotions whatsoever, he sought a sort of faux kinship with his fellow undead.

Still, what he witnessed from the plague doctor was a complete disregard for any sanctity of life, alive or undead. If a pyre was made for the fallen, Dyfiir would see the doctor gather any remaining body parts not burned afterwards. Even from those who needed medical attention, any amputated and discarded limb would be picked up immediately by him afterwards. No one had the faintest clue what or why he needed so many body parts for. Dyfiir had proof of use in the form of undead soldiers, but the doctor had somehow gathered and hidden almost an entire kingdom's worth of body parts by now. Where those severed limbs and dead bodies went was a mystery to all but one.

After seeing the voluptuous, unknown woman turn bodies into trees of blood and entrails, Dyfiir knew better than to stay with the orc army. He had sent a silent command to all of his undead to tunnel toward the mountain region where Dyfiir would hide out until after winter came and left. Everything he considered of magical value had already been transported out of the beastman's legion. The only reason he had not left yet was to try and uncover the final mystery: the plague doctor.

The black suit he wore, stained with mud and blood, tightly concealed the humanoid body underneath, never once showing any kind of skin or color. Today was the first time Dyfiir saw the doctor carry around a bag of medical supplies on his body. Rifling through it with steady hands, the leather gloves with dried blood stains on them pulled out a syringe with glowing green contents inside. Without the faintest clue what was contained within, the lich watched in silence, giving his fellow researcher his full attention.

Without saying any kind of last words, the unknown man departed their tent, leaving the skeletal undead to his own thoughts. Hearing the dangers of the ongoing battle outside, he watched the endless slaughter of the orcs through his connection with his undead soldiers. As there was nothing left for him to do, Dyfiir silently bid the demihumans farewell, as they had finally outlived their usefulness to him.

"[Teleportation]."

Uldric had made sure Asterion received the medical attention he needed. The chieftain paced back and forth on the dirt floor of the witch doctors' hut. Staying and fighting meant certain death for all of them. To think a monster from outside their uneasy alliance would be the one to needlessly slaughter them out of the blue – he had expected a betrayal from one of the demons or the undead mage, but a hulking mass of undying muscle was a much more immediate problem right now.

"Chief Uldric! Sir, I have urgent news!" An out of breath, brown orc clamored.

He recognized the young body as the son of one of his lieutenants, and beckoned the aging boy to continue.

"The plague doctor! He started moving towards the battle!"

Having lost several spies trying to uncover what the plague doctor was doing with the body parts he gathered, Uldric knew better than anyone to stay anymore. His lapse in judgement earlier was gone, as the turning point of this horde alliance had just broken. Speaking as quietly as he could, he gave the messenger his orders, "Gather our tribe and anyone you care for. We leave now."

Not too far away, where Eos stood slashing away at seven bodies at once and defending the still-immobile elven princess, the amount of dead bodies formed mini-walls on the ground. With no time to move their fallen out of the way, many orcs trampled on their own brethren in order to get within range of the bloody titan. Believing their sacrifice would eventually slow Eos down, a constant flow of warriors threw themselves at her with no regard for their life. Every single one would fall — directly by the vampiric blade or indirectly by the additional slashes it magically created.

Soon enough, Eos was standing on a mountain of slashed bodies with the newcomers struggling to climb up to reach her. Up on her perch, she could see another magic circle forming around a lone being in the distance, slowly making its way to her location. Below her, murmurs in orcish language spread quickly as everyone abandoned their efforts to attack her. Judging by the way the low-level orcs reacted, it was probably another council member on their way to her location.

Leaping from the pile of bodies, Eos splashed onto the bloody dirt ground where Vy was stuck neck-deep in the ground, still guarding the chalices. Many of the attacking orcs left her alone after seeing their bloodmage unable to make a dent. Speaking as calmly as ever, Eos asked, "How are you holding up, Princess Vy? We're already halfway done filling up the chalices."

Being stuck and unable to move any part of the armor, the elfling was limited in what she could see of the battlefield. All she could see from the slits directly in front of her was just bodies of orcs sliced and dead on the ground. Spending countless minutes watching the slaughter of orcs had since desensitized her to the violence surrounding her sheltered lifestyle. After a while, she decided when they got back, she would thank Viridi for being as diligent as she was to ease Vy into what must be done. There was subtleness in the ancient elf's actions and words. However, the brashness of Eos lacked any brakes to allow Vy's young mind to catch a breather.

Practicing her breathing since the killing started, Vy's nerves fought against her, but the child answered with the nobility she was brought up with, "I'm unharmed, Lady Eos, just… Didn't expect to witness so much death, is all… I'm sure Lady Viridi has this all planned out. Our victory is definitely assured."

As the sole Noble Sister who had to get down and dirty, Eos disliked how much Viridi was getting credited despite not even being the one to gather the experience for Vy herself. Daydreaming about more insults to throw her older sister's way, the silhouette of a limping black body slowly made it into her peripherals. Dressed as a plague doctor Eos heard her sister read to her about many times, the shambling clearly favored his right leg to the point she thought he'd lost part of his motor controls.

Horrifyingly, a giant knot formed on the unsightly suit's backside, straining the black body-covering suit to the point of bursting. Watching him with the due diligence of a protector, she stood between the strange man and the armor covering Vy. Unexpectedly, the man's right arm slowly melted off by its joint, black ooze slowly dribbling down the leather exterior. The limb dropped onto the ground, with Eos noticing the empty syringe the gloved hand was grasping.

Unable to walk anymore due to the increasing bloating of his own body, the plague doctor's knees buckled, falling face-down onto the ground. Like a mindless zombie, the remaining left arm weakly pulled his lifeless body towards them. It was not just the mysterious plague doctor which made Eos cautious, but also the surrounding crowd of orcs had dissipated upon the doctor's appearance. If the last council member was anything to judge with, there was probably some kind of gimmick going on with the plague doctor.

Swelling to the size of a small boulder, the black suit strained heavily to contain whatever was inside, while the black ooze from his missing arm increased to a mighty stream. Being mindful of the child in her care, Eos grabbed Vy and leaped away before the suit could pop like a balloon. Jumping in the direction they had started from, she landed with a heavy thud onto the ground. Freeing the young princess in her charge, Vy took a deep breath after Eos took back the helm of her mother's precious armor.

Little by little, the vantablack metal resized itself to fit the towering titan. From far away, where she left the decaying man, an animalistic screech rumbled through the air and the ground. A tiny and frightful gasp followed quickly after, as Eos looked to the distraught child slowly stepping away from the source. The same black ooze from earlier spread like wildfire, consuming the piles of bodies Eos had created. Limb by limb, orifice by orifice, bone by bone, every piece of meat began entangling themselves into a spherical ball.

Watching the cancerous mass swell from the bodies it consumed, Eos spoke with caution for the first time, "Princess Vy, listen to me carefully." Feeling the child's attention and eyes back onto her and away from the hideous creature birthing itself, she said, "Look for my sister; she will keep you safe."

Fearing she might have to use another [Courage of Achilles], the elven child bowed understandingly and left Eos as requested. Trusting Vy to take care of herself, Eos looked fearlessly at the discolored outer skin of the bloody mass. It continued its gestation, pulling in more and more bodies, feverishly consuming them for nutrients. Barely able to hold its own tissues together, globs of assimilated flesh constantly peeled off, only to be reeled back in by the black ooze, spraying blood everywhere.

Finally taking its intended form, the lumpy sphere Eos saw earlier turned into a horrendously undeveloped fetus. Instead of the soft wails of an actual baby, the abomination shrieked aloud into the sky, as if in pain from merely existing. The scream sent a shockwave through the air, propelling dust outward everywhere. Eos expected mangled skin dangling from the atrocity, but instead, it was just limbs pieced together into the shape of a giant fetus. Arms and legs from varying races —hands and feet, hooves and wings — the end result was more akin to a Frankenstein's monster. A pop erupted from behind the monster, as liquid tendrils burst from the fetus' back. It knew no boundary between friend or foe, as any fleeing demihumans was used to add body mass all the same, not showing any indication it's noticing Eos's gigantic presence.

Losing all her mobility again within the Uru armor, Eos's was mildly ticked off at the developing situation. Unable to quickly deny the monster any chance to form, all she could do was deal with it when it arrived here. One foot after another, the heavy thuds of her armor mixed with the screams of the orcs and the cries of the fetus. Quietly grumbling to herself about having to do all the heavy lifting, she was angrier at the fact of how long it was going to take to finish off the monster.

Unlike the two youngest Noble Sisters, Eos and Viridi were not DPS NPCs. Eos had the potential to have the highest DPS among them, yes, but only under very specific conditions. Unfortunately for her, no one within the low-level horde army did any substantial damage to her, only ever chipping off one HP at a time from her massive health pool. Clicking her tongue in annoyance and wondering how to hold the favor she had over Viridi's head, the titan was going to make sure to annoy her eldest sister as much as she could after all of this.

Finally back where she started, the fetus slowly turned the demigod. Every pair of eyes on the mismatched body turned to look at her. In synchrony, every mouth opened to speak at once.

We are [Legion]...

A/N: The final chapter regarding the New World stuff. After this it will be Thor's arc. Thank you for reading and all the feedback.