Chapter 25: Brother Against Brother, Sister Against Sister
The two armies slammed into each other, and all talk of strategy and tactics evaporated into the wind.
Screams and roars of fury echoed all throughout the plaza as the battle line buckled and swayed. The two opposing factions clash with abandoned rage and raw destruction. Armors shattered, and shields broke, but the onslaught continued, driven by hatred for the other side.
On one side were the forces of light, protectors of all that were good and holy. These were the cells who remained true to their oaths in the service and protection of the trillions of inhabitants of this world. Their enemies were the corrupted and the damned, including those turncoats and oath-breakers who willingly gave themselves to the dark promises of the virus.
The world was never meant to witness such destruction between a brother against brother, sister against sister, student against teacher. It was unthinkable for immune cells, forged and bonded in the fires of war, to fight with each other. Even in cases when the immune system mistook some inhabitants of the world as hostiles, in a disorder known as an autoimmune disease, these protectors of the world would never attack their own. All this carnage was completely unthinkable only a few circadian cycles ago.
And yet, these cells fought and ended their own just as quickly as they hunted down antigens in the world.
A Killer T cell roared as he plunged his gladius into the chest of an infected fellow Killer T cell. The damned KT cell let out a shriek as she raised her rusted blade to counter, but her opponent decapitated her with his other blade. The dual-wielding KT cell ripped his first gladius free from the headless corpse just in time for an infected neutrophil to slam him down to the ground.
The KT cell fell, and the feral neutrophil proceeded to bury his fangs into his throat. The dual-wielding lymphocyte let out a gurgling scream as cytoplasm drenched out from his neck. He kicked and punched in desperation, but one last jerk of the feral neutrophil's head tore out a sizable chunk of his throat's membrane. He kicked and punched no more.
The infected neutrophil stood up and howled. Triumphant in his kill, but still unsatiated, he scanned his surroundings with his crimson tainted eyes, searching for another prey to sink his teeth.
A flying spear skewered him right straight to his shoulder, knocking him a few steps back. The neutrophil screamed in rage. He searched for the prey who threw the spear, but a fog of dust conjured up by the trampling of a thousand, thousand, boots soon covered his surroundings, darkening the battlefield.
Driven only with feral instincts, he grabbed the spear with his free hand and, within one painful motion, pulled it out from his shoulder. He growled as he held the ichor dripping spear up in the air before throwing it away.
His rotting ears perked up. He swerved his attention to his right as he heard the distinct shouts of the enemy, giving orders amidst the screams of the dying.
Prey.
His lips curled into a cruel snarl, revealing sharp, decaying teeth. He roared before charging blind into the thick of the dust fog. Rage and hunger drove him forward until, finally, he saw the silhouette of a group of cells with shields.
Without any care, he lunged at the rows of riot shields interlocked together to form a wall.
He crashed into the KT cell formation and was immediately cut down by one of the shield-bearers.
"Push!" a Killer T cell with the letters 'SGT' written on his cap barked from behind the formation. "Steady now, push!"
As one cohesive unit, the KT squad trudged forward, paving the way for other units at their back.
Like the damned neutrophil, dozens of the infected came, charging forward, slamming into their shield wall with wanton abandon. The Killer T cells on the second row lunged and slashed their blades at the incoming enemy, ending them in a cold and methodical fashion.
The squad buckled from the sheer pressure of the incoming tide of the lost, but they held their ground. To step back was forbidden, and soon a mountain of corpses began to form in front of them.
"Push!" yelled the KT sergeant amidst the deafening noise of battle. "Pu-"
The KT sergeant immediately raised his head and saw an infected Natural Killer cell coming down towards him. The corrupted huntress cell had leaped out from the mounds of her dead comrades, bypassing the shield wall altogether.
The KT sergeant raised his gladius to counter, but it was all too late. The infected NK cell fell on him fiercely, sending him down to the ground.
He snarled as he tried to fend off his opponent with his bare hands. The NK cell hissed as she swiped and sliced with her clawed fingers. He realized she no longer possessed any eyes but instead had empty eye sockets, the color of the abyss.
"Sergeant!" cried one of his squadmates.
For just a brief microsecond, he turned his gaze at a fellow KT cell beside him about to decapitate his attacker, only to see another NK coming down at his comrade.
Before a KT sergeant could shout a warning, the second NK fell on his squadmate, ending him with a swift slash with her blade.
"Yyyyooouuuu ssshhhooouuullldd nnnooottt llloookkk aaawwwaaayyyy!" hiss his eyeless attacker.
The KT sergeant never had a chance to reply as his attacker plunged her claws into his chest.
Unlike the feral neutrophil before her, the corrupted huntress cell wasted no time savoring her victory and instead proceeded to fight the KT shield bearers from their backs.
A KT cell from the second row turned to face her, blade and shield at hand. A companion also broke from the shield wall formation to face the other corrupted NK cell, and the two met them head-on.
A duel ensured. Blades met claws, shields met talons. The eyeless huntress laughed as she let out a fury of swipes at her opponent. Her other corrupted sister fought with the same glee and malice as hers.
Their two burly opponents fought hard, but soon it was clear they were severely outmatched. These lymphocytes fought with a rigid fighting style that almost made them open DNAs for the fallen huntresses to read. They were in total adherence to their day-to-day training, which made them too predictable.
Soon, the two corrupted huntresses got the upper hand. A few seconds later, the eyeless NK cell landed a fatal blow to her opponent's throat, while her sister managed to gouge off the eyes of her opponent.
Without checking if her prey was totally dead, the eyeless huntress lunged at the shield bearers, stabbing two of them in the back and opening a breach in the shield wall. At the same time, a new wave of the corrupted rushed in to overwhelm the remaining shield-bearers who were now in complete disarray.
One by one, they fell as scores of feral cells swarmed them, all craving to satiate their lust for carnage.
The corrupted NK cell let out a sharp cackle from the devastation she'd unleashed. Black cytoplasm oozed from her empty eye sockets, and she licked them off with her overly long tongue. The screams of the dying KT cells invigorated her to inflict more violence on their enemy.
The sounds of horns blared nearby, and the corrupted huntress turned her attention towards it.
Her lips curved into a wide grin.
She dashed towards the direction of the horns, her clawed hands opened wide in anticipation for another series of murders. Her fallen sister also sprinted beside her, not even waiting for other corrupted cells to join them.
This new group of prey would be theirs and theirs alone. They were huntresses who were bred to kill the antigen and the heretic without mercy, and even if they had fully turned their backs from the light, it does not change their core instincts as ruthless killers.
Only their targets have changed.
The eyeless NK charged in anticipation of the kill. Even when she couldn't see, she could still sense the aura of power emanating from her target.
She laughed. This time, her opponents were not the usual sloggers of the immune system. She'd finally found them, her former teachers, her handlers, her-
A blur of white and gray appeared beside the wretched huntress, slicing her into multiple pieces with a crackling power sword. The eyeless huntress still had her lips formed in a wide grin as her head fell off from her neck.
MC-7887 barely registered her kill before clashing with the other corrupted NK cell in a flurry of blades and claws. The second fallen huntress lasted for another five seconds until the silver-haired captain swung her blade into a wide-arcing slash, ripping her off in two.
MC-7887 stood a step back from her kills, readjusting her grip on her shimmering blade, waiting for the corpses of her slain foes to move. The rest of her guards passed her by as they met the charging horde of the infected now that they've satiated their hunger ravaging on the doomed KT shield-bearers.
As expected, the bodies of the two fallen huntresses began to convulse. A wretched creature with spindly legs crawled out from the sliced neck of the eyeless NK cell while another one burst out from the chest of her companion.
MC-7887 plunged her sword into one virus abomination while the other let out a high-pitched screech as it lunged for her face. She shifted her footing and then slashed her blade upward, catching the virus creature mid-flight, slicing it in two.
The silver-haired captain allowed herself to take in a deep breath to steady herself. Around her, clouds of dust swirled as the tides of battle shifted and swayed. The deafening sounds of cells screaming and dying reverberated across the battlefield. A rustic tang permeated in the air as the ground began to fill with a sea of corpses.
Still, it was too early to know for sure who was winning or not, the battle could go in any direction.
"MC-chan?" A voice called her out from behind.
The silver-haired captain turned and then offered a slight bow to her lady.
"Master," she started. "This sector is secured. Should we move to another breakpoint?"
Lady Macrophage didn't respond as she continued to stare at the dust cloud forming in front of them.
Even when MC-7887 fought the two fallen huntresses, she still kept a tab on her lady. However, she couldn't understand how the massive blade her master wielded was now dripping with crimson cytoplasm while her armor remained immaculately white.
"Shall we move to another breakpoint?" she repeated.
"I prefer we remain here," the elder phagocyte decided but didn't elaborate further.
A fog of dust and soot directly in front of them prevented the praetorian captain from looking deeper into the enemy line. Though a few stragglers managed to charge their way towards them, she'd noticed a sudden lull of a coordinated attack coming at them. The rest of the sectors were still clearly in the heat of battle.
MC-7887 tightened her grip on her blade once more. She turned back toward her fellow praetorian guards who were now mopping up the last surviving infected cells that descended upon the doomed KT shield-bearers.
She raised her blade. "Sisters! Rally to me! Protect our master!"
Immediately, the praetorian guards moved back to form a tight perimeter surrounding the elder phagocyte.
Behind them, the remaining Neutrophil and Killer T cell squads fall back as thousands of warriors in white stepped forward.
The macrophages, both in their maid uniform or monocyte armor, had finally committed themselves to do combat. They strode to line up with Lady Macrophage and her guards, forming a solid battle line many warriors deep.
In peacetime, these phagocytes would have been teachers, nurses, and maids for the rest of the cells in the world. They were loved and well respected for their selfless kindness. However, in battle, they were ruthless warriors who had perfected the art of killing elegantly.
"MC-chan, get ready," whispered Lady Macrophage. "My apprentice has finally arrived."
As if on cue, dark silhouettes could be seen coming out from the dust cloud upfront. A low rumbling blare of a horn announced the arrival of the enemy's elite. From the fog came out scores of warriors in olive-green armor, their faces hidden behind hoods and masks clearly crafted from the proteins of their victims. Those that didn't hide their faces revealed the virus abominations perched on top of their heads like spiked berets with their spindly legs digging deep into their temples.
The macrophages who had chosen damnation over the light finally revealed themselves. Like their loyalist counterparts, they wield the same oversized weapons of war, only theirs bear the signs of corruption and taint.
They trudged forward, not minding the scores of corpses under their boots. They trampled both their enemies and their allies, some even climbing the mound of the dead that had formed in the assault against the KT shield-bearers.
MC-7887 and the rest of her guards tensed. The real enemy had come to do battle that would ultimately decide the fate of the world. She made a quick glance at her master and saw Lady Macrophage seemingly relaxed and composed, with her signature smile plastered on her lips.
Finally, a macrophage in a hulking monocyte armor appeared, walking past the other phagocytes to stand in front of them.
The silver-haired captain clenched her teeth to steady her boiling anger.
The Archtraitor, at last, had come to show herself. Her face was pale and ashen, while her eyes glowed with furious amber. Gone was any semblance of beauty or elegance all macrophages were taught to possess.
Lady Em towered over her conspirators, clad in crimson plates of heavy armor. She was massive and bloated with corruption. A rusted chain with the cytoskulls of her fallen enemies dangled around her pauldron and belt. Black ichor dripped down her temple, coming out from the virus-creature perched on her head that seemed to pulse with power.
In her hand, she carried a massive reaper-scythe known as Plagueharvest.
"Master," said the Archtraitor as she bowed her head in genuine respect. Surprisingly, her voice remained unchanged despite her physical transformation. "It is good to see-"
A burst of white light flashed, and a shockwave of hot air boomed out from where the Archtraitor stood.
MC-7887 jaws fell in dumb surprise. Even with her trained senses, she failed to follow Lady Macrophage's sudden attack on her apprentice.
In front of her, two phagocytes dueled, reaper versus cleaver, thunder versus lightning.
The master had finally decided to lecture her apprentice.
Without saying a word, MC-7887 raised her power-sword and charged.
A/N:
Lady Macrophage has always been an enigmatic character to write. From when she called NK cell a 'wretched worm' to reverse-psychology her to attacking her apprentice before she could speak. In my initial draft, Lady Em and Lady Macrophage are supposed to exchange some dialogue before they duel. However, when writing the last part, I realize there's nothing for Lady Macrophage to talk to with her apprentice. That actually caught me off by surprise just like MC-7887. For now, she'll let her blade do all the talking.
Oh and I've commissioned additional artwork from my artist friend which I'll be posting in my Wattpad entry in a few a weeks time. I haven't updated my Wattpad entry since I wish to write more chapters here while waiting for more art commissions.
Btw, if you wish to make artworks for this fanfic, please don't hesitate to PM me. ^^
Lastly, thank you all for those who sent their messages regarding my PSA last chapter especially to my US readers. This wretched pandemic is still going strong, but I know we'll eventually defeat it. In the meantime, please stay safe, wash your hands for twenty seconds, and follow social distancing. Again, Covid19 IS NOT the same as the flu. It's worse than the flu. Flu is just a platelet compared to Covid19. Please take this virus seriously.
Lastly, lastly, a HUUUUGE shout-out to all front-liners, nurses, doctors, police, soldiers, and everyone else doing their job to fight off this pandemic. You are all our modern-day heroes. Thank you for your service!
Revision History:
- Originally published on Apr. 4, 2020
