Chapter 29: The Tigress

Xuchang Throneroom

"Shu and Wu have renewed their alliance against us," said Rafaela, kneeling before a grimacing Cao Cao. Flanked by Galatea, he listened with engrossed attention to the scarred woman's report of Zhuge Liang's recent movements. "The battle at Yi Ling doesn't seem to have dampened our enemies' desire to unite against you. Isley and Luciela orchestrated its true purpose… to dramatically weaken the two Kingdoms in preparation for some new attack. But even I am not sure of the exact nature of this plan. The advantage in this is that your military superiority has been amplified even further. On the other hand, you should also realize that the Abyssal Ones have begun to move in earnest. The scales of power seem set to tip in their favour… especially if they manage to destroy Wu and Shu before you can."

She looked him in the eye. "You should also be aware of the large force of Awakened Beings moving towards Chang'an. I believe this new army's objective is to threaten the very heartland of Wei by seizing the Central Plains. As Zhuge Liang also hopes to acquire Wu Zhang for expeditions to the north, the defence of this strategic location will be indispensable to the safety of Luoyang and Xuchang."

"Indeed. My supremacy will no longer be uncontested if the Central Plains fall under the hands of the enemy… whether they be of Shu, Wu or Isley's minions." Cao Cao nodded. "Your intelligence has been of imperative importance. I never expected that the war with the Awakened Beings would be a simple matter. I will meditate on how to deal with this invasion in due course." He waved his hand, and Rafaela rose to depart. "You may retire."

He did not look at Galatea, although she could tell he was thinking of something to say to her. "So. Shu, Wu, Isley – the entire world now stands against me." His demonic eyes burned. "I applaud them. But if they are not for me… then they are against me."

Galatea smiled, laying a gentle hand upon his caped shoulder. "But I have chosen to stand by you. Is that not enough?"

"They shall kneel before you," murmured Cao Cao protectively, his intense voice quiet. "Those fools will lay their arms at your feet – or be slain by my blade." His gloved fingers returned her touch. "Come. We shall move to crush the Awakened Beings at Chang'an. They will not stand a chance against our might!"

*

After two days of hasty riding, the Wei Army had intercepted its foes and cornered them in the sacred ground of Chang'an, a city of unsurpassed prestige and influence in the Middle Kingdom.

The city had once been tainted by the presence of the traitor Dong Zhuo, who had relocated the capital to here from Luoyang after his defeat. Now, the filthy hooves and claws of slobbering, wild-maned beasts once again soiled it. These Awakened Beings towered over the spires of the ancient city, their claws and tentacles crushing into the stone and wood that held the megalopolis together. Within the city, Galatea fought desperately, her arms burning with exertion as she cut aside one Awakened Being, and another, and another. She tussled against them alongside several divisions of elite Wei Men-At-Arms, who wielded enormous greatswords of a similar size to her own Claymore. She had trained them specifically for a scenario such as this, and they had learned well. Even if they were to fall, Field Marshal Sima Yi would summon the Imperial Lancers at the rear lines, to strengthen the positions they had secured. For now, the Awakened Beings were on the disadvantage.

Nevertheless, there were still too many of them – at least, too many that congregated in one place. "Where do they get these numbers?" growled God-Eye, barely managing to roll away from a powerful swipe by an arachnid Awakened Being. There must be some means through which huge numbers of them can arrive en masse into China.

She leaped high into the air, glaring at a reptilian demon. She stabbed her sword into its skull, and it hissed as a Wei siege tower hurled a flaming boulder against its snout, crushing its skull inwards. She leaped off as it toppled to the ground, crushing itself against several ruined buildings.

Until we find the source of this plague, we're only treating the symptoms.

The vanguard was at last riding into the city, and the pandemonium intensified as three Awakened Beings moved to engage the Central Plains Guardians. Recruited from the Silk Road's trading routes, not all of the Guardians were of Han ethnicity. Some were even of albino complexion, their pale skin whiter still than even Galatea's. Still more had dark skin and wore unusual turbans around their heads; their faces largely hidden under swathes of elaborately arranged cloth. Cao Cao had told her that they were from Central Asia, from countries whose names were so long-winded that she'd already forgotten them. But their most fearsome attribute was their formidable tenacity, and their near-psychotic, trancelike temperament. Perhaps induced by drugs, intense meditation or hypnosis, they did not flinch even when a tentacle smashed them off their horses, nor did they scream in pain when the devilish claws pierced into their body. No, they continued fighting and struggling, their scimitars and curved polearms cutting into the Awakened Beings as effectively as at least a small team of silver-eyed Claymores. While dozens of them had already died, they had taken two of the monstrosities with them. That alone made their sacrifices worthy.

This was Wei's strength, Cao Cao's revolutionary philosophy… that all men of talent were worthy, regardless of their origin or of their standing.

Still, Galatea growled. The arachnid demon was beginning to annoy her. They were all beginning to annoy her. Her eyes flashing yellow for just one moment, she waved her hand almost dismissively, and it fell into several husks of warm flesh, violet gore spilling across the ground and seeping into the ancient drains that lined the streets. Sliding her sword back behind her, she slowly walked out of the city, passing by the troops who rushed in the opposite direction to secure the devastated city. She approached the rear advance guard that was waiting outside several yards beyond the fortifications. Cao Cao and Prince Cao Pi were amongst them, observing the battle attentively. Four hundred thousand of Wei's finest troops lay siege to the city, surrounding it and preventing any Awakened Being from escaping the wrath of the King. Those monsters would remember the sound of Wei's war boots unto death, even unto the afterlife… if there was such a thing.

Cao Cao's smile was pronounced as he observed his men advancing into the perimeters of Chang'an. "Well done, my tigress. The sight of your fighting form always inspires me."

"Indeed," agreed Cao Pi, his vampiric eyes flashing. "Keeping up with you will be a lot of fun."

"Your praise is expected and welcome," she said nonchalantly, striding up and standing beside him. "What secrets are you hiding for this battle, Master?"

"You will soon see. Concerning these Awakened Beings… their numbers are growing abnormally. I cannot ignore the possibility that there might be a specific location from which the beasts are emerging. Isley's doing, perhaps?"

"I find myself agreeing with your hypothesis. Although we cannot be certain of anything just yet." She glanced back at the city rampart suspiciously, tightening her grip on the reins of Cao Cao's horse. "Master. I sense… an enormous Yoki. I don't know why it escaped my synchronization. It may be an unusually powerful Awakened Being." I should have been able to detect it even if it was hiding it. If it can shroud itself even from me, then it must possess tremendous power –

Cao Cao dismounted. "Another stench of tainted chi?" Galatea nodded in foreboding. She stood in front of him instinctively, raising her sword.

"Tell your men to brace themselves," she said tersely.

Her warning could not have come earlier. Without warning, the entire city began to rumble, and a hundred tentacles shot into the sky, impaling an equivalent number of soldiers. Their blood showered onto shocked and panicking comrades as a tentacled platform slowly emerged from the ruins of Chang'an walls, towering several dozen feet in the air. On top of that grotesque platform from which emerged hundreds of revolting feelers was a striking, naked brunette, her eyes glinting infernally as she peered down upon the corpses of the Wei soldiers. Her curvaceous body encased the body of a wicked fiend, and the body that her human form reclined on revealed her true nature for all to see. "My, my, so many handsome young men to drink from and to feast on," she smiled, fiddling playfully with her nipples. "I must hold back and take my time."

"Another one of your feral friends?" asked Cao Cao icily.

Galatea did not reply. She looked up at the monster, doing her best to keep an impassive expression. This is not good, she thought in foreboding. This can only be Agatha… Fresh Blood Agatha. Was it her power that drew so many of her kind here? No, that can't be. She must have exploited the same method as the others. Some spell? A magical object? Or was it some sort of mystical gateway?

She could not dwell on her wild speculations as Agatha spoke again. "I have hidden in these lands for far too long. It's only natural that I long for the taste of human blood and flesh. Especially that handsome, regal man," she added, pointing at Cao Pi. A regiment of archers prepared to fire their arrows, but she yawned beguilingly, and several tentacles shot from her platform and smashed the projectiles aside. The cavalry advanced, but were scattered almost instantly as she swept them into the skies. Horses whinnied in dread and men shrieked as they were dashed against the rocky ground.

"Why are you in Chang'an?" questioned Galatea. She leaped upwards, her Yoki surging. "Was cowering in cities on the Continent not enough for you?"

"Why, I was enjoying my perpetual feast on human blood, of course," declared Agatha, her countless tentacles overpowering Galatea's Yoki persuasion and spearing her through. They bashed at her sadistically, almost breaking her limbs and ribs, and she fell back to the ground, gasping in trauma.

"Father! Let me teach this ingrate a lesson," offered Cao Pi, twirling his royal longsword, Havoc. "Kneel!" he growled, a bolt of hoarfrost shooting towards Agatha. Her eyes narrowed, and a multitude of appendages shot up before her, hardening into stiff, razor sharp poles. Cao Pi's icebolt fizzled uselessly against the wall of unnatural pikes.

"Son!" said Cao Cao, shaking his head. "It's useless. Your magick is not strong enough to defeat her yet."

"So… my little secret?" said the demon, spreading her hands and savouring another shower of blood that soaked her pale form. She had impaled another ten soldiers, and had lifted them above her crablike podium, determined to bleed them dry at her leisure. "It's the human bodies… such beauty, such delectable taste. I can't get enough."

Galatea attempted another charge, but Agatha's counterattack was too swift. Flung away, she landed, gritting her teeth. Blood poured from her shoulders. We'll need reinforcements if we're going to stand a chance of defeating her.

Cao Cao suddenly began to snicker quietly to himself, his arms by his side.

"Oh?" smiled Agatha sweetly. "What is so funny, handsome?"

"Ignorant shrew," he sneered contemptuously. "You have no idea, do you? You and your pitiful secrets, the secrets you hide within that fake body of yours. No. I have my own secret that I have been protecting. And this secret will end you before you cause me and this land any more nuisance."

"And what is that?" snapped Agatha indignantly. But she did not even have time to thrust her tentacles at him when two immensely powerful sources of Yoki abruptly radiated across Chang'an, encompassing the entirety of the rocky plains. The ground shook to its foundations. Galatea gasped, and Agatha suddenly looked fearful as Cao Cao quietly spoke four terrible words.

"Alicia. Beth. Kill her."

*

The small, frail-looking sisters were standing at the head of the army all this time, their petite bodies blocked from sight by hundreds of burly Men-At-Arms. But even they backed away as Beth wordlessly closed her eyes. She and her twin's black uniforms were totally different to that of the typical silver-eyed warrior, and were crucial to regulating the power that they shared. The Soul Link activated almost instantly, and Alicia stepped forward, her emotionless staring into those of an enraged but terrified Agatha. Her ebony suit contained her body and continued to enclose it as her form began to enlarge and mutate. Bladed appendages burst from her arms and settled into giant, scimitar-like weapons. Protective armour encircled and fused into her body as her blonde hair disappeared, giving way to a carapace of indestructible, human-controlled Awakened armour.

Shocked and bewildered, Galatea stared at Alicia and Beth. So this was the secret of the Organization, the covert weapon Cao Cao had obtained. But it was a terrible, horrific revelation. Even Rubel had admitted that they hid a dark secret within the mountains of Sutafu, and he had surely been referring to the Black Ones, those mindless soldiers whose individualities were stripped away by the Soul Link.

Why? Why had she not detected their Yoki? Why had her King not told her of their presence in China? Why had her Lord chosen to use these brainwashed girls… in exactly the same way the Organization would have done?

"I have, in the palm of my hand, the perfect soldier," he said suddenly, quietly. "Utterly obedient… unquestioning, and heedless of danger. This so-called Soul Link ensures that they possess nothing except their immense talent, the talent they were reared for… the talent to fight." His eyes glinted. "I have never seen such… beauty before."

"My Lord?" asked Galatea, unsure if she had heard correctly.

"It seems your Organization did achieve one thing. Despite these ladies being quite mindless, they are unspeakably potent, and extremely useful. I can now understand why Ermita admitted that you were not Number One, despite your considerable power."

"Do you understand the implications of what you're doing?" she asked him in astonishment, her voice rising. "You are using two young women who have lost the only thing that makes them human… their feelings, their heart. Didn't you claim that feelings were what made human life worthwhile?"

He stared at her, his demonic eyes suddenly flashing. "Sometimes… you cannot let your feelings imprison you."

To what depths had he sunk to win this war? "So. You kept this secret from me all this time," she said in despairing realization.

"Silence. Just watch," he smiled, his eyes rapt with fascination.

Her eyes a deathly white, Alicia lunged, her powerful, bestial legs propelling her towards Agatha, who attempted to a desperate defence. Her many tentacles were little use as Alicia cut them apart with little effort. The Awakened Claymore's angry claw sliced apart Agatha's naked body and her crab platform. She smoothly slinked away, ribbons of her flesh falling aside. I can defeat her if I don't let her cut into my true body.

Yet within seconds, the Dark One was slashing away madly at the folding shells, hewing apart her fake bodies one by one, until the core of the demon's life was revealed underneath the collapsed shell. She had been too swift, far too swift. "This… this had got to be some sick joke," gritted a vulnerable Agatha, turning to flee. "How… how could she destroy my fake bodies so easily?!" she screamed. She tried thrusting her remaining appendages at Alicia, in an attempt to crush her from behind. But Alicia's reflexes were exceptional, and she effortlessly evaded them. Agatha attempted to attack Beth, who was surrounded by a circle of elite soldiers, but Alicia would have none of it, and promptly sliced the towering demon in half, exposing yet more of her body shells.

"She cannot hide any longer," thundered Cao Cao. "Finish her."

Galatea could believe neither her eyes nor her ears. "Why … why are you using these poor women to fight?" she asked again, trembling, as if unable to accept his honest answer. It was as if her strength of character had become irrelevant.

"I have chosen to stand by you. Is that not enough?"

Apparently not. It's not enough for you. I'm not enough for you.

Alicia was an elemental force, propelling herself with phenomenal speed towards Agatha. With one slash of her right blade, the last and true body of Agatha was severed at the waist, and as she screamed her last moments, the Dark One completed the deed by dividing her into several more pieces, drinking in the blood that Agatha herself had so fetishized. She could not even enjoy the liberty of dying with her eyes closed. The face the Awakened Claymore remained expressionless as she spun her blades, eviscerating Agatha's remains until nothing save pulp remained.

As the Wei troops cheered, Beth opened her eyes, trembling and panting. The Soul Link was a strenuous connection to maintain, and Cao Cao understood that. He smiled in approval as Alicia began to slowly shrink, her Awakened form reverting to the form of a shaking young girl with little personality. He waved his hand outwards. "Well fought! The Awakened Beings were nothing to fear, and with the Black Ones, we cannot lose to any filthy demon! Let us return to Luoyang to recuperate, and celebrate our victory."

Galatea stared at her Lord in profound displeasure and frustration. Even if the Black Ones were the most powerful Claymores of their generation, the Organization did not deserve them. They should never have been abused so. Why was the King capable of such deeds? And why… why was he attempting to replace her? Fuming, she did not mince her words as turned to glare at him, aggravated by that self-satisfied, arrogant smirk of his. "Mengde," she reproached, addressing him by his courtesy name for the first time. "How dare you exploit these girls for our military agenda? They should be in a ward, not on the battlefield."

"They are Wei's future." Cao Cao's stern face maintained its composure, although he began to avoid her eyes. "Had I not prepared for their strength in this battle, Agatha would have surely outmatched us. You know that better than most. As you have witnessed personally, such power could not be disclosed until the time for battle came. That is the art of war."

"If you do not regret this, you are no better than the Organization. How could you have kept this a secret from me?" she insisted, her voice angrier than he had ever remembered.

"This was a highly secretive operation," he admitted, slightly taken aback by her aggression. "I did not want anyone to know of the Black Ones for many reasons. But now we can be confident in their strength to fight on the frontlines."

"You haven't explained why you didn't want me to know. Is it because you already knew you were doing something unforgivable?"

Cao Cao glared at her, his eyes burning. "And is it my concern if the Black Ones are the innocent little flowers that you make them out to be? What would be the use in telling you? You'd merely react with the same girlish frenzy as you are suffering from now."

"So all those promises of your honesty and of being true to me were a shameless lie," she seethed, her silver eyes glaring into his chestnut irises.

"Foolish lass. You are not much different from those you are denouncing," he snidely mocked, although his voice had wavered slightly. "We've won a great victory. You should be grateful. We're one step from creating the world I have planned for you."

"You wanted to create a new world for me, but if it's going to be of this callous, cynical design, then I want out."

He sneered. "Don't be an idiot, woman – "

Thwack.

Galatea's enraged slap clouted into his face, and his dark eyes widened as he reeled at her hysterical force. The prickly throbbing spread rapidly across his cheek, like a scorching star, and he stared at her in disbelief as she breathed heavily, her eyes shining with angry tears. Cries of outrage shot into the air as the troops glared at the bodyguard who had slapped the Imperial Chancellor. "I believed in you," whispered Galatea, staring at Cao Cao, completely oblivious to the soldiers' murderous stares. "I believed that you would be above what amounts to little more than abuse. Even you, you with all your cruelty, your ambition… how could you lie to me, Mengde?"

No one had ever spoken to him thus. Ever. He attempted to calm her, to soothe her infuriation. "Galatea – "

Further incensed by his backtalk, she slapped her King again, silencing him once more. Her biting words of reproach were final, absolute, and unrelenting.

"I hope you enjoy making love to your cushion tonight."

He stared at her, dumbstruck, as she turned on her heel and stalked away. She did not look back. She pushed her way past the silent, dark-faced soldiers around him, their almond eyes glaring at the blonde foreigner who had dared to insult and manhandle their King. Some of them were muttering in bewilderment, and they unsheathed their swords, awaiting his orders to behead her on the spot. But he waved them away absently, barely able to come to terms with what she had done. His gloved hand rubbed his cheek dazedly, unable to soothe away the sharp sting of her elegant palm, the fingers that usually held him so tenderly, so fondly.

He did not feel angry at all. Instead, a strange emotion, a rare sentiment that he had not felt for a long time – guilt – began to gradually swirl within his heart. Her distress had cut into his core, despite his utter certainty of the virtue in having accepted the services of the Black Ones.

"Father," observed Cao Pi dryly. "It seems that your carelessness has unlocked the tigress's cage."

Cao Cao nodded thoughtfully, his heart already aching. "My… carelessness?"

My tigress… have I truly wronged you?