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Chapter 6: Cautionary Plans
A Beowulf, a Grimm resembling a black werewolf with bits of bone for armor, growled in hunger upon its latest prey. He and many of its brethren were attracted to this source for miles, yet unable to get close by some invisible force. Now the source itself comes out from its protection with only four others of its kin. They were strange as far as the mental capacity of the Grimm went. These beings radiated such negativity on a scale unprecedented like they were born into it. In the end, it didn't matter for they were alive and to the Grimm all that was alive and human must die. So it went for pounce only to have the Beowulf's throat caught in an iron grip of Allisara.
The Beowolf's eyes glared down at the one that has attracted them all due to her heavy negative aura. But its own muderous intent and ferocity for all sentient life paled from that crimson eye she held. It was overwhelming in the sheer violence glowing in the eye. In its meager existence, the Grimm felt what was closest to fear.
"What a strange creature." Allisara mused, her mismatched eyes studying the Beowulf unable to overcome her strength. "You're not even alive. Where do you even come from?"
A twitch of her fingers and the Beowulf's neck snapped to limp. As always when she killed these creatures, they did not leave a corpse of flesh but rather their bodies turned to dust into the wind. They were not even made of flesh at all to that point. The Grimm were just solid masses morphed into bloodthirsty monsters some reminiscent to those in her world. Their red eyes were quite a curious topic to Allisara as they did not have any gleam of character found even in animals. It was like they were just masses holding an destructive intent on sentient life, ignoring animals over her own soldiers and slaves.
Troublesome really if that was the case. While Allisara was free to request reinforcements from Naggarond, but slaves were a different story. Slaves were important to the Druchii in expanding the settlement and other menial tasks that were not related to war. Being banished from Ulthuan had left her people in such a state, but at least every Dark Elf knew how to fight in war. Unfortunately, as they were all slaves always in constant misery and despair that was their lives they were a hot beacon to these black masses of animals. Allisara did not want to report back for further contingent of more slaves.
From what she knew about these creatures of Grimm, Allisara can deduce that they were not a natural cause, at least not in terms with the nature of the world. Besides their intent to kill sentient life, Allisara sensed they held a hint of magic that was dark in nature. Not necessarily malicious like Chaos, but just plainly dark. It was a faint trace, but enough to bring about these creatures in such variety and great numbers. That led Allisara to her theory that the Grimm were the product of this world's own gods, but it further complexed of why they are influence if the world's Winds of Magic were so undisturbed.
A growl brought Allisara from her internal debate to the real world. She was a few kilometers from her settlement, now named Khaine's Arrival, with some of her close 'comrades' such as Cersei and Seras. There was quite a lot of forest as if the land were untouched by sentient hands, but it was teeming with these dark creatures. Out of her gathered party, Allisara herself seemed to attract the most attention from the Grimm.
It was why when the Witch Princess looked in front of her to find a horde of Grimm. They were not just these werewolf-like Grimm, but also those that took the forms of gorillas, griffons, and even giant scorpions. A normal human would have felt terrified, and any of her soldiers would hide down their fear of such an enemy. Allisara felt no such fear as her mind succumbed to excitement.
"There are more of you." Ruby stated, hefting her halberd in a two-handed grip. "Good. Come!"
Her right eye glowed as if blood lit on fire, expressing the sheer violence she held. She grinned so wide to show how bloodthirsty Allisara truly felt in that moment. It was the only warning before the Druchii sprang forth and in one swing cleaved through three lines of the horde of Grimm. Even as she enjoyed the pleasure of the flesh, it still was second to what Allisara was at her core; that she was born for war. The battlefield was where Allisara truly belonged and where she surrounded herself to a lust only brought on in a fight. Whether it is a one-on-one duel, a contest of magical might, or against a horde Allisara never backed down because war itself was her high!
Allisara continued to swing her halberd around without care, at speeds brought on strength unnatural to her lithe form, and a dexterity no human can match. The air around her filled with the scattering ash of dead Grimm she slew by the second. She twisted her weapon to turn herself around similar to a dance, giving her breathing room to move. A gorilla Grimm, a Beringel, made the leap to smash fists down on the Druchii, but that would be a problem when Ruby swung her halberd upward and slice cleanly through the Beringel's head. She kept the momentum of the swing and twisted around to swing down the halberd on an unfortunate Beowulf trying to sneak up on her.
The Witch Princess suddenly raised her black iron weapon above herself to block the pincer of a scorpion Grimm. The shaft of her weapon caught at the thick bone plating and just stopped the golden piercer itself inches from her face. Despite how near death Allisara seemed, she had no expression of surprise of her face. Only that of unrelenting joy of this fight. With a grunt of effort, she parried the stinger to the side and with one hand grabbed the tail to plant it deep in the ground to trap it with the further use of the Chillwinds.
The Grimm gave a cry of outrage unable to pry its tail from the ground. and tried to clip the Druchii with one of its giant pincers. Allisara sidestepped the limb at the same time cutting through more Grimm that tried to attack her and slammed down her halberd upon joint of the Grimm's claw arm. The bone armor of the Grimm shattered like the crack of a cannon and the soft 'flesh' underneath, thus severing the claw from the Grimm. The creature in question gave another cry, this one displaying the pain of losing a limb as it turned to that familiar ash.
"So you can feel pain?" Allisara said, a gaze of curiosity settling on her face for just a moment. "How interesting."
She moved to make a final blow, but before she can make the swing something battered and bounced off her back. Fortunately, her plated armor and new 'soul shield' granted to her by this world soaked whatever damage, but Allisara growled from the blunt pain. The Druchii princess instantly righted herself and snapped her head back to whatever attacked. However, she didn't leave the Death Stalker unattended and finished it off summoning blades of dark magic to impale its body all over. It died giving a whimper as its last sounds from the magic infecting its body before it dissolved into scattering black ash. Her eyes settled on a spinning black blur bouncing off a tree and unfolded into another Grimm creature.
Allisara's anger faltered slightly to surprise as she raised a brow at the new Grimm's appearance. The Grimm basically looked like a boar, an animal as she can only recall as being a delicacy to humans. It was almost humorous in Allisara's mind: pigs eating other pigs. Humans are just like any animals to the Druchii - ready for slaughter. However, Allisara did not ignore how thickly armored in its bone plating and the sharp tusks it possessed ready to rip open guts.
"Well then, show me what else you've got." Allisara offered, gesturing with a taunt.
The Grimm boar, a Boarbatusk to be exact, gave a roar in response. To Allisara's further surprise, the Grimm curled itself into a ball and was somehow spinning at high speeds. Once it reached its optimal speed, the Grimm made its charge to Allisara in its mission to shred her apart as if it were a living buzz saw. The Witch Princess watched with narrow eyes at the incoming saw that previously knocked on her back. Instead of using her halberd in some sort of defensive maneuver, Allisara merely raised her hand forward.
The ear splitting sound of grinding metal assaulted the forest as the Boarbatusk in buzz saw mode tried and failed to shred the armor covering Allisara's hand. Black steel forged in Naggarond is one of the most durable metals in the world and hers was enchanted with dark magics of her own design. Her raw strength outclassed the power the Boarbatusk had in its spin. Before the Grimm could make a retreat, her hand snapped to grab one of its tusk, stopping its spin completely. She grabbed the other with her remaining hand, unperturbed by the boar Grimm's wails. Then, Allisara started to pull, relishing the sound of tearing flesh, or whatever the creatures were made of. With a resounding cry, Allisara pulled her arms and ripped in half vertically down its body into equal halves. Allisara was disappointed that there was no guts or blood and the halves in her hands simply disintegrated into black ash.
Allisara clicked her tongue. "Disappointing."
She looked ahead, her right eye still glowing in maniacal bloodlust while her left black eye carried a cold gleam in its dark pool of a pupil. The area was covered in uprooted trees and craters caused by the force of her swings, yet still more came from the literal woodwork of the forest. They came in the forms of all animals brought to their most bestial appearance, like giant bears and snarling lizards. Allisara was all prepared to slaughter the opponents before her to fulfill her need of battle.
Her fight would be stolen as an inferno of fire burned over their ranks, separating Allisara and the Grimm with a wall of fire. From the side arrived the fire sorceress Cissovi with her staff pointed forth while her remaining hand held her blade in the throat of an Alpha Beowolf. A few paces behind her was the giant bear Grimm, an Ursa, charred to a crisp. Allisara gave a scowl of irritation at Cissovi of all people having stolen her kills, but resisted the urge to kill her for it. She was too useful to kill... and one of the few people she can call a friend.
"That was my kill." Allisara growled under her breath.
Whether Cissovi heard her commander, she made no sign of it. It was useless in the first place as her face was one of euphoria and adoration, her purple eyes reflecting the raging flames she loved so much. An insane cackle threatened to escape her trembling lips, relishing the flames eating at the world before her.
"And she's lost it." Allisara stated, and turned her attention to the right where a whole other scuffle with the Grimm was taking place.
It was none other than her best friend and fuck buddy Seras fighting off Grimm with the smallest twice their size. She was scantily clad as usual with only an armored purple bra and loincloth, and with a wear as such would have concluded her death by her body ripped apart. Yet despite the relentless and ravenous of the Grimm creatures trying to end her, Seras danced through the swiping claws while having her twin daggers coated in an acidic poison slash through their bodies. Allisara for a moment was almost mesmerized with Seras in her element, her blue eyes focused like enchanted gems and her long blonde hair trailing behind her like a flag of gold.
Times like this and before, Allisara considered her Death Hag more than a friend... and something to treasure besides riches and glory. Something to love perhaps.
Thoughts for much later. Killing time was always the priority. They were still many more in front of Allisara just beyond the fires solely attracted to her for some odd reason. At this point, Allisara decided to end the fun here. She stretched out her right hand and began to pull on the Wind of Magic. The woefully unused power of the world came to her call, coalescing around her right arm. By dark will, the magic took on a complete black coloration with a dark purple outline to it. It concentrated into her palm into a condensed ball of black.
"Oblivion."
For a moment, the sounds of the world were sucked it away before reentering with a tremendous bang. Dark magic exploded from Allisara's arm into an all-consuming black tidal wave of destruction. Cissovi's fires were doused away in her dark magic and went on to reduce everything afterwards. Dirt and dust blew in all direction from the explosive force of the spell. When it settled, there was no Grimm nor tree or plant left. Nothing was left except a wide expanse of barren earth from the spell that shred it apart.
Cissovi sighed. "Well, it had to end anyway... but did you have to put out my flames?"
"It had to happen." Allisara said casually. "While these mysterious entities provide good exercise, it just isn't satisfying that they are just simple constructs. No blood or guts to rip out."
"Wait..." Seras said with a look of realization. "Didn't we have someone else with us for a completely different reason?"
"Ah, we did, did we?" Allisara mused. "You don't suppose they perished in the crossfire."
As if on cue, their elven ears picked up the rumble of chariots racing across the terrain ahead of them. Coming out of the growth of the forest came a whole unit of Druchii all riding on war chariots. These weapons of war rolled on wheels protruding spikes to eviscerate enemies and drawn by two Cold Ones each. The chariots were big enough to have three Druchii standing on the platform, with two at the sides brandishing crossbows and the third at the front holding a whip to lash out at the Cold Ones.
Out of all the entire group of chariot riders was the individual riding upon the leading chariot. It was a male Druchii with a mostly bald head with the exception of a ponytail of white hair. His face was a grim display of scars brought on by beasts. Instead of standardized black armor of the Druchii, he wore hides and sea serpent scales dyed dark purple. The Druchii held both whip and blade in hand, all wicked looking with the full intention of causing full body pain when used.
He is Ivrac Dozret, one of Ruby's veteran Beastmasters of her vast army. Ivrac was ancient by Druchii standards in his service in the armies of the Druchii and has lived his life taming war beasts. Oftenly, his usual expression was grim with furrowed brows elevated by the scars of monsters lucky enough to get a scratch in before torturing them into submission. His skills were one of the best as she had personally seen Ivrac make a hydra submit to his will in less than five minutes.
All of the chariots each had a chain attached to the back where they came together to completely bind and drag a massive Ursa. Even as it was tied down to the point it made it impossible to move, it still nonetheless struggled with the clear intent to murder every one of them.
"That's what we were here for." Allisara realized. "We were supposed to distract most of these creatures while Beastmaster Ivrac and his group capture one of them for study. As I see, the mission is a success."
"Yes, general." Ivrac spoke in a gruff manner, glancing to the still struggling Ursa. "I have to admit, I am intrigued by these creatures. No matter what I do to them, they do not submit. Even a kharybdis gone mad with feral hunger does not have this will."
"How can you break their will if it's not there?" Allisara said. "No, these things are not the sort of the living. They are like animated constructs, like the undead of vampire magic. All the more reason to find out their secrets. Bring it back to Khaine's Arrival if you would to my mages."
"Of course, my general." Ivrac obeyed.
The Druchii cracked their whips on the backs of the Cold Ones and sped off back to the growing city. The rumble of their wheels soon left elven hearing, leaving only Cissovi, Seras, and the Witch Princess to their lonesome. While Allisara's top mage kept a calm expression, Seras portrayed a mix of boredom and frustration. Raised as a womanly warrior among the Witch Elves, she was made to have a lust for blood and murder. It finally exploded out as she faced her general and best friend Allisara.
"Allisara, why are we just sitting here gathering our forces when we could be out there?" Seras said, though the words were spoken in a 'calm' manner the anger behind them was clear.
In response, Allisara put her hands behind her back as she leveled a flat look towards Seras. "Seras, you are asking me to take a gamble. Perhaps it is without cost, but at the same time it would mean our doom. For what we are doing expanding beyond the reaches of our world, we cannot afford to take gambles. It may be cowardly, but I will not waste this opportunity for the Druchii and ruin it in shame.
No, we must have patience, Seras. We must know what our new enemy is, find out their strengths, and exploit their weaknesses. We must see what advancements and cultures they have to take advantage of for our own gain. When the time comes to reveal ourselves to the masses of this world, it will be in a way where they quake before us. That our very existence here is to know that their time is inevitable under our feet."
Allisara's words were spoken in strong conviction and passion and her purple edges of her right black eye seemed to glow. Seras stayed quiet, the anger in her eyes vanishing with some flashes of shame. She gave a bow in praise of Allisara's words, causing the Witch Princess' lips to curl into a smile.
"If that is the case, are you sure our spies will complete the task in this foreign land?" Cissovi asked.
"Of course they will." Allisara said. "They are adaptable if nothing at all. They shall do as they are ordered. In the chance they want to betray me, they would be wise to remember what I have on them."
With her left hand, Allisara swept her cape back to reveal the sides of her waist. Attached to the belt was a cage similar in design to that of the bird cage if it weren't for the jagged bars and decorated with Khaine's head on the top. This one medium-sized cage held what can only be described as a glowing neon purple gas with vapor forming several screaming faces of pain. The screaming 'gas' is in fact the souls of her spies that she held as leverage to prevent them from ever turning traitor.
It was an especially excellent way for Allisara to keep her spy work in check and also get information. While she had their souls to her person, they were still technically connected to the persons. This allowed Allisara to see if they are loyal and with her own augments allow her to converse with her spies to receive their reports no matter where in the world they may be. If they actually are dumb enough to betray... there are fates worse than simple death.
Her spies had a simple objective: to map out the foreign land they are to conquer. It would be unfortunate if they traverse this world and suddenly end up fighting its main superpower. To win this campaign, Allisara needed information to make effective plans. So far, her spies have mapped villages dotting the land to the east, though there were still leagues of forest and wildlife separating any of those villages to the Druchii's foothold. The deeper east they went, the more civilization was more condensed, indicating they were nearing a capitol.
Not only were her spies ordered to find native settlements and capitols, but almost map out the general landscape. From what she learned so far, the Druchii were at the the southern edge of a continent they were. Most of the land was really untamed wilderness, which meant sentient life here was at a minimum possible due to those beast-like creations. One of her spies had reached to the northern edge of the continent were there were great mountain ranges excellent for slaves to mine in.
"They better find something good about all this." Seras grumbled.
"Patience, Seras." Allisara said. "They will in time. They also have another objective which is to steal whatever technology so that we may use their designs for our own benefit."
Example being the humans in her world. Primitive as they were, there were some that have made advancements that make themselves a threat if pressed enough. None were a finer example the the Empire of Man in the Old World and their use of steam tanks and guns. Allisara wished to have procured their designs to then inspire into Druchii creation instead. She could only imagine the possibilities and the destruction they could have caused. Sadly, their use of simple lead and gunpowder severely limited whatever advancements Allisara can think of considering usual crossbows can wrend through steel armor.
Allisara can only hope that her spies have found something interesting.
"How about this?" Allisara offered. "Let's go to the human village closest to us. Sack its people and raze it to the ground for fun."
Seras in response walked to Allisara and gave a quick passionate kiss to the lips. "You are lovely, general."
(Far Away to East; Several Kilometers from Vale at the coast)
His name was Brut Darkraid, but at this moment his name didn't matter. Nothing of his own person mattered if only second to the mission given to him by the general and the very person who held his soul for his obedience. Literally his whole life was the mission or it was a fate that a wretch did not deserve.
If he or his cohorts spread across the land weren't so focused on this mission, they would have a sense of mild appreciation of the new sights of this world. The world had a healthier atmosphere compared to their home and the warm climate was bliss. Brut however could not afford himself to enjoy himself as his eyes came upon a potential prize.
He came upon what can be described as a major port city. To his disgust, they were humans that lived in this world and seem to be the exclusive. The only upside to that was there were no troublesome races like the Orks or Skaven. However, he did take not to the general that the humans of this world lived alongside a certain 'subspecies'. They resembled humans in both manner and sentience, but they were always known apart by their varying animal traits. Yes, it was indeed something that made Allisara very interested when she heard of this.
It also irked him as a Druchii that their technology, especially military wise, was quite advanced. Much more than they imagined. They flew in flying machines greater than that of the dwarves. Weapons and armor of such power they could take on hordes of Skaven with ease. Devices of such complicated make that Brut had no choice but to steal one and make it back to Khaine's Arrival for Allisara to study and reverse engineer.
That is what Brut had the opportunity to do as he watched from a distance at the present ongoing at the port. One of those flying contraptions, a Bullhead if he heard right, landed down a few minutes ago. Non-civilian were around the escort and to Brut's judgement must be the local militia of this port. His elven ears trained to focus on their idle conversation.
"Finally we got another shipment of weapons, especially for those new students at Beacon this year."
"Yeah. Remember how many barrels that Adel girl wasted through for that miniguns of hers?"
"It's also a good thing we also brought our own Dust shipment for the local armory. It's been hard on Vale since the start of those robberies by that Torchwick bastard."
Going by the words, it would seem to the Druchii that it was a transport for their arms technology. He could even see a few of the people at the port were armed with these rifles themselves. Brut's eyes fell on the prize as humans from the Bullhead pushed a crate of the weapons cache mentioned for the 'local armory' for Beacon's students. Information for later and now it was time to spring into action.
He leaped a great distance like a black phantom in the night. His shadowy form slid into the shadows behind the Bullhead, his eyes locked on the pilot of the Bullhead. From his black cloak, twin knives of vicious design drew themselves gleaming in the moonlight. In order to get his prize, Brut knew he had to cut off their escape and kill everyone here.
They may be humans armed with advanced weaponry never before seen, but that was it. They were just humans who have not been in a world of constant war. Humans were weak, and Brut was a Druchii spy of Allisara the Witch Princess. And what better spy was there than a Khainite Assassin.
He pounced in the window of opportunity when no eyes were on the Bullhead. His steps were swift and silent against the metal hull. In less than a second, Brut's blade sliced through the unfortunate pilot's neck and wasn't given a chance to let off a gurgle as the other blade tore his chest cavity apart. Blood sprayed out in a fountain painting the glass red, but not a drop landed on Brut hiding in the Bullhead's shadows.
One of the militia closest to the Bullhead previously pushing one of the crates heard the drop of blood. It was only in an urge of curiosity that had the man walk up the ramp into the Bullhead - only for Brut to swipe him into the shadows and swiftly silenced by steel. His shadowy form dashed to hide behind the crate left and peeking over revealed the rest of his targets. All of them were in his line of sight; it was just a matter how fast he can act. This what Brut was literally raised to do from birth.
Brut unsheathed more daggers from the confines of his cloak and threw a barrage threw the air. His aim came true when they sheathed through the necks of the guards at the far sides. It only took a second for the humans to drop their guns and drop to the floor choking on their own blood. Six down, and a measly eight to go.
Now on the alert, the rest of the humans were in the midst of aiming their sights down at the direction of the daggers, but Brut was already on the move. He could not be seen in their vision like a dashing shadow. Brut ambushed a human at the left side, his daggers cutting through his armor all the way through his bones to his heart in one swoop, and he threw another ahead of him to hit the mark at the unfortunate victim's throat.
The human right beside the one now dead with a dagger in his neck took aim at Brut. He just pulled the trigger, but the Khainite Assassin was already upon him behind the human's guard as he fired at a target that wasn't there. Seeing the opportunity, Brut took hold of the firearm and the guard's hand and redirected it to fire on his comrades. The human did not let go of the trigger in his panic and was forced to watch as he gun downed his own comrades, reducing their numbers by four. Brut did away with his misery with a stab to the back right to his heart.
Now only two were left and Brut disappeared into the shadows before gunfire rained on his last location. He simply climbed up on one of the lampposts and threw two daggers down straight to their throats. In honesty, Brut would have wanted to keep them in a more agonizing death, but his general was explicit that there must be discretion at all costs. After retrieving his equipment, Brut arrived at the crates that held his prize.
Prying the lid away with ease, Brut reached in and withdrew a firearm. His spying on the humans gave him the identity that they called these musket-like weapons as rifles, and he had to admit silently that they were definitely far more advanced than dwarven make. The closest that the Khainite Assassin can relate the humans' weaponry are the abominable inventions of the Skaven with their unique uses of warpstone. These lacked such use however and the ammo was fed by a shape attached to the stock of the rifle that they called a clip. It was honestly the best he can come up with from his observations, but the genius of the Witch Princess will make sure they can use these designs to their advantage.
As he reached to retrieve more of the firearm's needed cartridges, Brut's eyes caught something peculiar. His hand brought up a cylinder canister with a glass exterior about as tall as two feet and as wide as his palm. In it was a strange mineral crystal that gave an even stranger red glow to it. Looking inside were more of these canisters with these minerals with their own unqiue glows to them. Possibly the most interesting about this mineral was that he could sense magic power to his astonishment.
'Yes.' Thought Brut, packing it away along with the rifle. 'General Allisara will be most pleased.'
As small as it was, this day would spell glory for the Druchii... and doom for their enemies.
So yeah. More than half a year I have not updated. This long 'hiatus' was caused by a number of factors. That includes the pandemic, my university life, and of course more publishing of new stories. I could go on and on, but really I have to say this... it is so good to get back to the Witch Princess of Chaos.
So what's worse than Druchii in Warhammer Fantasy? Druchii that have guns powered by the souls of the tortured and suffering. Wait, that's 40k, but you can definitely where this is going... and where Allisara's cruel ingenuity will come into play in reverse engineering Remnant's technology.
Up next is Chapter 7