Chapter 53: The Gathering Storm Part 1
Rural Mississippi, United States
Alice looked upon the scene with intrigued disgust.
Before her a group of humans, dressed in white robes, were doing some sort of chant in front of a burning cross. They chanted the superiority of the "white nation" and the destruction of those who they deemed "unAmerican."
Case in point, a bruised and beaten down kobold. While mamono, more often than not, displayed superior physical abilities; on Earth those abilities had found an equalizer in the form of human weaponry. The monster's legs were torn to shreds by buckshot and her arms tied behind her back in chains. She lied in front of the cross, the fear prevalent in her eyes even as she tried and failed to scream through the thick ropes in her mouth.
"And now the good lord has provided us with the means of exterminating the demon spawn!" The group's "grand wizard" spoke as he beckoned to some of his comrades near the still burning cross. One of them grabbed something from near the base, a red hot branding iron.
Alice slowly descended from the top of the tree and made her way to the ground, keeping a close eye on the soon to be brutal torture. The grand wizard took the branding iron and began to make his way over to the kobold. She tried using her strength to release herself from the chains, but to no avail. Her cries reached a fever pitch however, as the brand got closer and closer to her face.
Then, Alice acted.
Jacob Barnaby wasn't a good man.
He knew what he was doing was morally wrong of course, but when faced with literal demon spawn; demon spawn from another world even, you had to act. Even if acting damned you hell, at least you weren't damning your children or their children to a fate worse than death.
So when the grand wizard approached the mamono with the branding iron, he kept his chin up and continued the chant. This wasn't the first mamono they had purged, and certainly wouldn't be the last. It was surprisingly easy for him and the boys to capture her too, merely luring her with the promise of one of them becoming her "husband" was enough. The best part was that nobody would miss her either. With the sheer amount of these things that arrived in America and the rest of the world, followed by the chaos of otherworldly invaders, many of them slipped through the cracks.
But as the grand wizard was about to place the brand upon the beast's face, Jacob saw something from out of the corner of his eye. It was the last thing he ever saw.
Alice pulled out her sword and flew over to the closest man. Her new abilities, as well as her enhanced old ones, quickly made short work of the man. She bisected him faster than he could comprehend it. She quickly moved onto the next man, then the next. After she had dealt with a half dozen or so in a few seconds, the others had finally caught on. Their fear was palpable, but she wasn't here for their fear, she was here to put down their degeneracy. She got more brutal for every one she killed, some tried to fight back but to no avail.
When she reached the grand wizard, she snatched the branding iron from him, ripped his jaw clean off and shoved the red hot metal up.
By the time she was finished with her massacre, two dozen human men were dead. All in under 15 seconds. With the grand wizard dealt with she turned to the Kobold, who had literally pissed herself after witnessing what she had. She was trembling as the valkyrie approached her.
Alice stared down at the broken mamono for a moment, before separating the mamono's head from her body. A monster is still a monster after all. Still she at least deserved a quick death, especially after all the torture she endured.
Alice growled in frustration as she used her magic to burn away the blood and guts from her armor and sword before returning the blade to her scabbard. This was the third group of potential "allies" in a row now. While she was committed to the destruction of monster kind and the salvation of humanity, these supposed "allies" were nothing more than degenerates who would just as easily turn on their fellow man as they would on mamono.
After fleeing from Washington DC, she decided to head east to Europe. The continent and its history were eerily similar to that of the Order. She made a variety of stops, in Spain, Italy, Serbia, Romania and finally Ukraine. In Eastern Ukraine, she encountered a pro-human militia group dedicated to removing the mamono menace from their country. But she quickly discovered that they were also just as committed to removing those they deemed unworthy of living in Ukraine. Needless to say they were dealt with quickly.
She then moved onto Libya, where war and violence had unfortunately become the norm. There she encountered some radical muslim fighters. But quickly discovered them to be worse than the group she met beforehand. Unfortunately, she had exposed herself when destroying these terrorists to a group of villagers the fighters were terrorizing. On the bright side she was celebrated as a hero but she quickly had to leave the country. Samson and his allies in America were no doubt hunting her down, she couldn't afford to stay in one place or another for too long.
She almost thought the Chief Goddess was, out of touch, with the humans of Earth. Alice quickly purged those heretical thoughts, not wanting to offend her creator.
Alice came back to America after a failed tour through Europe and the Middle East. She planned on moving south and west, eventually getting to Mexico and traveling down to South America. But she, unfortunately, got sidetracked with this "klan."
I need a break. She thought as she took off, flying at great speeds across the Mississippi night sky. After a few minutes she spotted a town, she decided that she needed some form of company tonight. She flew down and into the outskirts of town where she quickly donned some glamor magic. Now she looked like a normal human as she walked down the sidewalk.
Eventually, the disguised valkyrie came across a diner. Looking through the window she saw a few people inside talking with each other over food. An older man standing behind the counter watching the tv above him.
She stepped into the building, a chim signaling her arrival as the man behind the counter turned to face her. He had a dumpy build and a sagging face, but a warming smile was present.
"Welcome miss! Say I haven't seen you around before, you from out of town?"
"Oh, uh, yes," Alice started. "I'm just passing through, is there anywhere I can stay here in town tonight?"
"Yeah there's a motel up the road. Well welcome to town miss, can I get you anything?"
At this Alice paused. While she had certainly eaten Earth food, it's been whatever's been served to her. She doesn't necessarily need to eat, but it feels good to do so.
"Well what do you have sir?"
"Polite eh? Here, take a seat up on the counter here and I'll get you a menu."
The man reached under the counter and pulled out a plastic covered pamphlet as Alice tentatively sat down at the counter. He quickly handed it to her as he turned his attention back to the tv.
Alice looked through the menu, amazed at the many choices on it. She looked closely at the strawberry shake before getting the man's attention once again.
"Ah the strawberry shake! Sure I'll go whip one up right now for ya." He shuffled his way to the kitchen as Alice took in her surroundings proper. But as she did so she happened to listen in on some of the other patrons' conversations.
"I'm telling you, the mamono gotta be stopped. We all know we can't trust our kids around them!"
"With the fuckin dems in the White House that'll never happen. They are too much of pushovers for illegals like these rape machines. They ought to be sent back where they came from. It'd be better for all of us."
"Maybe we could talk with Jacob. I mean he and the, others, have gone after some of them already."
"Screw that Daryl, listen I may hate the mamono, but I'm not about to join Jacob and his buddies. Besides, what would your ma say if she caught you with them?"
"...Whatever Johnny, look, all I'm saying is…"
"You ain't saying shit Daryl. Look, let's just go pay Mr. Smith for our beers and let's get out of here. Jacob should be done soon anyways."
At this the conversation stopped as three young men stood up from the booth behind Alice. The old man came back from the kitchen, strawberry shake in hand.
"Here you go miss! There anything else I can get you?"
Hey Mr. Smith, here's what we owe you."
Alice turns her head to see one of the men hand Mr. Smith a crumpled up pile of bills. He takes them and sorts them for a moment before nodding.
"Thanks Bobby. Hey I didn't see Jacob with you guys, he doing alright?"
The one known as Bobby looked around for a few moments, at one point looking directly at Alice. He muttered out his answer. "Nah he said he wasn't feeling well, decided to stay home."
"Oh," Mr. Smith said. "That's too bad, well tell him I hope he gets better soon. You boys have a good night!"
"You too Mr. Smith!"
The three then moved to leave, leaving Alice and Mr. Smith alone at the counter.
"Jeez those guys. I swear someday they're gonna go and do something they'll regret with all the talk they have about them."
Alice raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean 'them'?"
"The mamono, honestly it isn't much of a secret that we don't like em much in this town. Now that don't mean we hate their guts or that they are all bad, you know? I just don't feel comfortable leaving my grandkids around some of them them. I mean with the reputation most of them got, could ya blame me?"
Alice smiled at this. "No, no I couldn't. In fact I feel the same way."
"Yeah. Well with those boys it's always something new with them. They are always saying 'we ought to be like Poland' when it comes to the Mamono. Whatever that means."
"Poland?"
"Yeah, apparently they've got a lot of stringent rules for immigrants who don't share the same values as them. They don't like how they're having to let mamono stay in their country or something."
Poland. She heard about the land of po while she was in Europe. They were one of the more anti-mamono countries in Europe. She didn't visit at the time as she was still taking the recommendations of the Chief Goddess to heart. Perhaps she ought to make her way back to Europe instead. Visit Poland and find some allies that are far more rational and less hateful of their fellow man.
Alice finally took the straw of the shake into her mouth and began to suck. The picture didn't do the dessert justice. Her eyes widened at the wonderful flavors as she continued to suck it down greedily. As she did so she began to feel a subtle numbness in her head. She stopped for a moment in surprise and a little fear. She brought her hand to her head, only to find nothing amiss.
She shrugged and finished off her shake, handing the now empty container to Mr. Smith. The man looked between her and the container in surprise and shock.
"Wow miss! I ain't never seen anyone drink a shake down that fast, especially without a brain freeze!"
So that's what that feeling was Alice thought as she grabbed a single gold coin from her pocket. She quickly cast another glamor charm on it, to make it look like one of the bills that Bobby man gave Mr. Smith. The charm would wear off after an hour, but by then she'd be long gone.
"Thank you Mr. Smith for your hospitality. I'll be heading down to that motel now," she said as Alice handed him the glamored coin.
"Why thank you miss and hey don't be a stranger, come again soon!" He waved to her as she exited the diner and into the town. The gears in her head were turning as she prepared a new avenue of approach for her goddess' master plan.