Well, a Manticore. That was interesting. Pitting one aspect of Khaine against the other, was it? Well, ok then. Estaria first activated her Witch Dance, for when she was going to get into melee. And then, pulling out her Talon, she shot an arrow from her Bloodbane Longbow, and the creature deflected it with it’s tail, making a noise that could easily be a laugh. So it was going to be like that, huh? Flipping her Talon into Repeater Crossbow mode, she sprinted towards the beast and unleashed a volley of arrows, spread about so it’s tail had to work to deflect them. A few even hit the body, but didn’t sink very deeply. Still, it allowed her time to get into position and grab the base of the creature’s tail. With her mobility, she kept up with it’s attempts to shake her off, and hacked at it with her Orphaned CHild. It took a few attempts, but the flailing of the tail helped her and she was eventually able to tear the tail from it’s body and throw it away. Bleeding from the stump of the tail, Estaria flipped over the swiping paw, used her Quick Load to fill the Crossbow box and filled it’s back with bolts. Dam thing had a lot of health to it, and some strong armour to boot. But that was fine. All the more for her to murder.

Crossbow in one hand and one of her flails in the other, she struck an imposing figure for the creature in front of her. It roared it’s displeasure and rushed at Estaria. Quickly putting the Talon away and drawing her second blade, she leapt into the air and broke into a spin, flails whirling with a subtle scream of death before they bit into the back of the Manticore and sliced it deeply from the top of his head to the bottom of his back. Blood flushed everywhere, but the creature’s terrible fury was not to be satiated and it lashed out, smashing her in the chest with it’s back foot and blowing her away, out of range and away from any follow-up attack. And the damn thing was still less than three-quarters of its health.

Apparently there was a good reason why several SIsters of Slaughter teamed up on this thing, and why it was used as a mount for the Lords. There was only one thing left that she could do, if she didn’t want to drag this out for a few hours. Taking a breath, she activated the Divinity Mode with a thought, and the changes came immediately. Her hair’s lovely soft red turned a deep crimson and took on the texture blood. Her dress’ stylistic bloodstains encroached on the entire dress and turned it pure red, but the most obvious change was the horns that grew out from her head, and her eyes, growing pale and losing all features. The Manticore let out a hiss and stomped, but did not charge towards Estaria, merely circling her.

A strange new aspect of this was that there were lines moving across the Manticore. Through the back, these lines were moving outwards, a darker and more ominous colour to the lines that exited through his back. It was there she realized, the lines she was seeing was the creatures’ blood. It’s veins, arteries, and blood flow laid bare for her. Not only was her damage and bleeding buffed, but also she was given clairvoyance into where to most precisely strike. And they were not where she would expect at all. The throat had surprisingly slim blood-flow, so cutting that would do little. But there was a large cluster of veins and arteries in it’s underbelly. If she could get there and split that open, it’d die in short order from blood loss. But she needed some way to get down there. A slide under it and slashing the vein with her blades would be good, but dangerous and risky. If it caught her or dropped or she didn’t slide properly, she’d be at it’s mercy. Though….yes, that would work. Estaria smirked and rushed her foe, blades ready to taste the creature’s blood.

Off to the other side of the cluster, Estaria rushed past, leaping over the claws that swatted out at her and then with an elegant twist, threw her main-hand flail at the creature’s hind leg. Titan’s Arm and Witch Dance came together to penetrate it’s hide down to the bone, and then as she landed, Estaria threw her flail at it’s foreleg as well. Slicing both of them open so deeply forced it off balance, and it fell over to its side with a pained, angry roar. And then, with unparalleled acrobatic ability, Estaria jumped over the creature and turned, throwing both of her flails and severing the cluster, spilling a massive gout of blood across the arena. Finally, she landed gently on the arena, and the Manticore struggled to its feet just to collapse and die as blood-loss finished it off. Wrapping the Orphaned Child’s chains back around her, she flicked the blood from the blades and gave a most theatrical bow to the screaming audience. She couldn’t see how the Witch-King looked, but she hoped he liked it. He was kind of the boss of literally everyone she had ever seen here. So him being impressed, was a good thing to aspire to.

As it turned out, he was more than simply impressed, as she was accosted by a pair of his Black Guards and taken into a carriage in which Filnon already resided, and they were off.

“Good job I don’t have anything important at home” Estaria commented, watching the city of Har Garath disappear into the distance.

“You are going to have to behave, Estaria. Naggarond is no place to tread lightly. Hellebron keeps a tight leash on her people, but in Naggarond, it is entirely the opposite. Malekith weeds out the weak and the unfit by allowing pure anarchy in his city” Filnon warned, her voice grave. Though, Estaria turned around and just smiled.

“That means I can slit some guy’s throat because he groped my ass?” Estaria asked, her smile cheeky and broad.

“Tsk, should have known you’d take that away from my warning. Though I guess I was being overprotective to worry in the first place. I didn’t make you my wife because you are a good cook” Filnon got up from her seat and came over, kissing Estaria deeply.

“Mmm~ Though I am not terrible. Hardly a gourmet chef, but I’ll keep ya fed” Es replied after the kiss. Filnon looked surprised as such a reveal, and so she carried on. “Back in the Empire…” there was a moment of sadness there, but the warmth of her wife reminded her of who she was now. And what. There was no point in despairing over a past long gone. “There was a guy in my unit called Borrago Beast-Eater. That man was a good cook, and I picked up some tricks from him” she explained.

“Well, I might just put you to work cooking for me some time. Nothing but an apron, your collar, and a special stone~” Filnon teased, and then Estaria felt something slip through her underwear and start buzzing away softly.

“Ohh~ F-F-Filnon…~” Estaria’s thighs rubbed together, and the Druchii took full advantage of the current feelings to make the carriage ride a very enjoyable one.

Arrival at Naggarond was met with fanfare at the return of the King, and then Filnon and Estaria were brought out. The beauty of Estaria’s dress, and the innate draw that Khaine worshippers had towards her drew the eyes of most, even as she got down on her knees by the side of Filnon. Malekith announced that Filnon was a new member of his court, and that Estaria was a Gladiator that fought in his name. Estaria looked at Filnon from her kneeling position, and the Druchii just shrugged lightly. Malekith commanded, and others obeyed, that was that. After the announcement, Estaria was taken to a beautiful mansion. Slaves scurried about, tending to the upkeep of the house, and a large matronly Druchii appeared to introduce herself as the Governess of this Dark Abode. Everyone on Malekith’s council had a Dark Abode, overseen by a Governess. She would ensure all the Slaves kept in line and did their job without issue. The eyes of the woman glanced to Estaria at that comment, but she was a good girl and just bowed her head to the Governess. Estaria was not here to cause trouble that she didn’t need to cause, even if she wasn’t going to back down from it if it came.

What being Malekith’s Gladiator entailed became evident. While she was still put in fights for the entertainment of the crowd, she was also a new execution method. Dreadlords and Beastmasters and other Druchii who had displeased the Witch-King or had been left holding the stick after a scheme that got them on the wrong side of his displeasure found themselves in the arena with Estaria. And she was not kind to them. The Witches of Naggarond became much tighter to Malekith’s reign and commands after the first one found themselves in Estaria’s arena, and she refused to fight them. Saying that her honour, her pride, her very existence would not allow her to fight against a Witch, as she was bride to them all. The Black Guards threw her in a cell for that one, to await the Witch-King’s command, but someone must have talked him down as she was ‘merely’ strapped to a frame and lashed three hundred times. No Witch wanted to force Estaria to undergo that again, and so everyone worked thrice as hard to ensure she did not have to. This didn’t keep them out of her arena, as there were so many who were furiously enthusiastic to cross blades with Khaine’s Chosen Mortal. But none of the fights were fatal, nor were they ever intended to be.

Estaria saw Filnon less, as she had new duties on the council of Malekith. As such their sessions when they did see each other were thrice as passionate, and she soothed her stresses whenever they brewed up. With all the death, all the fighting and all the killing, her experience grew and grew. As high a level as she was, she was inundated with traits after buying “Chain Queen” to further her flails. And so when it came time for the next four, she bought some rather frivolous purchases, mostly because they were interesting but also because she liked the puns. Strange purchases, since she was meant to have all the weapon proficiencies. But maybe this was exotic enough to not be unlocked until now or something.

Bladed Heel - While as effective a combat strategy as slathering yourself in poison and trying to hug the enemy, there is certainly no more theatrical weapon. - Can Equip Bladed Heels.

Need Heeling - The few who decide to get such a weapon in the first place are quickly brought to frustration beyond handling by the many issues. Inability to balance, inability to keep the blade sharp, and difficulty making a hit in the first place. But passionate pursuit reaps rewards. - +20% damage, +30% Luck Damage

Agony Of Dafeet - Scrapping one’s heel down a person’s shin can be enough of a deterrent even with that heel isn’t a sharpened steel blade. And that’s before mentioning the ability to line up a kick and put the blade through someone’s throat. - +40% damage, +50% Luck Damage

Sole Food - The people in the world that can claim mastery of such strange, esoteric weaponry can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And you, are one of them. Capable of sinking a bladed heel into your enemy’s chest before they even realize your heel is bladed. +60% damage, +70% Luck Damage. 400% Luck Damage on first strike.

Of course, such traits needed her to play about with the Workshop to see where she was even going to get bladed heels. Eventually, she managed to upgrade the heels Filnon gave her to Orange, and then introduce a large chunk of Gromril into the item slot when upgrading it to a Red. This, allowed her to make a pair of heels that had a Gromril blade in the retractable heel. Anything she hit would send the heel back into its casing and reveal the blade. She could also force the blade out to use it as a backup weapon if she needed or wanted to. The heel had ‘Self-Sharpening’ so the blade would not go dull, and ‘Throat-slasher’ to increase damage when using a Sub-Targeting for the head. The name was excellent as well. Killer Heels made her giggle and admire all the puns surrounding this thing. It took her a day or two to get to proper grips with the heels, but after that, the crowd loved it when she would pull them out.

Then, finally, after so very long of spilling blood for the Witch King, came Death Night. Unlike the frenzied, unbridled hedonism of Har Garath, Naggarond had a more restrained way of this night. Ceremonial sacrifices, a Feast for the Nobles - Filnon strong-armed Estaria’s presence at the feast - and then stylized and cinematic fights in the arena, some as replaying history, and others showcasing mythological events. At the culmination of this, came Eldanesh vs Khaine, the mythological origins of the Sword Of Khaine, which Druchii fought for, over the centuries. Having already been in a different fight, Estaria was surprised to be pulled back into the Arena to fight as Khaine. Clearly, people were really taking this “Mortal Chosen Of Khaine” thing seriously. Which was actually, really nice to see. It was good to get recognition. But then came the fight, and walking out in the ceremonial regalia of Khaine, she saw the opposition. Dressed as Eldanesh, with a replica of the Sword Of Khaine, Estaria couldn’t make out their features, but she was aided by their name tag.

Filnon Darkfury - level 84 Dancer Of Khaine