The nobles wished that Vincreir and Frost could save them, but the Assassin Queen's little miss Solares was doing very well.

Frost's body crashed across the ground, rolling about the floor. The faux Solares spared him a look while Vincreir charged with both blades drawn. People shouted as the supposed Demon King blocked with twin orange swords.

"You thought that would be enough to defeat me," Delilah's voice was rabid and hungry as she was pushing against Vincreir, "how about you go back to the penthouse, you little Zudrian slave mistress?"

The Zudrian assassin woman gritted her teeth. "Slave mistress? Do I look Nashiyegan to you, your highness?" She took a step forward, leaning into the shrouded warrior's face with a surprising strength. "I will have you know, I worked to get where I am. Someone like me is mistress to no one!”

How ironic, Anastasia mused to herself as she watched the two fight amongst the screaming nobles, she sees herself as high status. The poor creature...

Delilah's chest swelled with air, and she shoved Vincreir forward with a heave. "Mistress to no one… you fight to maintain your own oppressors and yet you’re mistress to no one..." Drops of flames drooled off her two swords. "I believe you have failed… to impress me!"

Frost dashed in like a blur, his long sword drawn and prepared for a horizontal slash. The Assassin Queen watched his motions, hands held firmly on the hilt, tilted angle… the Zudrian was not half bad.

Delilah shoved Vincreir away, whipped around, and unleashed a stream of flames from her maw. The swordsman blocked with his sword, steam escaping from his hands and from the blade itself, cooling the fire, and countering the entropic field of the "Solares".

The Zudrian assassin dashed for her, feet bent and prepared for a sweeping low kick, but spinning swords cut through the walls and forced her back. Vincreir jumped away from the blades, leaving them to tear into Frost's armor, assist the fire attack in breaking the sword, and turn the nearby walls into stony bits.

"Awww," Delilah purred like a feline and laughed, "is the Zudrian non-mistress scared?"

Though Anastasia knew Delilah well, those words managed to bring a chill down her spine. Sure, Matthias would never utter such a sentence in battle, but by her stars, Mama Polaris didn't need to act like Solares to be terrifyingly sadistic.

She was something else when sufficiently angry.

Yet Vincreir was persistent, breaking into another sprint directly for the faux Solares's back. Delilah was locked in combat with Frost, blocking his every blow and forcing him into backsteps. Debris disintegrated with every swing of her arms. Her red eyes pulsed along with this medley of frost and flame, and entropy flowed into the flaming orange swords she had instead of hands. The coliseum was crumbling even faster, and as Vincreir closed the distance, the Zudrian white knight was ducking for cover while fighting.

"By the gods," a noble cried out, "the Solares is winning! Somebody help these people!"

Delilah swung Frost’s sword-wielding arms aside and lunged at the opening.

A pair of legs leapt for the warrior's upper body, finding purchase around her neck, and forcing her away from Frost. The Assassin Queen peered over to look, taking her eyes from her frozen and blanched partner. The Zudrian knight rose to his feet, thighs bleeding and cuisses fractured, and thrust his sword into the belly of the faux Solares as she struggled.

The Assassin Queen's little sister released an earth-shattering scream of pain.

"Yes!" Fabio sat up to see the results he wanted so badly — Delilah struggling with an assassin choking her and a sword in her belly. "That is it! Finish him! Finish the Solares!"

Anastasia tensed in spite of herself; Delilah was strong. To her, this was barely more dangerous than a splinter, and she knew this. Even so, the sight of the sword hurting her enough to the point of crying shattered the heart. She watched as Delilah thrashed and choked in the grip of the two "protectors” and hid her disgust from the nobles' cheers. However, her other side, the Assassin Queen, saw things through a murderously optimistic perspective; certain fingertips were glowing a peculiar kind of white.

Big mistake my dear Vincreir, the Assassin Queen thought as she watched the Zudrian warrior woman flinch, big mistake.

The faux Solares, eyes flashing from the hood with malicious rage, sank her claws into Vincreir's thighs, which barely muffled their glow. The Zudrian assassin released a high-pitched scream, her head violently whipped, and the surviving crowd gasped. Frost vigorously tried removing his sword, but his arms were wobbling even when the blade broke free, and he staggered back.

Delilah arched backwards, arms stretching, and flung Vincreir into the coliseum’s stone seating areas. She shook her shoulders and they audibly cracked just before a light laughter escaped her throat. With one single step, the coliseum shook again, and even Frost struggled to keep his balance as he stumbled back into the fray.

Vincreir, healing her tattered thighs, screamed slurs and insults to most of the races of Cruvelia, so many that the Assassin Queen lost track.

“You greyback-loving piece of shit! How dare you? Are you lower races so ignorant of how to treat your superiors? What are you? A greyback yourself? A lizard?”

As soon as “greyback” had exited the non-mistress’s mouth, Delilah froze for a split second. Frost charged in, thinking he had an opportunity to behead the supposed Solares, but he was met by a wall of flame in his path. Delilah’s feet pushed against the floor so hard that a cloud of pulverized brick hung in her wake.

It was at this moment, Anastasia narrated internally, that she knew she fucked up. Wait till Matty hears about this.

When the air cleared, the people were treated to an art piece: Delilah’s hand locked around a Zudrian woman’s throat.

"Do not…" Delilah growled and hoisted Vincreir up, "Call my kin greybacks!"

Frost was rushing to his ally’s aid, but in a horrifying show of might, Delilah’s other hand wrapped around Vincreir’s ankle, and the non-mistress’s flailing body became a sledgehammer, swinging against Frost's sword. He stepped back, parrying, and dodging the weaponized woman as carefully as he could.

"You… utter… mad creature!" Frost grunted between the blows, "You use her as your weapon?"

Laughter. Delilah was laughing as Vincreir's free legs kicked at her in a helpless bid for freedom. The latter’s agonized groans blended in with the former’s harmonious cackle, producing a cacophonous melody worthy of someone from hell; yet the hooded figure sounded like she was being tickled to death.

"You picked the wrong person to infuriate," the faux Solares stalked closer to the trembling Zudrian protector, "and in the wrong galaxy! Now let me demonstrate what happens when you trifle with my people!"

The shrouded warrior’s shadow loomed over Frost, who was stepping back at a menace that looked taller than they actually were. If Delilah were some demigoddess, then the Assassin Queen witnessed her true form now: mysterious, beautiful, and hungry as she stepped through her martial dance. The masked Solares lifted up the abducted Vincreir, presenting the struggling and crying defender of Corona Eternus before the leftover elites so they could witness their own powerlessness.

“Oh…” Fabio breathed and then began hyperventilating just as the warriors slowly came near each other with their weapons of choice. “Oh shit-”

Scream. Cry. Wail.

A living thing slammed into Frost's sword, sparks shooting into the air, and cried for someone to save them. Their armored ally jumped back and lifted his sword again, pointing toward the arm that held the assassin hostage.

“Let her go, Solares,” he screamed, shaking, “let her go!”

“That is what the people of this galaxy told you,” Delilah’s voice gained a rasp of either mucus or hoarseness from the roars she released, “let her go, let the little girl go, let them have their families.” Anastasia’s heart convulsed for only a split second. “Let them live. But did you do that?”

Her viewing experience was interrupted by the sight of Zudrian formal attire stepping next to Fabio’s helpless form. Stapled on the heart of the tunic was a golden-lettered number twelve written with ancient numerals, XII, flaunting a status of a familiar agency: the Zudrian Nations Stability Corps, better known as the Zeecees.

More like sissies, Anastasia watched the guards, did you disappear when the fighting started?

Be that as it may, the ZCs were high-clearance security reserved for the highest castes of Zudrian society: the nobles, military generals, politicians, and people like the one next to her.

As soon as the security officers had lifted him off the floor and beckoned him to exit, Fabio seized her arm in a hard grip, squeezing just enough to motivate the Assassin Queen to follow. He ran with her, more than his out of shape, privileged girth should have allowed.

With his officers covering his retreat, Lord Incardriss ran out the coliseum cavities, anger boiling in his eyes. “What took you so long! I almost died back there!” Of course, he had no gratitude for the protection. As he reached the outside, more lightly armored ZCs jogged down the sidewalk in his direction, flinching and shuddering as explosions roared from the coliseum arena. “Luckily for you, I’ll let your negligence go for now. But take me to my next destination, or it's off with your heads!"

I wish a fireball incinerated him, Anastasia’s bored eyes watched a torrent of flames burst from the coliseum before petering out, Delilah could have done me more favors.

In the parking lot, three of the ZC guards lined up together in a manner akin to soldiers at a parade; side by side, backs straight, awaiting orders, and melting before the glare of their overlord. The rest took positions on the periphery to protect him. The Assassin Queen wanted them to relax, for it wasn’t like Fabio deserved reverence, let alone respect, let alone protection.

“We have already called the transport, sir,” the middle guard nodded his head and pulled out a radio, “but, there have been delays-”

Fabio wouldn’t be having any of it today. Anastasia knew that one for sure. “Delays? Did the police delay their attempts to save those lesser nobles? You fools! You morons! Lazy bums! Are you really the best Zudra can provide for the people who matter?"

The guard on the far right asked the very question that would make this exchange all the more amusing. “Uh, you’re not bringing the Nashiyega with you, are you? Sir?” The last word was tacked on late enough to indicate he hesitated using it.

Nashiyega, Anastasia thought, better than calling me a slur. This poor man should join the right side of history already.

“Of course I am! She is to be my property!” Fabio bellowed. “Look at her! As a concubine, she is worth millions just by her body! I will not lose her!”

“Then you’re going to have to stay here with her.”

“Excuse me?” the tone was threatening enough that Anastasia could tell lives were now on the line.

“Bringing her with you to the classified exposition is illegal.”

Illegal.

Fabio couldn't bring her to the classified exposition with him because that was illegal. Zudrians didn't even allow lesser nobles and lower castes into classified events such as Fabio’s next destination. They certainly would not permit "nonpersons." It was unfortunate that Anastasia couldn't go with the degenerate, and at least see what was down there with her own eyes. But the tracker would have to do.

That was her eyes. The unwitting fool would allow her to know where he was and see his world as if it were hers. And his hands would be miles away from her.

Zudrian law was too useful today.

"What do you mean it's illegal," Lord Incardriss was filled with manly wrath, "this is an emergency and I have valued property!"

"The law makes no exception for that!"

No it does not, my lord…

"Damn the law!"

The people had to hear of this. They needed to know about this exchange, not for mission reasons, but for important reasons. Giddiness filled the Assassin Queen's bosom as she activated her computer again, this time entering a chat room marked "Shadow Clan". A collection of crazy brothers, sisters, and parent figures; the Shadow Clan were people too crazy to have a single forum, so they made one anyway. The family would love to hear of this, for nothing made war more fun than high-quality, first-class Zudrian entertainment.

Ana: XDXD Everyone, the Zudrian groper who's holding me can't go anywhere else!

Sagittarius A-Star: The who now? Anastasia, we love you and we're all crazy enough to kill people who hurt us! Especially those who hurt our Seven!

Of course. The black hole girl was online, and wasn't she on this planet? Yes, she was present in this operation. She had to have known what was going on, she was a member of the clan and with Solares. So, of course she'd want in on the action.

Ana: Sagittari, please don't get all Miss Black Hole overprotective, you're worse than Matty.

Fomalhaut: Sagittari, I’m sure Ana will accept your offer in due time. But it's for a mission. And besides, I have a feeling Anastasia is about to start broadcasting the show!

How perceptive of him. Anastasia was at that very moment typing a command into her retinal computer to connect Fabio’s tracker. Both her display and his tracker would be streaming to the chat in seconds:

Sagittarius A-Star: It better be high quality or I'm wiping the floor with you in the next spar!

Ana: Will you calm the hell down? I’ve got it coming from two cameras, now. The footage is coming, enjoy the movie, and you’re welcome… you damned hellion.

Lord Incardriss was screaming at his guards, scolding them, all while the ruckus of Delilah's battle consumed the rest of the audio. A moving picture of juxtaposition if Anastasia would say so herself.

Sagittarius A-Star: Solares, get your butt in here! We must show you what entertainment is! Zudrian noble fights his own security guard! EXCLUSIVE ACCESS FOR THE GRAND SHADOW CLAN!

Crown-0667: Oh boy! Action movies! I live for this! Thank you, Sagittari!

Ana: Am I chopped liver to you?

Crown-0667: Hehe, sorry, Assassin Queen, thank you.

Ana: Hmph.

The resuscitated Quatopedipan server was buzzing at this point. Possibly too much, as the notifications filled her eyes with real-time commentary.

Fabio shoved her aside to better swear at the guards. "I am Lord Fabio the Third of House Incardriss! My family is the backbone of this empire, and you will take me to my destination, with everything and everyone I want to take!"

Fomalhaut: Did he just shove her?

Sagittarius A-Star: Fat Zudrian guy did WHAT? Off with his head!

Mei Tanaka: Hi everyone. Oh, no! No! Why isn’t he dead?

Sagittarius A-Star: Didn’t you hear? He’s the backbone of the Zudrian Empire.

Mei Tanaka: *blinks* Ah yes, an empire with spinal cord disorders.

Oh no… Anastasia wanted to bury her head in her hands and swear. Why did I let these crazy people into this?

"You want the Solares's girlfriend to infiltrate us?" Anastasia suppressed a chuckle. As far as she knew Matty did not have a girlfriend. If they were this terrified of his fictional girlfriend, imagine just how horrified they’d be upon discovering that the woman next to them was the dreaded Assassin Queen. "Listen, Lord Incardriss, with all due respect we don't get paid enough for this!"

Mei Tanaka: Not paid enough, huh? Zudra can’t afford to pay you enough for protecting that load of lard? Should I cry for him? DELILAH!

Supernova: No, my love. You should castrate him.

The_Mean_Helene: How much does he even get paid to protect this scum? If at all!

Sagittarius A-Star: Hi, favorite Amazon Queen! He gets paid nothing! But he will see the total annihilation of the Zudrian Empire! If he has any sense, that will be payment enough.

Crown-0667: Sagittari, we cannot just erase Zudra from existence. It’s morally wrong!

Sagittarius A-Star: But… but… Matty… *pouts. * Also… I was kidding, come on?

Crown-0667: So was I. This empire is going down.

Sagittarius A-Star: You… you know how to joke? You son of an atomic bomb.

Sagittari, the woman behind the A-Star account, was so precious despite her event horizon powers. Anastasia felt so warm inside.

Fabio Incardriss launched his fist at one of the guards. Yet instead of standing there, the middle guard broke all Zudrian protocol and ethics.

He caught the punch.

"Sir! It is the law, and you are not above it!" He may as well have been speaking to a child. “You will have to go without her!"

Sagittarius A-Star: He has some balls. We should kidnap and initiate him into the family!

Fomalhaut: I think Sagittari has a crush.

Sagittarius A-Star: NO! I DON’T! NOT AT ALL!

Crown-0667: That is suspect… would you like some flowers? ZC guards love those!

Sagittarius A-Star: That’s enough out of you, funny mask!

Then came Fabio's next bright idea. "Fine then! Put her in my escort vehicle!" Anastasia thought that was illegal earlier, and so she raised an eyebrow. "Send the greyback to my manor! I will return to her this evening!"

Of course you will, the Assassin Queen thought as the guards grabbed her by both arms and hauled her to the hovercar, you love the idea of being assassinated.

The guards kicked her in the rear, causing her to lose balance and fall flat onto the seat. Anastasia threw her head up to see the door slam shut, and that was when she reminded herself that she was being “kidnapped.”

Anastasia Velos Parazonum: A plot twist! The camerawoman gets shoved into a car!

Fomalhaut: Excuse me, WHAT?!

Mei Tanaka: I hate this show! I’m going to beat the characters to death!

Five… four… the Assassin Queen didn't know why she told the chat about this, but they'd hound her after the battle in no time. Three...two...one…

Crown-0667: It seems Lord Incardriss has an unconventional suicide method. Did he just arrange his own assassination?

Sagittarius A-Star: He did, Demon King. But since Anastasia won’t make the appointment, should we vote on who gets to kill him, then have an open floor to discuss the methods?

Oh shit. Anastasia looked around the vehicle, watching as the driver pressed a single button to get the car out of park mode. Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten the crazy clan involved… Matty failed to keep them in line.

Ana: HEY! NOTHING THAT INVOLVES DESTROYING THE PLANET!

Sagittarius A-Star: What part of “atomic bomb test” do you not understand? The planet will recover...

Supernova: I’m disappointed, Anastasia; you didn’t tell me that he was this crazy! Now I HAVE to support Sagittari’s nuclear waste initiative!

Mei Tanaka: I second my wife on this. I take a break from here to coordinate the armies and I come to THIS? Anastasia, you and I are going to be having a LONG talk.

Anastasia’s eyes narrowed, a twisted smirk coming upon her face. The driver had no spirit energy, no sign of power, and so was just a regular old Zudrian guy from down the street. How pleasant.

Ana: Calm down, everyone!

Mei Tanaka: No.

Sagittarius A-Star: No black holes at the planet's core?

Crown-0667: Not today, but I promise you some other day.

Sagittarius A-Star: YAY!

"Excuse me?" The driver didn't answer her, so she spoke again. "Mr. Driver sir?" This plan was moving far too slowly. "Hey!"

The chauffeur whipped around with eyes blazing. "What the hell do you want, greyback? I'm in a bad mood, and seconds away from taking you out!"

"You think you can take me out." The Assassin Queen's eyes twinkled with a pleased malice as she bent forward from her seat, and the Zudrian bent away. "You're adorable. But I think my time with you is done."

Hands lunged for the chauffeur's neck and squeezed. The Zudrian's hands fled from the wheel, his foot slammed onto the brake, and the car was swerving around without control. In the many changes of momentum, the chauffeur managed to throw his head forward, releasing from the snake's grip, and coughed.

"What in the… what are you?" His mouth was drooling with every word uttered, his voice altered from the bruise on his throat.

The Assassin Queen simply smirked.

Spirit energy flared within the muscles, providing a much-needed adrenaline and energy boost. "No more games." Anastasia seized the chauffeur's neck once again and this time there was no escape. Whilst he choked and coughed, her right hand extended an index finger for the jugular vein.

"Sic Semper Tyrannis, sweetheart." And with that he was unconscious.

The car slid to a stop, nestling in an alleyway surrounded by two burning complexes. A door slammed open, allowing a woman in a white dress to blissfully exit. Her immaculate hair flowed within the greater wind; a satisfied smile drawn on her face.

Ana: Problem solved, loves; I'm out of the car.

Crown-0667: It was some grunt against an Assassin Queen. Fortune did not favor him.

Sagittarius A-Star: Yes! Emancipation! We’re still destroying a planet sometime, right?

Mei Tanaka: Heh.

Anastasia let the warm air caress her body. She'd had enough of the coldness constantly experienced in that damned coliseum. Speaking of the coliseum, a return to that war zone would certainly have benefits.

Ana: I’m heading back to Delilah’s party now. The Fabio and Guards Show is over, 9/10, the critics loved it! Now back to work, Zudra won’t break itself!

Sagittarius A-Star: To the contrary, the Zudrian Empire is politically unstable… they have been doomed for centuries.

Anastasia switched Fabio’s tracker over to an official NZCM channel. Watcher would be able to tell her if anything more exciting happened on his end.

Ana: Listen, hun, empires fall slowly. Do you want to be free in this epoch or not?

Sagittarius A-Star: Neither, I want Zudra covered in radioactive waste.

Ana: That works too, I guess? Can’t believe you were the heroine of your own world for so long?

Sagittarius A-Star: They didn’t need a hero; they needed a defender.

Crown-0667: Anastasia, you're in for a pleasant surprise.

Pleasant surprise, the Assassin Queen thought, how is it a surprise if I know what it is?

Charred roads and damaged structures served as the carpet upon which the Assassin Queen strolled. A cold, dark smirk appeared on her face: troopers marked with a black XIII, a rebel symbol, were marching across the intersection.

Ana: I already know, Matty. Rubble and rebel soldiers everywhere. Just another day on the job for you and me?

Supernova: Excuse me? Where’s my thanks?

The once mighty coliseum came into full view. Emergency crafts were gradually filling with people on stretchers. Some groaned, others cried, and military policemen barricaded the area with yellow tape. They stood, mumbling to one another about what had occurred.

Chunks of Frost's armor had torn off during the fight, leaving burnt, exposed skin. The sight of Vincreir's face almost made Anastasia gag; sure, the former could regenerate, but her condition was pitiful.

Ana: You made a mess out of her, Delilah. Thanks!

Supernova: You're damned right I did. Or did you not hear what I said before I genuinely lost my shit?

Fomalhaut: Geez, wonder what would happen if a pissed off Delilah and Matthias tag teamed those two.

Crown-0667: The protectors wouldn't exist… >:)

Mei Tanaka: Delilah, you did good, but calm yourself down a little, yeah?

Anastasia ascended the stairs of the coliseum's audience section. The police didn't even bother to search for anyone to fight, Fabio was too far to bother her, most of the nobles were gone, and every slave they found was already evacuated far beyond Zudrian security’s grasp.

Everything was going well.

Crown-0667: Anastasia, Queen of War. The Zudrians did not see Delilah coming.

Mei Tanaka: But they're moving their shit around.

Ana: Sagittari, where is your contingent?

Sagittarius A-Star: Beneath the coliseum.

Ana: Excellent. I want everyone else here to launch small attacks on Zudrian tanks and infantry. But retreat almost immediately. Keep them fighting and keep them confused.

Crown-0667: Yes ma’am, I will keep them confused…

Supernova: Don’t you mean we?

Crown-0667: Oh, my sincerest condolences, Delilah.

The Assassin Queen leapt to the very top of a leftover coliseum wall. A grand city laid in her vision. Tall buildings carried bright lights, which twinkled in the rising heat of fires spreading across the city and silenced themselves one by one. Dark skies traded their black padding for a wavy, light orange. And the dress? It tore in her hands as she commanded her armor to grow to cover her instead.

Above all of the chaos, the Assassin Queen knelt, perched over a rising tide of fire and destruction, dress fluttering in the raging wind as it fell, and watching the coming of hell to Zudra.