Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Chapter 46: Long Is the Night for the Godless, part XVII



   It was a dark and particularly cold day in the Vargranian highlands. 
The whole sky was covered with thick gray clouds.  One always had the
feeling that rain could start falling any second.  Calys was more than
happy to finally leave this country.  She hadn't succeeded with the mission
the duchess had sent her on.  After seeing what Calys had seen, she wasn't
even sure whether she really wanted to succeed.  Perhaps it was for the
better if the Kapla Wolf ate up the whole Vargranian people.

   Calys had traveled together with Jio ever since they had been at the old
castle.  They only stopped once they reached Vargran, or rather Loogran,
castle.  Although it was only a replica of the original building, it was
still quite an impressive sight.  The two young women stood there for a
while, looking at the castle under the dark clouds.  Finally, Calys spoke
up.  "I guess that's where we part ways.  I want to meet the duchess one
last time and tell her what happened to the squad she sent out." Jio
nodded. "I'll enter the castle too.  I should stock up on supplies and...
well, after learning about the history of Vargran, I'm kinda interested to
see what kind of place this is nowadays."

   So they both passed the big wooden gate and entered the castle.  When
walking across the inner yard, they quickly came across a horrifying
scenery.  It were the remainders of a wooden stage that had already been
partially dismantled.  The stage seemed to be completely covered in blood
and stank horribly.  On some spots, one could still see some pieces of raw
flesh and splinters of bones.  Just what kind of terrible event had taken
place here?  Next to the stage, there were numerous puddles of vomit on the
ground.  It made the stench even worse.  The black-haired soldiers who were
disassembling the stage all wore face masks.

   A little girl staggered around the stage, crying for her mother.  In her
hands, she held some bloody rag.  Eventually, one of the soldiers took
notice of her.  She sneered at the girl.  "Look here, brat." the soldier
said.  "That's what's left of your mother." The thing she pointed at was a
small chunk of flesh.  It could've been from any body part.  The little
girl stared at the red slice of meat that was supposed to be her mother's
for a while.  Then she started to weep so bitterly that Calys almost felt
like she had to cry too.  One of the soldiers kicked the little girl in the
ass so that she fell over and landed in a puddle of blood and vomit.  The
other soldiers laughed.

   Jio writhed with disgust at the sight.  "Maybe it was a mistake to come
here..." she mumbled with a strange sense of premonition.  Even the naked
fairy on her shoulder, who usually didn't show any reaction at all, seemed
to be agitated for some reason.  Really, the tiny being trembled all over.
Gradually, Calys got worried too.  Did these two know something that she
didn't?  She looked around herself.  There was no sense of danger yet.  But
a few minutes later, the bugles were already sounding and the castle's gate
was bolted to keep the invaders out.



   Viora was close to losing it.  Why did everything have to go so horribly
wrong?  What had she done to deserve this?  She went through awful feelings
of anger, fear and helplessness.  The truce with Nergran had lasted for
decades now.  Why did these idiots have to decide to attack all of a
sudden? Viora was furious.

   After climbing a few hundred stairs to get to the top of the outer
ward's wall, she could see over the battlements and take a look at the
attacking army.  It wasn't small by any means.  This would be one hell of a
siege.  The Nergranian army was still too far away to make out any details,
but one could already see their many colorful banners flapping in the wind.
Viora clenched her fists and gnashed her teeth.  I'll make all of you drown
in your goddamn blood, she thought to herself...

   "What is the meaning of this, duchess?" Viora hurled around to see who
was speaking to her so impudently.  It was the priestess Laesa.  Viora was
quite surprised to see that this girl had climbed up all the stairs.  The
blond priestess had quite some beads of sweat on her face.  Rather than
being scared of losing her life, Laesa only seemed to be angry.  She joined
Viora in taking a look over the battlements.  "What is this army? 
Heathens? Explain yourself, duchess Viora!" Viora would have loved to throw
this annoying person off the wall.  But then everything would have been in
vain.  So she had no choice but to grin and bear it.  "These are... 
heathens, yes.  They come from a neighboring country.  We haven't had any
conflicts with them in a long time..." Laesa looked at her dismissively. 
"Well, that's what you get for allowing heathens to live next to you. 
Anyway, there's probably no sense in lecturing you right now...  there's
some members of my delegation that can assist your army in the forthcoming
fight."

   These were the first good news Viora had ever heard out of Laesa's
mouth. Laesa introduced the duchess to the fighting squad who had already
climbed up the wall.  There was Theni, the one-eyed swordswoman.  Viora
wondered if she was good for anything but cutting children into pieces. 
Then there was Lei, a stern-looking girl with big tits and a dark-green
braid that reached all the way down to her ankles.  She had a long bow in
her hand that was almost as tall as Viora herself.  And there also was this
strange woman called Narusha whose face was almost completely hidden by the
long blood-red cloak she wore.  Laesa referred to her as a "war priestess",
but it was unclear to Viora what that meant.  Originally, there should have
been a fourth girl called Beyul, but the demon huntress couldn't be found
anywhere...

   While Viora and Laesa talked, the castle's archers assumed their
positions behind the battlements.  Viora took another look at the
approaching army.  It had already gotten a lot closer.  Without saying
anything, Lei nocked an arrow and bent her bow.  Viora looked at her
worriedly.  Was this girl a fool?  "They're still too far away.  You'll
waste your arrows..." But the green-haired girl already released the arrow.
It flew high and went far.  Quite an impressive shot, each of the archers
had to admit.  But Lei didn't look after her arrow.  Instead, she had
fallen on her knees, closed her eyes and recited an earnest prayer.  Viora
could only understand the end of it.  "...goddess of destruction, grant us
your aid and let punishment rain down on our enemies!"

   Viora could hardly believe her eyes when she saw what happened next. 
Still in mid-air, Lei's arrow split into a dozen projectiles that all went
down on the Nergranian army.  Magic?  No, this was probably some kind of
divine miracle.  All the archers were stunned as well.  Laesa seemed to be
pleased by Lei's demonstration.  "This is the power that the goddesses
bestow upon the truly faithful.  We will see whether the goddesses think
that this place is worthy of their protection..." Viora was amazed by this
girl's coldblooded attitude.  Laesa seemed to be under the impression that
the goddesses wouldn't allow her to die anyway.  Viora didn't know whether
this priestess was extremely brave, faithful or crazy...  probably all of
these.

   From what Viora saw, the confidence among the castle's population wasn't
all that high.  While the soldiers had their hearts prepared for fighting,
many civilians seemed to be panicking.  She heard hectic shouting, loud
arguments, people praying for their safety, children crying...  This
castle's inhabitants weren't used to war anymore.  They would all soon
found out what price they had to pay for their Vargranian heritage...



   Something sent shivers down Neyl's spine.  It was a strange, unfamiliar
sensation.  She had felt a lot of these ever since her demonic nature had
taken over, but this one was particularly strong.  It was the premonition
of battle, of bloodshed and massacre.  It made her flesh crawl in
anticipation.  Not that Neyl was necessarily looking forward to the battle.
Rather, she felt herself magically drawn towards an event that resonated
with her very nature.

   After breaking into the castle's vault and acquiring the sword Enegoth,
Neyl had spent day and night here in complete darkness.  It had been a time
of both mental and physical recreation for her.  The sudden transformation
and the ecstatic fight against the demon huntress had left her in a state
of agitated confusion.  After her period of rest in the dark vault, she
finally felt more calm and collected.  The darkness had helped her to come
to terms with her demonic half.  Also, it had taken some time for the blade
Enegoth to fuse with her.  But now she felt complete and ready to go out.

   Neyl climbed up the stairs that led out of the vault.  Even the dim
light in the hall next to the vault's entry hurt her eyes.  The frightened
screams and shouts that she could hear from outside made her evil heart
beat faster.  Shit, this really got her in the mood...  A group of six
unarmed girls came running into the hall from outside.  Usually, commoners
like them weren't allowed here, but there were no guards to be seen
anywhere.  The girls all seemed to be scared shitless.  "If we hide in
here, they won't find us!" one of them said.  The others seemed to either
agree with her or at least have no better plan themselves.

   The scent of blood in the air made Neyl so excited that she didn't even
realize at first when she lashed into the girls.  She had become one with
the sword Enegoth by now.  It was impossible to say whether she controlled
the sword on instinct or whether the sword's instincts had taken over her
mind.  Long black thorns grew out of the blade and made it look even more
fearsome than before.  The girls only had a heartbeat's time to stare at
what was going to be their demise.

   With one sweeping slash, Neyl got four of them.  At the spots where the
demonic blade hit the girls, their flesh got ripped into pieces.  One girl
had her whole bowels torn out, another one lost both her legs.  The third
one's ribcage burst asunder under Enegoth's strike.  Literally, splinters
of her ribs rained down on the other girls.  The fourth girl's head popped
open like a tomato.  Blood and small pieces of her brain splattered all
over the wall.  This all happened within a split-second.

   The reactions of the two surviving girls were quite contrary to each
other.  While one girl was so scared that she fell on her knees and
remained frozen in place, the other one screamed like a banshee and ran
away.  But there was no way that she could have been faster than Neyl.  The
part of Neyl which got her was the one that Beyul had recently made
acquaintance with.  Neyl's stiff tentacle-cock ripped through the girl's
panties and dug into her asshole, tore through her guts and finally
penetrated her beating heart.  While that was happening, the tentacle
lifted the girl up in the air and then smashed her against the stone wall
with full force.  A big blood stain was left on the spot where the girl's
head hit the wall.  She continued to twitch for a few seconds, then she
remained lifeless.

   The last girl had curled up to a ball on the floor.  A big stain of piss
was spreading on the floor around her.  The backside of her panties was
bulging with a mass of shit that she accidentally had let go.  She softly
shook her head and sobbed.  "Please...  please don't hurt me..." Neyl had
no idea what this girl was talking about.  She didn't even know why she had
just slaughtered the other five girls.  Must have been some sort of reflex.
Anyway, now she didn't have any intentions of killing this girl.

   Instead, she gently petted the girl's silky hair.  What turned it into a
rather disturbing event was the fact that four of Neyl's fingers were
hideous claws.  The girl was so afraid that she shat herself a second time.
In the course of doing so, a loud wet fart left her asshole.  A touch of
embarrassment mixed into her mortal fear.  Her panties got so heavy that
they slid down to the back of her knees and the whole mass of shit dropped
onto the floor.  And still, this girl continued shitting...



   Fel couldn't remember ever being so excited in her whole life.  Most of
the march from Nergran to Loogran castle had actually been boring.  On the
way, she had ordered the soldiers a few times to destroy a village and
mass-rape its inhabitants.  But she had just done that to keep up morals.
For the same reason, she kept executing recruits along the way.  Literally,
every few miles on the trail from Nergran to Loogran, there was a tree with
a few dead women hanging from it.

   But when Fel had laid her eyes on Loogran castle and had realized that
this was going to be her prey, she had been completely swept away by her
own emotions.  Virian, who was walking right next to her, looked at her
master with concern.  Fel had been giggling and smiling really stupidly for
a while now.  Had her master finally snapped?

   When the first arrows were shot from the castle's walls and the deadly
projectiles rained down on her soldiers, piercing their heads, tits,
bellies and asses, Fel abruptly halted.  Her gaze was fixed at the castle
in front of them.  She stretched out both her arms.  They were visibly
trembling with excitement.  Then she shouted.  "Fuckers, come at us with
everything you have!  Arrows, swords, lances- it won't be enough!  I swear
to you, it won't fucking save you!"

   General Jaane came running towards Fel.  She seemed to be quite worried
by the unknown enemy in Loogran castle who could land shots at such a
distance.  "The enemy is already attacking!  What are your orders, Fel?"
Fel didn't look at the general and instead kept glancing at the castle. 
There was a small settlement right next to the castle's outer walls.  The
houses of people who weren't allowed to live in the castle or had chosen
not to.  The castle's gate had been closed so suddenly that most of them
hadn't had a chance to get inside in time.  Fel rubbed her hands in
anticipation.  "Start with these houses.  Everyone who opposes us shall be
killed.  The others could be used for a good gang rape..."

   Jaane obviously didn't like these orders.  "Ehm...  You might want to
consider the fact that the enemy has archers on the walls.  They can shoot
at us if we attack this village.  Also, there are probably more important
objectives, like..." Fel interrupted her with a disparaging look on her
face.  "Tell me, Jaane.  How many officers are in our army?" Jaane was
surprised at the question.  "Those are...  sixteen in total." Fel nodded
with an indifferent look on her face.  "Alright.  Tell all of them to
gather.  I think a strategic meeting is in order."

   A little later, the sixteen officers, including Jaane and her sister
Jaryn, had gathered.  It was the first time that Fel had seen all of them
at once.  These were the women that had led the army of Nergran for years.
Including their ancestors, for hundreds of years probably.  Although all of
them were skilled fighters and trained military leaders, none of them had
ever experienced a war.  Even the oldest of them had still been children
during the age of despair.  Some of them might even have had some doubts
whether it really was a good idea to attack Loogran castle...

   The strategical meeting was held in a tent that had quickly been pitched
up by the soldiers.  Eight officers sat on each side of the tent.  Fel was
the only one standing.  She took a good look at each of her subordinates.
No one spoke and it seemed to be a quite uncomfortable situation for all of
them.  Finally, Fel said something.  "Well.  Does any of you think that
they can give me some piece of advice?" It was quiet for a while.  Then one
of the younger officers spoke up.  It was a courageous woman with black
warpaint in the form of a claw on the right half of her face.  "We could
use our archers to..." Fel interrupted her immediately.  "Aha!  Mhm. 
Thought so.  Well, the thing is..." She stretched out her arms.  "...I
don't have any use for people who want to give me advice.  In other words,
you're all fired!"

   With these words, she drew her sword.  The people outside could see huge
gusts of blood splashing against the tent's walls from inside.  All of the
Nergranian officers died before they could even draw their weapon.  Enia's
masterpiece, Aelgoth, cut through their armor and bodies as if they were
thin air.  Fingers were cut off hands, hands were cut off arms and arms
were cut off the bodies just like heads, legs, tits, cocks and entire
asses. It all happened at an insane speed.  Not even a gigantic blender
could have hacked them into pieces any faster.

   When Fel was finished with them, it was impossible to say which body
part had belonged to whom.  It was all just one big mess of flesh, guts and
pieces of armor.  The tent's floor was completely covered in fresh blood.
Fel looked at the blood-smeared blade in her hands with fascination.  She
had known it.  This was it.  With this sword, she finally felt complete.

   When Fel walked outside the tent, her long yellow cape was soaked in
blood.  The soldiers looked at her in fear and awe.  Anyone could end up
being her next victim.  But instead of further killing, Fel began shouting
her commands.  She didn't need any officers.  Her voice was loud and the
soldiers feared her so much that they would have done anything she said. 
"Recruits, get the battering rams and break that fucking gate!  Soldiers,
go over to these houses and make a rape-fest!  As soon as the gate is open,
go inside and kill everyone!  Archers and catapults, shoot everyone in your
fucking sight who isn't a part of this army!  And if these lazy recruits
get out of line, then shoot them in the ass!" The soldiers shouted with
approval and then the madness began...