I Only Love My Greatest Enemy

The nobles, along with whatever commoners were guests in the feasting hall, were all seated at their various tables. Count Staufer and Marshal Ludwig sat at the lord's seat of the hall, and the Landsknechts were on guard duty with Count Staufer's men.

Eris smiled.

"It looks like we're about to start the auction," she said.

"Yes," Armand replied. "Everything's going well."

Several servants brought a number of items to the hall. As they did, a strange noise came into the room. It was like the faintest whispers of a haunting melody. Most of the people there dismissed it as someone singing a song.

"That song sounds familiar," Eris thought. "But I can't place it."

Armand felt his chest sieze up. His face broke out in a cold sweat. The boy started hyperventilating.

"Now that everyone's here and this morning's meal is over, it's time to start the auction! All proceeds will go to fighting the second wave of the Nosfer plague," Count Staufer announced.

Eris didn't even hear him. Her attention was 100% on Armand. She placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Armand, are you alright? Are you sick?" she asked.

Images flashed through Armand's mind, memories of a time before and after them. He saw men in full armor get torn to pieces like straw dolls. Warriors with decades of experience were mowed down like wheat before a scythe. Claws tore, teeth rended, and blood covered Armand's vision.

The rest of the people in the room were focused on the items the servants were bringing up. Eris was the only one paying attention to Armand. She felt his forehead, sweat drenching her hand.

"This isn't good. You're burning up," Eris said. "I'll take you to a doctor."

Armand grabbed her hand. He shook his head.

"We need...tell...everyone...run," he muttered.

One of the servants unveiled a painting of a beautiful woman.

"Up first for the auction," Count Staufer announced. "Is the Moniqua Lissette, a Buiceni Original. We'll start the bidding at 100 silver pieces."

The haunting melody got louder. A look of sheer terror crossed Eris' face as she finally recognized it.

"Oh, shit," Eris said.

She only heard this melody once, while Armand had numerous times, but Eris would never forget it.

"We have to get out of here," she tugged on Armand's arms. "Now. Move."

He shook his head.

"No. We have to warn everyone," Armand stated.

Various nobles were bidding around them. The two ignored them.

"They wouldn't believe us. Let's go," Eris said.

"You go. I'll warn them," he spoke before thinking. "Dammit, Eris, just run. Be selfish. Get out of here while you still can. Don't worry about me."

She gave him a glare that could cut ice.

"I'm not leaving without you," Eris said before thinking. "Dammit, Armand. Why do you have to be a hero now of all times?"

Then, the sound of screams blasted into the hall. It drowned out the haunting melody. The bidding stopped as all eyes turned to the door. Marshal Ludwig shouted.

"Men, form a defensive line!" he ordered.

The guards and Landsknechts rushed towards the door. They got in formation between the guests and it, halberds and greatswords at the ready. Various nobles reached for their personal weapons. Count Staufer whispered an order to some of his other servants. Some of them ran to the castle's upper floors to try to get a better view of the courtyard. Others grabbed arquebuses and started loading them.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Armand uttered, flashes of gore filling his vision. "We're too late."

"Not yet," Eris grabbed him.

She yanked Armand down as hard as she could. He didn't resist, and the two ducked under the table.

Then, the screaming died down. Utter silence overtook the room. One of the servants ran down, fear clear in his eyes. He ran over to Count Staufer, whispering to the lord in a frantic rave. A look of utter disbelief crossed Staufer's face.

There was a loud crashing sound, and the doors burst open. Splinters of wood flew everywhere as the haunting melody flowed into the room. The guards and Landsknechts stood firm, even as splinters cut across the unarmored parts of their bodies. Then, they felt like their hearts stopped beating.

Eight polar bear-sized creatures ran into the room. They looked like a mad god had tried to create a wolf and gave up halfway through. Their jaws were caked with gore.

One of them rushed right into the wall of halberds and greatswords. Streaks of pale blue coated the creature's hide as the weapons grazed its flesh, but they didn't go deep from the monster's charge alone. The monstrous wolf's jaws clenched upon a man's arm and tore it from its socket. Blood sprayed everywhere.

Another wolf tore a man's breastplate off with its jaws before disembowling him with a swipe of its paw. Panic flashed through the soldiers, who turned and fled.

The monsters flowed into the chamber with no one to stop them. As they moved, the haunting melody got louder.

There was a crack of gunfire as pistols and arquebuses were shot at the wolves. One of the creatures went down, pale blood leaking from its eye. The rest tore into the guests, nobles and commoners alike, tearing off chunks of flesh. Screams echoed throughout the hall but they weren't enough to drown out the song.

Armand and Eris looked on as blood pooled on the floor. It flowed under the tables, soaking into their clothes.

"Dammit! With all these dead nobles, our knowledge of the future won't be as valuable as it was before," Eris thought. "Focus on that later, Eris. Right now, you need to survive."

Rozwiazly's voice boomed through the room.

"Wind strike!"

A blast of wind slammed into a wolf monster that was on the verge of biting down on a man's skull. The creature was sent flying back, crashing into a wall. There was a loud snapping sound as the wolf's ribs cracked.

It let out a growl and charged Rozwiazly. Another wolf joined it, attempting to flank him.

"Wind barrier!" he shouted.

Air moved around Rozwiazly in a circle, hitting the wolves in their faces. They slowly pushed through it. Rozwiazly looked on in shock and terror as the creatures inched toward him.

Armand reached into his clothes and pulled out a grenade. Eris looked at the boy's face as he did.

"There's no light in his eyes. Armand isn't thinking," she thought. "He must have done this hundreds of times in the later disasters."

One of the wolves pressed its head to the table. It pushed hard, flipping the furniture over. The monster lunged at Eris and Armand. This creature's jaws were open so wide they could see into its throat.

Quick as a flash, Armand lit the grenade's fuse. He threw it into the wolf's mouth. The monster gagged as the bomb lodged in its throat. Eris and Armand leaped away from the wolf.

Boom.

The grenade exploded in the wolf's neck. It fell to the ground, dead. Armand pulled out a pistol and looked around the room. He surveyed the situation with empty eyes.

Rozwiazly leaped to the side at the last minute, narrowly avoiding certain death as the wolves closed in on him. The spellcaster pressed his hand right at the wolf's skull.

"Wind strike!" he shouted.

The monster's head snapped around. It's spine cracked. There was a growl as the other wolf wheeled on him, jaws aiming for his head. Rozwiazly's eyes had an acceptance of death in them.

"Even I can't survive decapitation," he thought.

There was a crack as Armand fired his gun. Pale blood oozed out of the wolf's eyes as it fell dead, crashing into Rozwiazly. He let out a gasp of pain as his leg broke; however, Rozwiazly put his hands on his leg. They glowed, and his wound mended.

Marshal Ludwig withdrew his dusack from the chest of one of the wolves. The creature's breath faded as it died. Two others stood dead around him. Nearby, another wolf had been slain. Several men lay dead at its feet, and the survivors were chopping the creature into tiny pieces with their weapons.

The stench of death filled the hall. Blood, bodies, and gore coated the room. Groans and screams still emanated from the injured. Rozwiazly's eyes were filled with panic as he ran to the nearest hurt person and started healing her, shoving her intestines back into her body before using his magic.

All this time, the melody had never stopped.

Armand and Eris got up. They started pushing some of the smaller tables into a makeshift defensive barrier, Armand placing their pistols and grenades on the ground near them for easy access.

"What...what in the name of gods...were those monsters?" Count Staufer stuttered out.

His brother was pale with fear, despite having killed three of the wolves with just a one-handed sword.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like them before," he said.

Marshal Ludwig didn't waste any time.

"Get back in formation!" he ordered. "This time, don't freeze up!"

Whatever men remained stumbled back into a line. Some of the halberds had broken, and those guards had their swords in hand. All of them trembled with fear.

"Please, please, Marshal Ludwig. Please tell me it's over," Count Staufer begged.

The Marshal's eyes had no hope in them. He pointed at Armand.

"I saw that man kill two of those abominations. He knew exactly what to do. He fought them before, and he's getting ready for more fighting," Ludwig said.

Count Staufer felt a string of vomit well up inside him. Other people in the hall, those who were lucky enough to not be occupied with horrible injuries, felt the same.

"Anyone with a gun, take a flanking position!" Luwdig ordered. "Infantry, move back to give the gunners some space!"

The nobles that could move, some healed by Rozwiazly, and had firearms moved to the sides of the hall. At the same time, the guards and mercenaries did as Ludwig commanded.

As everyone moved, the haunting melody got louder. The words were like a vague static of nonsense that was somehow both beautiful and horrifying.

"That song..." Count Staufer shivered as he aimed his arquebus. "It's almost like a dirge."

A sickly green fog wafted into the room. It floated over everyone, drenching them in coldness. They felt like a ghost was passing through them.

Then, the sound of footsteps accompanied the dirge. They sounded like they were made by something hollow and heavy.

Eris and Armand adjusted their aim. They had a pistol in each hand, using the overturned table as a rest for one arm while keeping their other hung at their side. The two pinpointed where the melody was coming from and aimed their guns there.

A figure appeared in the fog. It looked like a woman wearing robes. Its hair stretched down to the ground. This creature didn't have feet and floated above the ground, yet its movement made footsteps.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Before the figure could come into full view, Armand and Eris emptied their guns at it. They pulled out more pistols and fired them too. The other gunners took this as their signal and unleashed hell.

Smoke accompanied the fog. The sound of thundering guns filled the hall, joined by an acrid scent. Still, the figure moved forward. She came into full view.

Her hair was stretched thin and so oily that a trail of liquid passed down the floor below her. This creature's skin was blue like a corpse frozen in ice. She had sunken-in eyes that contained an infinite malice, raw hatred radiating off her. There was a veil on the monster's face, and her robes were bridal gowns. Sharp fingernails, quickly growing to the length of spears, came from her hands. While the woman had numerous gun wounds in her body, no blood came out.

Armand and Eris lit their grenades and threw them at the monster. The woman gazed at the bombs with empty eyes. She swung her fingernails, cutting one in half. But the other exploded. Chunks of flesh flew out of the woman, and shrapnel embedded in her body.

The creature rushed towards them, swinging her fingernails. Eris and Armand ran. Behind them, the table was bisected. They threw bombs back. One of the explosions blew the monster's face off. What was underneath after the explosion was a mess of muscle and bone. It kept charging.

"Wind strike!" Rozwiazly shouted.

His hand was thrust forward, aiming at the woman. She was hit hard in the side and went flying. The monster crashed into the wall. Countless cracking noises echoed through the hall as its bones shattered.

It got right up from that blow. The monster's arms were mangled, twisting in all directions. Yet, it moved them as if they were perfectly fine. Then, the woman disappeared.

Rozwiazly felt a great pain flash through his body. The creature was behind him. She swung her fingernails, lopping off one of his arms. He let out a scream of agony.

One of the nobles next to Rozwiazly had finished reloading his pistol. She pointed it at the monster's head and pulled the trigger. There was a bang as its blood and brains splattered.

The woman turned to her as if nothing had happened. It swung its fingernails, and the noble didn't even scream. Half of her body fell to one side. Half fell to the other.

"Charge!" Ludwig shouted.

He ran forward at the creature.

"We'll cut that damn thing to tiny pieces!"

His voice reached the infantry, who rushed at the monster. A halberd came at its head. The woman swung her arm, and the polearm was cut in half. A greatsword swung at the monster. It suffered the same fate as the halberd.

The creature swung its arm again. Its fingernails cut right through a guard's armor. His body fell in two, intestines spilling on the ground. With another flash of its arm, the monster severed a mercenary's leg.

A halberd stabbed the woman from behind. It turned, slicing through the polearm with one hand while slitting the guard's throat with the other. Ludwig sliced through what should have been her lower body. The creature's stomach and hips fell to the ground, revealing that it had no legs. But the rest of it stayed up.

There was a swing of fingernails, and Ludwig jumped back. A slight cut formed on his forehead. However, he managed to avoid certain death.

Greatswords, halberds, and even some one-handed swords rained on the monster. Steel, flesh, organs, and blood flew everywhere. Then, one of the woman's arms was severed from her body.

Relief flowed through the mercenary who severed it. His feelings were short-lived when the arm swung around, cutting off his foot. The man fell to the ground, and the fingernails cut his face off.

Eris and Armand ran over. The former had a piece of cloth in her hands while the latter had a jar of oil and a burning torch. They hesitated to move forward as the creature's other arm swung around, sending a head flying from its neck.

Then, a halberd severed that arm from the woman's body. Eris ran over to the nearest severed arm and threw the cloth over it. Armand splashed oil on the fabric before pressing the torch to it. There was a great sound like a mixture of drying and melting. The monster let out a massive scream of pain despite the arm being severed, and her attention focused on Armand and Eris.

It lunged forward. Her face transformed into a gaping maw, bottomless like a black hole. Ludwig jumped forward. He swung his sword, and the monster's head flew from its body. The severed head bit and gnawed even as it rolled on the ground.

Eris grabbed a tablecloth and threw it on the other arm. Armand set it ablaze. Once more, there was a scream of pain, but this was muffled out by Eris covering the head. It was set on fire with the body soon joining it.

The stench of melting flesh filled the hall.