“Some idiots are like ghosts of the past. They come back when you expect it the least.”

-Antioch

***Outer Rim***

***Silith***

'We have to stop this!' I communicate secretly to Lisandra and Fiona. The other two women are sitting with Antioch and me on the throne-bench, and together we are listening to the offensive speech which is delivered to us by a random Demon who returned from a recent battle with a Cyber fleet.

And to think that we dressed up in nice clothes for this event...

At first, I didn't think much of this person's request to speak with us, thinking that he might have a few good suggestions regarding our tactics.

It also seemed like this official reception would go well until more and more people entered the throne room, claiming that they were invited to this event. They indeed were invited, but not by us.

Upon first glance, the smug visitor who goes by the name of Raimund seemed like a quite capable fellow. Larger than Antioch, quite muscular and with red skin, he is a handsome version of a Demon male. He shone in our battle against the Cyber outpost and proved his worth and capabilities.

But then he started his speech in front of us and the crowd. It quickly became evident that he just sought to gain more power by challenging our authority.

He also brought quite a group of followers to act as witnesses. That's not good. Not good at all. What if the situation gets violent?

'We could order him to go away,' my sister suggests. 'Our horns give us that capability, aside from instant communication with our subjects.' She quickly looks towards Jenny and Martin who are also coincidentally present. Either because they are in on this, or because they were also invited by the offending party. I suppose that the latter is the case and that they, like a few other fellows, aren't in on this.

Fiona raises her finger to her chin, studying Raimund with an incredulous expression. 'Guys, the name is so familiar, but I can't place him. It feels like I met him before.'

I study Raimund, but the large, muscled fellow rings no bells. His face is handsome with strong, defined cheekbones, but I am relatively sure that I've never seen him before. It's not like I know that many people, so it's doubtful that I've forgotten him. Maybe Fiona met him in the V.C.?

My eyes dart back and forth between him and the crowd. The throne room is filled with people in high positions, the perfect scene for a power play. I feel reminded of one of those old movies in which the king is questioned and challenged for his power.

Seemingly unaware of what this is ramping up to, Antioch raises a hand to stop the other Demon's speech. It's not like he said anything of real importance up until now.

“Excuse me, Raimund. What you are saying is all true. Our system is based on having the most capable people in positions of power. We don't care about votes or how likable a character is. You really don't have to explain the same point in so many different ways, unless you like hearing yourself talk. I fail to see the reason for your visit.”

Raimund turns his brown eyes away from the crowd and his red skin turns a shade darker, almost as if he is blushing because of his anger. I can't fail to notice that one muscle on his strong neck is twitching involuntarily.

“Impossible!” he suddenly screams us. “Are you guys serious!? You have completely forgotten about me!?”

Antioch narrows his eyes and sucks his lips into his mouth, something which he does often when he is thinking hard. “Am I supposed to know you?”

“Yes! After all, I am the one who will take your throne and your women! I've worked hard these past few years to become stronger than you will ever be! I was out there, fighting the enemy and doing quests while you guys were slouching away on that ridiculous throne of yours.”

Antioch pulls his eyebrows together and looks at me. “Do we know a Raimund?”

I shake my head and fearing the worst outcome, I place a hand on Antioch's knee. “This must be some kind of misunderstanding. We should stay calm and try to resolve the situation.” Yes. There is no reason to fall into a blood-rage.

Your authority isn't challenged and we girls are safe. If everyone stays calm and collected, then nobody will ever find out about my second mess-up when I locked in our species-design prematurely.

“Now I remember! Raimund!” Fiona flicks her fingers and points at the large demon in front of us. “It's been a while! To meet you again like this. How did you get past the recruitment filter? No, forget that. You really went through the trouble of joining the Lifers, just to get back at us? Just for being spaced once!?”

Nonono! Just be silent!

But Fiona, who is sitting on Antioch's other side, turns to my mate. “Do you remember the guy who threatened to take away Silith? The one who you spaced back then when Martin, Jenny and I hadn't joined you yet? That Raimund!”

Antioch's left eye twitches and a dim, red light appears in his eyes. “Now I remember...”

“Ha!” Raimund calls out. “Finally. So you will understand if I challenge your right to rule. If the most capable individual should be on the throne, then you have no place up there.” He draws a knife, since entrance to the royal quarters is only possible by passing through an electromagnetic field which renders most weapons useless or sets them off, making it easy for the guards to deal with security risks.

His followers silently move in front of the exits, blocking them off. I have no idea what he promised them, but if this fails then they are fucked too. There is no way that we won't find them afterwards.

Though, after this is over, I want to have at least a few trusted guards in the throne room.

Raimund points his dagger at Antioch and the tribal rune-script on his skin flashes brightly. “Today, I will finally take your throne and your women!”

'I am nobody's woman!' Fiona communicates, slightly offended.

'We have to stop Antioch,' I exclaim. 'There is no way that he has as many skillpoints as that guy! It's true that he spent years with administration work.'

At least the other demons in the room seemed a little uncomfortable when Raimund proclaimed his intention to take us as his women. They clearly didn't know what creepy thoughts went through the guy's head.

“You creepy bastard! Oh, I hope that you didn't come out of one of our spawning chambers!” Lisandra gets to her feet. 'I will-'

But Antioch gets up before I can stop him. When I reach out to hold onto his clothes, he surprises me by unbuckling his belt.

Fiona fans her face. 'Oh, my that's-'

'-certainly not the right time for that!' Lisandra finishes.

“What are you doing!?” Raimund asks, equally perplexed.

“Punishing naughty children!” Antioch screams with a mighty roar, so angry that I flinch back. There is so much raw emotion in this single shout that the whole crowd takes a collective step backwards.

He lunches forward, swinging the belt like a whip.

Raimund raises his hand. He is shell-shocked by the insane attack but recognises his chance at quickly killing his opponent. Blocking the belt with a hand, while stabbing his opponent to death would conclude the battle. Instead of evading Antioch's attack, Raimund steps forward.

But before the larger demon can bring his dagger to bear, the belt strikes Raimund's arm and sears straight through it with a resounding 'crack'.

The severed arm falls to the ground with a wet 'thud' and lies there while Raimund is staring at his amputated stump with disbelief. It was severed right in the middle of his elbow, spurting silvery blood all over the floor.

“The Legendary Belt of the One true Father has struck you! Your arm is permanently removed from the game!? What shit is this!?” he squeals at the top of his lungs, causing everyone in the room to step back further. Then several different emotions are displayed on his face as he reads over his system messages. “A 'Naughty' debuff? What kind of-”

He doesn't get any further, as Antioch kicks him in the belly and cuts him off.

My mouth opens involuntarily as I process Raimund's words. An item which causes permanent damage? That's something no one wants to deal with.

Raimund recovers quickly and I gasp when he stabs at my mate, but Antioch grabs the blade with a wicked expression on his face and after a short moment of struggle between the two, it's clear that Raimund's weapon could as well be some sort of stick in my mate's hand.

The larger Demon is struggling like a toddler while Antioch holds onto the dagger's blade. But for some reason Antioch is immovable.

Raimund's muscles strain and a moment later the blade breaks at the haft, leaving him with just the handle. “Imposs-”

Antioch steps forward and head-butts the larger demon, sending him sprawling with a shower of blood and teeth.

Not beaten completely, Raimund gets onto all fours, which Antioch abuses by stepping onto the Demon's back.

My own jaw drops as Raimund is pushed down effortlessly. It's like Antioch is much heavier than his physique suggests, even outmatching a heavy-weight like Raimund.

Grinning wickedly, Antioch raises his belt and brings it down several times in rapid succession on Raimund's butt. Each strike rips open the cloth and cuts deep into flesh. Seemingly satisfied with the bloody mess, the belt is brought down on Raimund's shoulders next.

The room is completely silent, except for the upstart's screams.

Antioch drops the belt and grabs one of Raimund's flailing arms. Stepping down on the Demon's shoulder-blade, he pulls. There is the tender snapping of bone, muscles and tendons; strangely audible amidst the demon's screams.

Not one for wasting time, Antioch swings Raimund's arms like a golf club and I recognize the hours of learning the game under Jill's tutelage. The man's screams lessen under the continuous 'whack, whack' of being beaten senseless with his own arm.

Stepping off of his victim, Antioch bends down and rolls Raimund onto his back.

To my utter horror, Raimund seems to be still conscious when Antioch pushes his fingers between Raimund's lips. I wince when there is a strange, sucking sound and Raimund's throat displays some strange, convulsing motions as Antioch's hand is pulled back, ripping out his victim's tongue.

Lisandra turns around and empties the insides of her stomach behind our throne-couch.

I close my own eyes when Antioch turns around and reaches between Raimund's legs. That's nothing I want to see.

After silently counting to ten, trying my best to ignore the sounds, I open my eyes and close them yet again as quickly as possible. What was Antioch doing with his hand inside Raimund's chest cavity?

Giving it another twenty seconds, I hum, trying my best to get rid of the memory.

When Raimund's whimpering finally stops after a long minute, I open my eyes, finding Antioch standing above the gruesomely victimized... parts... bits... and pieces of the offender.

Huffing, my mate turns to the crowd of Raimund's supporters and lets out a roar, throwing the 'censored' of his victim at someone in the front row.

That causes them to lose their nerves and all of them scramble for the exit. Within moments, the throne room is empty except for the four of us and I sigh in relief when I realize that Antioch didn't hunt them down one by one.

Lisandra stops heaving and turns back to find out why Antioch screamed like an enraged animal. Her eyes flicker from our mate to the display of violent art which he created on our floor. She turns back and starts retching again.

I cover my face with both hands but leave free spaces between my fingers to watch Antioch who is slowly regaining his senses.

'That was so sexy!' Fiona communicates on our private chat. 'Let's reward him!'

'That was barbaric!' Lisandra screams in my mind, still trying hard to wring the last drops of popcorn out of her guts.

Antioch tilts his head and regards his hands which are covered with silvery blood. Looking down, be trails his shoe through the mess at his feet. “I am a little at a loss here.”

Still not looking at us, he wipes his hands on his ceremonial uniform – without success. His whole body is covered in blood and gore. “Could someone tell me what happened?” He slowly turns around. “Silith?”

“Yes, Silith?” Fiona looks at me with an equally incredulous expression.

“It's...” I try to smile. “Perfectly normal!”

Antioch looks down and then at me. “Normal?”

“Yes, you see, it's actually an old story and I already paid the price for it. Back then, when I finalized our race's traits, I fucked up and locked in one of the old versions.” I rub my face, not looking at them.

“I thought you just forgot to take out a single instinct package, the mating frenzy?” Fiona asks with a doubtful expression as her tail curls into a question mark behind her.

“Yeah, well. There are a few other things.” I quickly raise my hands when Antioch's eyebrows rise higher and higher. “All minor stuff of course!”

He looks down at himself, at the mess on the floor, and back to me.

“Except for that!” I admit. “I thought it would be cool to have you...” Errr, that sounds wrong. “... men, fight for their loved ones. So if a boy really loves a girl, and that girl is threatened...” My voice trails off. How can I explain this?

“You don't have to fumble around like that. We know about the flowers and the bees,” Fiona urges me on.

“Yes. Well. If they see their loved one's life threatened, the guys get a buff called Bloodrage. It basically makes them stronger and faster, and angry. But it's really hard to get the conditions right to activate it, so you don't have to worry too much about it. You need someone you really love from the bottom of your heart and their life has to be on the line.”

Fiona places both hands on her generous chest. “That's so romantic!”

“Something is wrong with you, Sis!” Lisandra complains.

Well, I can't really dispute that.

“We have to clean this up.” Lis finally gathers the courage to look at Antioch, but she has to cover her mouth with both hands.

“No. We have to reward our saviour. What fortune that the belt is already off.” Fiona licks her lips and I shoot her a glare.

Antioch retireves his belt and puts it back on.

“Aw...” The horny Fi snaps her fingers.

“I need a bath.” Antioch turns and walks towards the door and keeps mumbling, “It's been over a decade. These occurrences shouldn't surprise me in the least. Why do I even care? It's not like...”

“W- wait!” I get up. “I'll join you!”

I quickly glance at Fi and Lis. 'He isn't mad at me? Right? Please tell me that he isn't mad!'

'You are in so much trouble, Sis. If not with him, then with me!' Lisandra shoots me a glare that could melt iron.

'We just have to join him in the bath and everything will be forgiven,' Fiona states, sounding utterly serious. 'I've never met a man who wouldn't be pleased about a little bubble-time.'

I ignore them and follow Antioch.