Some ways away from Dante and the ladies. Screams of horror and despair echoed throughout a small settlement. The makeshift shacks and old buildings were assaulted by flames. Numerous women fled their modest homes set ablaze. One little girl unfortunately tripped in her panic and fell to the ground. If she was running from the flames then she’d probably be fine, but the fire was the least of her fears. A feminine figure soon advanced upon her. Patches of scales tainted her body. Her eyes glowed a menacing red with the appearance of a reptile about to slaughter its prey.

“No…! Please!” the girl cried out as tears ran down her face, which was stained with blood. However, her pitiful act was only met with a merciless grin, as the scaled woman erupted claws from her fingers. The little girl could only stare in despair at what stood before her. Suddenly with a loud shout, a woman appeared, with a sword in hand, she slashed the assailant back. The fallen girl watched in absolute shock, as the familiar woman stood between her and the monstrous woman.

“Tina, are you alright?” the armed blond woman asked as she glanced back at her.

“Aunty!” the girl shouted out as she continued to cried.

“Where’s your mother?” as she asked that more tears began to well up in the young girl’s eyes.

“Mamma, s-she was with m-me, then this lady appeared a-and Mamma, s-she screamed out, then red, there was so much red…all over her!”

“I see…” the woman gripped her blade as she turned to face the attacker, “head to the forest, I’ll deal with this… thing!” the woman said as she took her fighting stance.

“You got here fast, guess I should have expected as much from a knight maiden,” another woman said as she helped the fallen girl up.

“That’s ex- knight maiden,” the blonde woman rebutted.

“You heard your aunt, go on quickly, we’ll handle this,” the other woman sent off the young Tina, after which she also took up an offensive stance.

The creature seeing the two opponents before it let out a loud screech. It wasn’t long until others like it appeared, some with enlarged claws, others with torches in hand, and even some with ravenous jaws. The two women glanced at each other before giving a chuckle.

“It’s going take more than a few uglies to take us down, right ladies!” one of the women shouted out. Then, numerous other women all armed to various degrees, from makeshift weapons and armor to professionally crafted gear, all appeared taking up stances alongside the first two. “Let’s show them what happens when they mess with our little village.”

“Is this contraption a relic of the heavens?!” Lacey said as she gazed around the jeep. Dante couldn’t help but laugh internally as he saw her expression filled with bewilderment and amazement.

“It’s called a jeep, it’s a contraption which has a thing called an engine that uses fuel to move the wheels without a horse,” Marilyn explained while she used her tracking spell. Dante couldn’t help but be impressed that she recalled what he thought her.

“The whole thing’s way more complex but that’s the simple version of it,” Dante voiced as he continued to steer the vehicle through the forest terrain while Marilyn directed him based on the spell.

Even though he isn’t really surprised by most things now considering his situation and the world he’s in now. Dante couldn’t help but ponder on how magic like tracking spells would have made his army days easier. Those intelligence guys would have definitely loved it. He thought.

“Ugh… can you all s-shut up-” Kayla suddenly grabbed her mouth. Her face was as pale as a ghost as she tried to speak, “and you…! Can-can’t you go slower!” she complained to Dante as she fought against the rising pressure from inside her.

“Kayla you don’t look so good, are you sure you’re fine,” Marilyn asked.

“If you’re really not well, we should stop for a bit,” Lacey also spoke as she saw her condition.

“I-I’m fine! I’ll get used to this contraption in no tim-” she caught another burp on her mouth. “just… go a little easier…p-please.”

Dante glanced back at the sickly Kayla, while he wanted to cover as much ground as possible, it wouldn’t sit right with him to have Kayla suffer like that. However, before he could voice his decision something caught everyone’s eyes.

“Is that be smoke?” Marilyn was the first to ask as they looked up ahead and saw the thick plume of smoke that rose to the skies above.

“That’s… could it be?” Lacey spoke as she looked at the dark smoke.

“You know something?” Dante asked.

“If I remember right, there should be a village in this part of the forest.”

“You think that cloud of smoke is from there?” he sent an inquisitive glanced back at Lacey.

“Yes, but-!” Lacey’s words were interrupted by a surprised cry which left Marilyn’s mouth.

“What’s wrong?!” everyone asked, but as the bright, rapid blinking light entered their view it became obvious.

Marilyn with a smile on her face spoke, “Moyra… she’s close!”

The blonde woman struggled to stand back up as streams of deep red escaped her body. The few remaining fighters were bruised and wounded, while the rest laid with their bodies charred or in pools of blood. Surrounded by the scaled women, one mysterious female figure stood among them. Armored in black and donned a helm shaped like a dragon’s head and armed with a sword that glowed red with power.

“Argh! Unhand me!” the female warrior struggled as the black-armored assailant held her up by her hair.

“Such a strong will, you all were a fine conquest,” she looked at the woman in her grasp then towards the others as she continued, “no doubt the Madame will be pleased to have all of you.” She said.

“I’d rather shove mucks up my nethers,” the female warrior said as she spat onto the black-armored woman’s chest piece, while the others readied their weapons once more.

“It seems that you and your comrades have failed to realize your positions,” as she spoke her sword began to glow red once more, “I shall use you as an example.” she gripped the woman’s hair tighter as she raised her up more.

“W-what are you-!” her words soon stopped while her eyes gaped open as the woman’s magic sword reflected in her eyes, “n-no wait stop!”

The other female fighters could only watch as what would soon be shown before them, as the scaled women stood in their way.

Blade in hand and with one single slash, blood sprinkled out as her body collapsed to the ground. The woman’s head still hanged in the air from her gripped hair as the deep red liquid dripped from its severed connection. Everyone could only stare at the horrific sight before them, their bodies quaked while some couldn’t even stand or even hold in their stomachs. All except one that was.

“You’ll pay for that!” the woman yelled, as both a comrade and as an ex-knight maiden there’s no way she could ever allow her to get away with that. Her cry of anger was enough to snap some of the fighters back to their senses as they gripped onto their weapons once more.

“The Madame did say she needed more live humans; I wonder if she’ll mind if they’re missing a few parts?” the black-armored lady said as her sword glowed brighter in her grasp.