Ch.31

[Loredas, 31st of Sun’s Height, 4E: 221]

It was just like old times. Wasn’t that a thought mixed with both exasperation and a disturbing amount of comfort? Berserker mused as he mowed down daedra while dodging magic and ensuring he was both the loudest and clearly the larger threat. A bit difficult when Neethsi was tossing around expert-level Destruction magic like they were cantrips! If the Doom Marines had someone like Neethsi at the start, they would’ve had an easier time of things.

“No point in bitching about it.” Berserker muttered as he launched a black hole grenade from one of his two shoulder-mounted launchers into a group of unfortunate daedra, watching them getting sucked into it before it stopped. “We got through things on our own terms.”

“Molag will relish in your screams, mortal!” A Xivilai roared moments before he was eviscerated by bullets.

“He will have to relish in yours for failure to deliver mine.” Berserker remarked. Shortly after that, the daedra began retreating into the Xanmeer proper, fleeing upstairs to the top instead of into the lower entrances. This couldn’t be it.

Then from the lower levels emerged the listless and shuffling over-armored enemies Meen-Rei and Shade had reported, the Juggernauts have been sent out to deal with him. “Let’s just get this over with.” Berserker huffed and sprayed bullets in their direction. They staggered, some toppled, but none of them died or was even dismembered. “Okay, next weapon.” He switched his Heavy Cannon for the Ballista, powered up the Destroyer Blade mod and charged it.

The resulting wide blade of turquoise Argent slammed into the shuffling hoard and much to Berserker’s frustration, it only dented their armor! What are these assholes wearing? “Wait, armor? Would acid work?” He questioned as he pulled out the Hell-tech Rifle; an abominable, yet deadly weapon made of flesh and metal. Changing to its alternative mode, going from red to green. “Let’s hope this works.”

Taking aim, he shot at one of their legs, seeing it stagger as the acid started eating away at the flesh the shot punched through the armor. Berserker nodded in approval as he shot at their legs, slowing them down to a snail’s pace.

“Hm, I should probably bring a piece of these things back for research. Twilight and Meen-Rei would have a field day with it.” Berserker made a mental note of it.

📜

“Okay. Is that all of them?” I panted after I shot another Harvester daedra in the face while Neethsi liberally smashed the rudimentary yet effective mortar tube with his bonemold and crystal morning star on the second floor terrace of the Xanmeer.

“Do not doubt Master Nagnaresh, atronach!” The Mazken or Dark Seducer, snarled at me and I growled at her, instinctively wanting to kill her in a display of dominance. Please don’t tell me that I’m an actual daedra. If I am, please let me be unbound and free from any specific Prince. Besides Meridia, she’s actually a bit cool unless you’re undead or sympathetic to undeath.

“Careful bitch, we might just eat you.” Shade threatened for me, but thankfully the Aureal or Golden Saint, had a better head on her shoulders and thumped the Mazken on the shoulder.

“Fool, you just threatened Master Nagnaresh’s mates. Pay more attention to these things, slut.” The richly tan daedra spat and it seemed to two were about to come to blows when Neethsi snarled.

“You two wonder why I only summon you for intense combat? I may be friends with Sheo, but I don’t stomach your petty rivalries like he encourages. I know you’re not driven by physical attraction like mortal creatures are, just please tell me what has you so obsessed with me and why I keep summoning you two specifically from a generalized spell Sheo gave me.” Neethsi huffed and then fired a green ‘flare’ of magic into the air, the signal for the pegasi to deliver the news it was time for the soldiers to approach.

“While that may be true, it does not change that we appreciate powerful entities and you are one such entity. You ceased to be mortal centuries ago and was worthy of a following before we ever met you.” The Aureal answered promptly and the Mazken nodded.

“Also, we do enjoy the pleasures of flesh, why else would we bother with having bodies of flesh if given the choice? If all we cared about was power, then we’d be atronachs or some other lesser daedra.” The Mazken leered at Shade and I. “How you two have found a balance by stealing those mortal meat-puppets I have no idea, but don’t think yourselves superior.” Oh, this bitch! I’m gonna-!

“That’s enough. You two will talk to me more in-depth later.” Neethsi grumbled and sent them back to the Shivering Isles with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Sorry, I forgot how oddly possessive they were over me, since the last time I summoned them was a few years ago.”

“Yet you remembered them?” I asked challengingly and he nodded.

“I may not remember things about people, but I do remember people. Dawn and Dusk are particularly hard to forget when they wear even less than their fellow Mazken and Aureals. You can’t deny they are quite beautiful.” Neethsi answered honestly and I shared a huff with Shade. No, we couldn’t deny that. Their abrasive behavior was off-putting through.

“Well, I didn’t like how they talked to us.” Shade snarled and I nodded in agreement.

“Neither did I, which is why I sent them away when there’s still a battle to be fought. Daedra are inherently overcome by a superiority complex, both regarding mortals and other daedra. The fact that atronachs are ordered into the lowest castes means they’ll consider you little more than clever beasts. I will be having strong words with them later, however, you both are clever and beasts in bed.” Neethsi joked and I joined Shade in kicking his armored shins.

I was inwardly trying not to feel amused and proud of his praise though. “Well, let’s go rejoin Berserker. He’s still making a big ruckus.” Shade said as she warily jogged ahead of us towards the sound of the fighting.

Shade and I paused when we saw he was battling the Juggernauts and slowly whittling them down with a brutal acid weapon that seeped through the seams of their armor and melted the flesh within. They didn’t scream in agony and continued trying to chop and smash him even as they turned into a meat slurry inside of their heavy daedric plate armor.

“What are they, daedra?” I questioned as we considered how to help.

“No. They’re not. The magic on them is daedric in origin, but they are not daedra.” Neethsi hissed uncomfortably. “What are they? Their magic, it isn’t natural, it isn’t of this realm or the planes of Oblivion.” Neethsi growled before with a few harsh gestures, the ground under the Juggernauts swallowed them up to their heads, leaving them to groan and bellow as they tried to wriggle free in vain.

“They’re unfortunate victims made into Undead super soldiers. As to who is responsible for the deed, I cannot say.” Berserker’s answer was a disturbing one as he knelt down and pulled out a chainsaw weapon in the form of a sword. Revving it up, he proceeded to cut off one of their heads and collect it. However, the moment he did, the body, armor and weapon too, turned to dust and flew back into the ruin. “Great, they have a failsafe placed on their bodies.”

Another wave of Juggernauts emerged from the ancient Xanmeer, just as numerous as the ones still trapped in the ground. “How many of them are there?” Shade asked uneasily, but Neethsi just buried them up to their necks again.

“They are the same ones that were despawned just moments ago. Killing them is difficult enough, but they just come right back. Disabling them is the answer.” Neethsi reasoned before he knelt down next to one of the altered creatures. “They are cursed, heavily. They are undying to the point that death merely respawns them like a daedra, yet they are not daedra. This magic is unknown to me, I cannot undo it.”

“Oh, fuck me.” I groaned, remembering the Undead Curse that existed in my previous life.

“Not a good time Rei, but maybe after.” Berserker gruffly joked as he looked between the Xanmeer and the direction our support would be coming from. “Now, should we wait or storm the gates like adventurers?”

“I vote wait. Can we wait?” I asked nervously, but Neethsi stood and shook his head.

“No. We need to get in there now. Molag has a new Curse to lay upon Mundus and whatever he’s plotting needs to be stopped immediately. You two can remain outside if you’re uncomfortable fighting in close quarters. I’m going in.” Neethsi hefted his morning star and strode towards the stairs.

“I’m with him ladies. The sooner this is over, the better.” Berserker followed the argonian and began ascending the steps.

“Sis, the big, beefy badasses are leaving us, I’d suggest we follow them.” Shade nervously said to me and I whined before we jogged to the stairs and began the long climb. I hate stairs! “Hey, since we’re gonna be in close quarters, maybe we should try something different.” Shade holstered her musket and transformed into her atronach body, which as always was nude, regardless of what we wore in our mortal forms.

Wait! The answer to stairs! I transformed too and sighed in relief as I floated alongside my sister up the steps. Why are our busts basketball-sized when we had C-cups in our flesh bodies? Grr, I’m not upset, just annoyed. Besides, my hefty chest isn’t about to interfere with me since they won’t get in the way of magic or even physical combat considering we float. “Much better.”

“Hm? Whoa. You two look all spooky-sexy. I knew you turned into atronachs, but I didn’t know you were super-busty fusions of fire and storm atronachs in appearance.” Berserker commented when he looked back at us and I along with Shade preened by doing a graceful flip like the fire atronachs do in Skyrim the game when idling. “You have no idea how hot that was.”

“Maybe we should do it more often?” Shade purred and I joined her in hanging off of the handsome human’s shoulders, licking my black-metal lips with my ethereal tongue. His magicka smelled spicy, something that was alluring and reminded me of Neethsi’s, but more smoky, less sweet.

“Careful, I haven’t had the courage to face them both at once yet.” Neethsi chuckled and I shared a giggle with my sister, all fear and worry fleeing in the face of naughty byplay.

“Have you fucked two Goddesses of Fertility at the same time? Trust me, it never ends. Especially when they’re very clingy and want to hide from all of reality in bed. What’s worse is I’m married to them.” Berserker snorted in amusement and I shared a disappointed expression with Shade. Right, he’s married. Open relationship or not, I’d feel really iffy without his significant others giving us permission to have fun with their husband. He sighed before muttering. “Stupid fucking crow.”

“Sorry, we’re not comfortable with cuckolding someone. Even if it’s a reverse gender situation, that still applies.” Both of us said and drifted to hang off of Neethsi’s shoulders instead, since he was already ours.

“It’s fine. No one is forcing anyone. If you don’t want to, I understand. You ain’t hurting me.” Berserker waved it off, but it made me flinch.

“But you and sis were so intimate before…” Shade mewled and I gulped with a nervous nod. I hope none of his wives will come for my ovaries.

“That was a lifetime ago, Shade.” The human stated, making my sister wilt. He wasn’t mean, he was only stating the truth. It still hurts to know it.

“Sorry if it feels like less than a month to me.” I muttered before we reached the top of the Xanmeer. “Oh fuck!” No, no, no, no! “Destroy it! Destroy the Dark Anchor!” I desperately pleaded with the two super-powerful sexy dudes, but several towering, fully armored blue-skinned warriors, both male and female dropped from the portal hidden in the cover of the Xanmeer’s open-air pavilion roof tethered to the floor by said Dark Anchor.

“Let me guess, Molag’s Chosen Champions?” Berserker asked Neethsi.

“Worse. Xivkyn. I’ll take the right, you take the left! Girls, support us!” Neethsi snarled as he hefted his mace and charged in with magic in his left hand. I followed him while Shade went with Berserker. “Rei, overcharge me!”

“Got it!” I clung to his back and pumped magicka into him. My lover practically radiated with the influx of magicka and then he channeled it through his left hand, spraying the floor with ice before spikes erupted under the enemies. All save one jumped immediately, the last one got an ice spike from the ground to the torso, but he was just tossed back by the attack while the two who dodged closed in despite the ice. “Back off!” I snarled and blinked when a pulse of blue magic created a shockwave and sent them staggering. Huh?

“Good job. Now that they’re distracted.” Neethsi tossed an orb of light at their feet-whoa~ suddenly we’re behind them! Neethsi smashed his morningstar into the neck of the one on the right and when he touched the other on the left, she turned to stone instantly! “Pulse!” Huh?! O-okay! I did the same thing I felt myself do before and another blue shockwave Pulsed out of me, leaving Neethsi untouched. This staggered the third one, who was about to attack.

I’d disrupted him mid-lunge and bought Neethsi time to spin around, thrust his morning star into the daedra’s face and then launched a point blank ice spike into his throat. This fight barely lasted a full minute! “You done over there?!” I turned to look towards Berserker, who was shaking purple daedra blood from his huge chainsword while Shade waved happily at us. He was also covered in it.

“Yes, now let’s destroy this! I remember reading that to do so we must remove the Pinions keeping it rooted!” Neethsi shouted across the way, since the portal overhead was rather loud.

“You mean these things?” Berserker tapped one of the five glowing Pinion stones around the base with his sword, only for it to bounce off. “It’s shielded. I don’t think I can destroy it without wrecking the ruin under us.”

“Shielded?” I asked, then eyed the Pinions. The magicka in them was foul and smelled like pickled liver. I don’t know how I knew what pickled liver smells like, but I think I’m about to find out how it tastes too. “W-we can deal with that.” I gulped nervously and floated down to the nearest one. I touched it and my hand passed right through the spell ward protecting it. It was as easy as pulling it out with a tug from there. “Ew. I feel all dirty.”

“Same. Like that creep Molag ran his disgusting hands over me.” Shade shivered and we both did the other three quickly before tossing the Pinions at Neethsi for him to store or dump down a trench in the ocean or something. Once that was done, Berserker and Neethsi used their melee weapons to strike and dislodge the Dark Anchor, causing it to spring back into the portal, which cracked and shattered with a maelstrom echoing with an enraged deep voice’s scream of fury

“Alright, that’s a job well done. Now we need to meet up with the soldiers and return to Lilmoth.” Berserker sighed, only for Neethsi’s dour expression after he removed his helmet to draw his attention. “What has you so upset?”

“It can’t be a coincidence. The Ebonheart Pact is fully reformed in unified war against the Aldmeri Dominion, particularly the Thalmor. The Empire is, once again, sundered. A Hero has risen in opposition.” Neethsi looked at me and I clutched my hands under my bosom fretfully. “Now, not only are the Thalmor poised to end Reality Itself, but even if they don’t succeed, our reality is also under threat of a Second Planemeld.”

“Oh, well...shit.” Berserker spat at where the Anchor had been and I hung my head.

📜

“Please tell me you didn’t just report this.” Twilight was slumped on her desk, her face buried in her hands with her ears and wings wilted. “No, don’t humor me, I know it’s true. Damn obtuse Scrolls. When they mentioned ‘reality under question from two sides’ I assumed it meant the Thalmor and it’s opposition; us. Not them and Molag Bal. Is it just Molag? Are Clavicus, Mephala and Nocturnal planning something too? What about Dagon?”

“I can’t see Nocturnal being as bad as Molag Bal. Rebellious and sneaky, but not inherently evil, but that’s besides the point. If what you say is true, then we’re gonna have to go into overdrive and start building better weapons, armor and equipment.” Berserker said as he turned to me. “Meen-Rei, you know that special hammer of yours? I’m gonna need you to build a sewing machine like that for Rarity to use to make those bodysuits, with paddings for extra protection and kinetic shock absorption-.”

“Whoa, whoa! Slow down! I’ll get right to work tomorrow. Just give me your schematics and plans and all that and I’ll get to it, after a night’s sleep to recover.” I protested and Neethsi put a hand on my shoulder in support. Shade already opted out of debrief to get drunk and sleep.

“Sorry, sorry. Here.” Berserker took a breath before handing me the plans, on a holographic card? What? How do I use this? “Oh, right. I’ll show you tomorrow, just take it for now.” I tiredly took the card and stuffed it in my cleavage. He looked at me funny. What? “You don’t have magic like that.” What? “Nevermind. I’m so used to girls having magic pocket dimension storage through their cleavage.” Huh?! That sounds cool!

“Yes. I agree that if we have the capability, we should rapidly up our arsenal in response to reality being at risk. It isn’t just our lives, it’s all lives on the mortal plane. That said, Neethsi, although you’re the master and practically the God of Alteration, we need you to continue establishing the Wayshrine network. The sooner we can slip spies across enemy borders, the better.” Twilight then looked at me. “We’re counting on you Meen-Rei. Everyone, go to bed. I’ll call for another Moot with the leaders of the Pact.”

“They’re not gonna let go on some traditions that’ll hold us back, watch out for those ones.” Berserker warned her before leaving. “I’m going for a walk, I need some time to myself. Clear my head.”

“O-or you know...we could…” Twilight spoke up and blushed as she looked at Neethsi and I in embarrassment. “Uh...talk?” Yeah. Not buying it sister.

“Not in the mood.” Berserker stated as he walked out of the office.

“Oh…” Twilight wilted so much I thought she might-why is Neethsi suddenly female? How did her armor change with her?! That’s the much more impressive part!

“Actually. After a battle I get rather...needy. At least when I’m not trying to murder my libido. I may prefer peace, but combat always gets me horny from the adrenaline and endorphins. I don’t know if Meen-Rei is up for it, especially with Shade getting drunk and ready for bed.” Neethsi patted my shoulder and I nodded.

“I’m gonna get wasted and sleep too. Have fun.” I kissed Neethsi’s cheek and left those two to vent some stress. I’ve got a mixer of restore-magicka and Hist Liquor with my name on it!

Next Chapter: Ch.32 Estimated time remaining: 13 Hours, 22 Minutes