Chương 77: Day Seventy-Seven

Dear Diary, This holier-than-thou bitch decided to come into my town and fuck around with my family. Now she's about to find the fuck out. I stood at the base of the steps in front of the Moon Temple, staring up at the guards flanking the door, one on either side. They held bows, arrows nocked, ready to draw and loose the moment I moved.

"Saffron, how many exits does the Moon Temple have?" Saffron slipped off of Marie's back as she stood up.

"Two. This one and the Priestess' entrance to the rear."

"Make sure nobody leaves. Marie, keep her safe." I didn't have time to listen to Saffron's outraged squeak or Marie's answering growl. I didn't think about it; I just Shaped Mana and threw it at the guards as I leapt for the door. They drew and shot as I jumped. The arrows hadn't flown more than a foot before they ricocheted off of the inside of the Filtration Wards I'd slapped around each of them. I didn't have time to fight every fucking stooge between me and Isnomi.

I dove for the door, and it shattered under my shoulder. You still with me, Boss? Something dangled from my left ear, so close whatever it was must be hiding under my hair.

"Where you go, I follow, my Champion." I sprinted, the spears of the guards inside the doors missing me as I plunged forward, charging down the hallway in front of me. I gathered Mana, pouring as much of it as I could into a Shape as I ran. Footsteps sounded behind me, at a guess the guards chasing me, but I gave not a single shit as I shoulder charged my way into the crowd at the end of the hallway. I charged into the floor level of a huge amphitheater, seats stretching up to each side.

Some part of me felt guilty as the crunch of broken bones and the thump of bodies being thrown out of my path made their way to my ears, but as I used one of the fallen faithful's body as a springboard to leap over some of them I saw the dais at the front of the amphitheater. I saw the High Priestess, her hands held above her head, a dagger clutched in them, screaming something about defiant mortals and the greater Glory of Artemis.

I saw a faint thread of Mana rising into the sky from that dripping dagger, pointing directly at the half moon hovering in the sky above the Temple. I saw the altar she stood behind, blood already dripping from it. I saw Isnomi, lying on that altar. Rage engulfed me, and that rage filled the Shape I'd been holding; it flew upward, exploding into a dome that covered the Temple like a roof. The dome of a Filtration Ward, set to filter out light.

I charged forward through the crowd of wireframe human-shaped obstacles that separated me from my goddaughter, no longer caring who went home bruised, who went home broken, and who went home in a body bag. Some of the crowd grabbed at me, and Mana Blades sprang from every part of me. I spun forward, leaving steaming chunks of meat in my wake. The dagger plunged down, and Isnomi's screaming cry drowned out every other sound in the Temple.

The bitch with the knife scrabbled around with one hand until she found the baby lying on her fucking altar. She lifted the dagger with her other hand, and once again I used the fallen in front of me as a springboard, lunging forward, trying to put myself between Isnomi and the knife. The knife plunged again. Halfway to Isnomi it plunged through my left hand. Then it continued down until the point of the blade plunged into the altar under Isnomi. Isnomi's scream cut off mid-cry.

I wrapped my hand around the guard and hilt of the dagger, yanking it out of the bitch's hands. She spluttered something, I didn't listen, groping around until I found Isnomi's tiny, warm, still hand. I wrapped it around the dagger hilt, holding it there with my dying left hand. I felt the Mana flowing out of her into the dagger, up to my hand. A trickle of Mana left the back of my hand, following the dagger's point to rise into the sky toward the distant Moon. The bitch leaned forward to scream into my face.

"You dare interrupt this sacred..." I lunged forward, my forehead slamming into her nose, my right hand grabbing the back of her head. I screamed wordlessly and rammed her face into the altar. Once, and the tip of the dagger pricked the heel of my hand. I slammed her face into the altar again, and the dagger tagged my middle finger, blood fountaining over my entire hand. The third time I slammed her forehead right down on the point of the dagger, ignoring how the tip sank into my palm.

I breathed out my counter to her her holier than thou bullshit.

"Revive." Mana surged into me from both ends of the dagger. I didn't think, just let the Skill do its work as an inhuman shriek filled the Temple. The shriek went silent. Isnomi screamed, the wail of a baby who wanted her mother. I lifted the dagger from her hand, shoved the former High Priestess of Artemis to the floor behind the altar, then snapped the evil fucking dagger in half, throwing both halves to the floor beneath me.

Before I could scoop Isnomi up into my arms, the filtering dome over the Temple shattered, a single moonbeam spotlighting the slain priestess where she lay on the floor. The corpse rose, eyes glowing, growing as it did. I leapt to the altar, one leg braced on either side of Isnomi, my Smith-made boots gripping even the blood-soaked stone. By the time the priestess' body stood glaring at me, she had to be at least eight feet tall.

I stared her right in the eyes, glaring at her, daring her to fuck around even the tiniest bit more. Her voice shook the entire Temple.

"APOSTATE! HOW DARE YOU SULLY MY ALTAR! YOU WILL BEG ME FOR A MERCIFUL D..." My fist, still covered with the gray matter of her priestess, slammed into Artemis' nose. It crunched nicely. Her shriek of pain and rage drove the congregation to their knees. She lunged at me, hands growing bear claws as she did. I met her halfway, my feet gripping the altar, my fingers interlacing with hers. My entire body ached with the effort of holding her back, and her claws pierced my wrists.

I drove three foot-long Mana Blades from each of my palms. Then I twisted my arms, pouring Mana into the Blades. Her forearms cut even easier than the chest and the chain. She pulled away, shrieking at a volume that cracked the stones around us. She looked to the sky, and the moonbeam intensified. She held her arms upward, the remains of her forearms flopping around from her elbows.

"Careful." Loki's whisper cut through her shriek, leaving the Temple suddenly silent save for the quiet weeping of the injured in the audience. A bone white blade lay against Artemis' throat, an arm across her chest keeping her from leaping or twisting away.

"This blade was a gift from my son. One of his shed venom fangs, in fact. Frankly, I've never used it before. I don't know if his venom still lurks within, nor how potent it might remain. Shall we find out?" Artemis just stood there, slowly lowering her arms until they dangled uselessly at her sides, drops of blood leaking from the remains of her forearms.

I leapt back off the altar and scooped Isnomi into my arms, bouncing her and saying soothing stupid things until her cries went from terrified screaming to vaguely angry grumbling. A single set of footsteps rang out through the temple, coming from the rear of the dais. Saffron, her face anguished, leapt up to the altar in one smooth motion, tears flying as she shook her head before facing her Goddess. The Goddess turned her head away, refusing to look at her worshipper.

"I... I trusted you. I loved you. I worshipped you. Had you demanded... Had you asked..." Sobs overcame her, bowing her head as she barely managed to force out, "I would have given her to you." When she raised her head, I saw just enough to know that despite the tears still running freely down her face, she wasn't sobbing any more.

"I deny you. I deny you. Three times," Saffron wound up and bitch slapped Artemis with all the power in her hips. The blow landed right on the bitch's bloody, broken nose, splattering the blood of a Goddess all over the dais, filling the Temple with the smell of freshly shed blood.

"I DENY YOU!" You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. With that, Saffron collapsed to her knees, once again sobbing. I handed Isnomi over, and she clutched at her, snuggling her daughter to her breast. Before the echoes of Saffron's screaming denial died down, Artemis leaned her head back and shrieked.

Not a shriek of anger or hate, but a shriek of pain and loss that echoed through the Temple until the moonbeam retracted into the sky, leaving Loki holding a mauled corpse.

"We might want to be leaving now, preferably by the way your paramour entered." Loki managed to keep his voice low despite the acoustics of the Temple and the dais. I shook my head, hopped back up onto the cracked altar, then turned to face the crowd.

"LISTEN UP, CHUCKLEFUCKS! THIS HOLY WAR IS NOW OVER. YOUR GODDESS HERSELF SHOWED UP, AND YOU STILL LOST." I threw another Filtration Ward over the Temple, dropping the whole place into pitch black darkness before I dropped my voice to a growl, trusting the acoustics of the Temple to carry my words across the shocked, silent crowd.

"If you get any fucking 'bright ideas' about coming at my people again, remember what her fucking arms looked like. Then do the smart thing and run the fuck away." A wave of terror stench washed through the room, obliterating the smells of blood and death. I hopped down from the altar, scooped Saffron into a princess carry, Isnomi still clutched to her breast, and left via the rear exit. Marie stood in the doorway, the limbs of the former temple guards scattered down the hallway and around the outside of the door.

The scent of terror poured out of the door into the crowd around us, and they backed away, leaving a clear path for us to leave. We walked home in the dark. Something about the streetlights being turned off for the Equinox celebration. A few times I caught the scent of hunters lurking in the dark, waiting for easy prey. Every time, a moment after they caught sight of us, terror scent overwhelmed everything else as they fled.

When we got to the Academy, Marie stepped forward and waved a tiny badge at the door, which opened to let us in. I'd have gone in the one I blew out on my exit, but somebody'd propped it back up and put some boards up to hold it in place. DuBois slouched against the far wall in a chair he'd swiped from somewhere. When we stepped in, his head came up and he gave us a quick once over before he said, "report." I never stopped walking, but said, "Isnomi's safe. Holy War's over. Bitch lost." He nodded.

"There's paperwork to file and a door to fix." When I turned my head to frown at him, he just said, "consequences, Diaz. Always consequences." I shrugged, glanced at Saffron still clutching at Isnomi, turned back to him, and nodded.

"Tuesday." He nodded.

"Good enough." Then he stood, grabbed up the chair, and headed for the Security office. I trudged back to the Ladies' Dorm. When we stood outside Saffron's door, she shook her head almost convulsively. I carried her back to my room. Once I had her inside, she waved Marie over to us and, when Marie bent over to her, pulled her in so she put her arms around both of us, her almost subsonic purr rumbling away some of the lurking tension. We just stood there like that for a while.

Eventually Saffron pulled Marie a little further down and whispered in her ear for a bit. Marie nodded and left, so I sat down on the bed, Saffron still in my arms. I moved to put her on the bed, but she shook her head.

"I... I feel safe here. I feel like she's safe here. Please." I held her there; eventually Isnomi fell asleep, only to be woken when Marie stepped back into the room carrying Isnomi's crib and all of Saffron's wardrobe, towing her cart along behind her, tub perched atop it. As quickly and efficiently as only Marie could be, she set the crib up in the same place it had been in Saffron's room, then hung all of Saffron's clothes in my... I guess our armoire.

She pulled a clear bottle out of the tub and set it on my desk, followed by two extra steaming kettles. She motioned me over, and I glanced to Saffron. She nodded, so I gently set her on the bed, then stood up. As I did, dried blood flaked off of me to scatter around the floor. I peeled The Dress off, laying it across my personal shrine, and sat down in the tub. Marie scrubbed away sweat, blood, bone fragments and brain matter, her hands releasing tension I hadn't realized I was carrying.

No shenanigans this time, just cleaning by Marie's strong, warm, soothing hands. Once she'd dried me off and combed my hair, I stepped over and held my hands out for Isnomi. Saffron handed her to me, shaking a little as she did so, but clearly trusting me to hold her. Isnomi, of course, took the opportunity to take a much needed shit, startling herself awake. All three of us laughed at that, the kind of laugh that has as much desperate need for humor and normalcy as genuine amusement.

Isnomi, way too young to care about things like that, just giggled at our laughter, making it just a little more real for all of us. While changing her I took the opportunity to steal some of Saffron's bath water to clean the bits of gore from her, having to steal some bits of bone from her pudgy little hands before she could taste test it. When Marie finished combing out Saffron's hair, I turned to Marie and said, "stay?" She shrugged, nodded to her cart, and said, "Work."

"Come back when you're done?" She smiled, nodded, and left with her cart in tow. Saffron stood and held a hand down to me where I'd been playing with Isnomi. I scooped the little one up, then took Saffron's hand and stood. She grabbed up Isnomi's dirty diaper and the clear bottle in her other hand and led me out the door. Before we left the room entirely, I tugged on her hand and looked down at both of us. She said, "skyclad is traditional on Equinox. Even if most no longer do so."

She then smiled, the first almost genuine smile I'd seen from her since she saw her grandmother bleeding out in the alley.

"If anyone doesn't like it, fuck 'em." She led me back to her room, stopping me in the doorway. She popped the top on the bottle, took a swig, and shuddered as she held it out to me. I took the bottle and downed a swig myself, almost dropping the bottle when pure grain fucking alcohol hit my throat. She took the bottle, splashed a little onto her thumb, shook it off, then wiped her thumb across Isnomi's lips.

Little trooper she was, she giggled, snorted, then looked at both of us with the same look she'd had when she tried the sriracha eggs. Saffron poured a bunch of alcohol onto the diaper, then pulled back and threw the bottle at her shrine. It shattered, knocking the shrine over and dousing everything around it in alcohol. She lifted her thumb, concentrated like she did when Mana Shaping, and a tiny flame flickered to life on her thumbnail.

She held it to the diaper, and before flames engulfed it she yeeted it, shit and all, into the pile formerly known as shrine. Then she pushed me out of the room, closed the door, and walked back to my room. Important Safety Tip. Do not ever make Saffron that mad, because she is distressingly thorough.

"Aren't you worried about, y'know, burning the school down?" She shook her head, a lopsided smile on her face." I never broke the Wards on my room." We spent a while, maybe an hour, maybe a couple, sitting on a couple blankets we'd spread on the floor, playing with Isnomi, letting her try 'walking' from one of us to another while she clutched at our fingers. Eventually Marie came back, and all four of us snuggled up right there on the floor.

When Isnomi and Saffron were both snoring, Marie pushed herself to her feet, walked over and shut the light off, then stripped off her maid's uniform, folding it and laying it piece by piece on my desk. I guess maybe I should have been shocked to see she had an honest-to-god tail that hung down to about the level of her ankles, but by this point I had no fucks to give about that.

When she curled back up around us, every part of her that pressed up against me felt furry, and I couldn't bring myself to care about that either, especially once she started purring. If somebody else felt some kinda way about it, or about her spending some time sleeping with us? Fuck 'em. I woke up later, still tired, but this time I had 'slept-too-long' tired instead of the adrenaline-rush-crash exhaustion I'd fallen asleep with.

Saffron had curled up in my arms, and a quick look around showed Isnomi using still-naked Marie as a jungle gym.

"What time is it?" I yawned.

"Dinner." She frowned, and a little sigh leaked out of her.

"Work." With that she handed me Isnomi, stood up, and started dressing in the dark.

"Could you please bring us some dinner? And maybe a bottle of something a little less potent than that last one?" She nodded and left. While I lay there trying to let Saffron sleep, Isnomi took the opportunity to see if my hair tasted good. After a while Marie ghosted through, setting a big tray and a smaller bottle on my desk before leaving. Hey Boss? Yes, my most potent, victorious, and Glorious Champion? It's gonna be Monday soon, and I need to have a conversation with Saffron.

It might get a little long, but it's important. Do you mind if I'm a little late for today's field trip? How late? Uh, a few hours, then maybe some more sleep, because I'm still kinda beat up, and then I'll be ready? Call it no later than noon tomorrow? A heaved sigh blasted through my head. Very well. No later than noon, and should you be ready sooner, I expect you to tell me so. Thanks Boss. You're the best. I know. I couldn't help but laugh at that, then thought, uh... We need some privacy for this discussion.

Can you not listen in? Priestess most High, your discretion as you protected Sigyn and I from the serpent did not pass unnoticed. Rest assured that not only will I not listen in, I shall endeavor to make sure none other does either. Thanks Boss. I waited a moment, but he didn't reply. I turned to look at Saffron and saw her staring up at me from inches away.

"Do you know your lips move when you pray?"

"Hey, I'm not praying."

"You're speaking with a God." I grunted my opinion about that, then asked, "Can you see?"

"Maybe? A little? Enough to see your lips moving without hearing you speak? Enough to know where this," she ran a hand down my side to rest on my hip, "is?" I heaved out a sigh, because I would much rather be canoodling with Saffron that what I had to do next, but because I am a Mature Woman who Does What She Has To, I pushed myself up until I sat upright on the floor, my legs folded in front of me.

Isnomi took the opportunity to straight up Tarzan her way across my back dangling from my hair, a shrieking giggle filling the room as she did.

"Isnomi!" Saffron barked out as she scrambled upright.

"I've got her. Here she is." I handed the squirming crotch goblin to her mom. Before Saffron could do more than get her hands on her, Isnomi managed to wriggle her way to her mom's tit and settled in, her giggles now muffled happy baby noises. Saffron looked up at me, clearly blind, but clearly ready to listen. I heaved out a sigh.

"We need to have a talk."