The massive gates leading ihe spire endured both shardgun fire and acid grenades. Anissa even tried to cw her way in, but no scratches appeared on the surface. The Taleteller gifted the steel a kiss, bulging tons of steel, and Janine found herself greeted by the automatic fire from the defenders. Bullets rained like pebbles against her armor, and she registered the presence of fifty people. She grabbed one and cursed as her captive howled in pain, the green of her coat catg fire. Janine’s fist closed, ending her life. Damn it, her armor was still hot. Restraint! Restraint, you moron! These people have dohing to your pao torture!

  She decapitated three guards, using the knob of her axe to kill the fourth in a reverse blow. The shama into the fray, thrusting her body through the opening ies. She grabbed a soldier and bit off his head, chewing the remains theatrically as red sptters dotted the guards’ helmets.

  “Shaman,” Janine sighed, stopping herself from fttening a disarmed soldier. Her daughter impaled two guards on her culled the gasping bodies into her jaws. “ibalism is forbidden.”

  “The Blessed Mother does it,” Impatient One replied, dev guts.

  “And if Ravager were to jump into the psma again, would you follow her example, shaman?”

  “Perhaps. It depends oher the Blessed Mother orders me to do it or not.”

  I fug hate you sometimes, Yennifer. Janine wearily smirked. She, too, had a taste for human flesh. In a way, it had been ingrained in her psyche from the first days when she had been put is and tasted the cubs’ flesh. In those dark days, pit fights often ended ih; it was simply the nature of things. You ended a life; you ate it, and you carried the deceased tribe member within you. These practices always horrified the Ice Boys, who kept their own young away from the tribe, coddling them.

  Normies viewed eating deceased enemies as something abhorrent, and the Dynast supported their desire by banning the ption of huma nationwide. Fools. It’s not like the Wolf Tribe ate prisoners. Meat is always meat. But orders were orders, no matter how idiotic they were. If the big guy and the Blessed Mother wahem to stop eating human flesh, Janine would strive to make sure her troops did it.

  “No more.” Janine’s bde touched the shaman’s neck, and her girl dropped the body from her paws, gring hungrily at the rest.

  The foes’ resistance ceased as Anissa and her scouts ehe fray. Surrounded by the giants dark power armor, witnessing their superior speed and strength, the guards threw down their ons and raised their arms. Janine said nothing to either of her daughters, but went directly to a man whose armor bore the markings of an officer, a purple cloak adorned with a golden . Jahrust her muzzle into his face, enjoying the fear in his eyes at the sight of her fangs, and decided against grabbing him.

  “Lead us to the queen, little man.”

  “Only if you promise to sh-show mery troops,” the guard stammered, his teeth chattering in horror.

  “Granted. If it is within my power, I will ehe safety of your troops, even at the cost of my life,” Jaopped intimidating him. Loyalty to one’s kin was a kind of nobility she could respect.

  She assigwo soldiers to tend to the wounded, and the rest escorted them. As they passed through the steel corridors, dimly lit by the yellow light, Janine could still taste the acridity in the air. Laborers or servants, men and women in white, yellow, and green hazmat suits, toiled in workshops, assembling energy rifles and exosuits. They reeked of fear.

  “Who are they?” Janine inquired. While the color differentiated the suits, one piece remained stant. An iron colr around their necks. The warlrabbed the worker, dragging the teen closer. “What is the meaning of this iron?” She asked, tapping against the thing.

  “Please.” The teen broke into tears, disgusting her by his weakness. he device emitted beeps that slowly increased in frequency. “Please, please, let me go; I’ll be good; I didn’t break any rules; I didn’t, I…”

  “Release him!” Janine’s growl calmed her pack as the officer reached for his pistol and fired at her wrist. The beam did nothing; her paw shoved the teenager bato pce, and she stared at the captain. The beeping stopped. “These people are meid engineers. People who received a proper education in Her Excellency’s vocational school.” The officer broke eye tad raised his hands to calm the workers. “Her Excellency gave them a lot, so if any of them try to run away without paying back, the explosive colr will go off.”

  “And how long do they have to buy their freedom?” Janine asked.

  “Until they die,” the officer replied. “Knowledge is the most valuable thing in the world, and the All-Seeing Majesty possesses the secrets of her craft.”

  I’d tear my head ht away. Or I would sabotage the produ rather than waste my life in svery. Janine decided and called Dragena. “Update, sister. Teo-Queen’s holdings are full of sves. Make sure that no ories to remove them by force. Request immediate assistance from Captain Cristobo and Ygrite to aid in demining.” She reyed the video captured by her helmet.

  “Ao…”

  “ed about the safety of the weak? How dull. I had hoped your kind would be more practical,” a female voice said through the static that interrupted Dragena.

  “Who are you? How did you get on the secure el? Identify yourself!” Janine demanded.

  “Don’t get tetchy, mutie,” the unknown woman ughed in a honeyed voice. “You are the one arriving six mier than expected. You are in my domain now. Nothing here is beyond my reach. Hurry up, or shall I activate some colrs to motivate you?”

  Jaurned off the unication, fully fident that she kneas speaking with her. They proceed down the corridors to a massive, industrial lift clearly meant to house a steel servant. Every single wall, every room, including toilets, had arrays of cameras stylized after humaheir eyelids narrowed as the cameras traced the Wolfkins.

  More cameras covered the walls ihe elevator, and Anissa stepped up to one and started ing pieetal stu her fangs, using the reflective surface of a camera’s window as a mirror. The pseudo-eye widened and closed shut. Anissa shrugged ao another one, apanied by the chuckles of her scouts as the officer pressed a button, sending the elevator up.

  Janine expected a trap. She expected the elevator to fall, or explode, or spill poison and acid from the walls. She imagined hordes of steel minions prying open the roof, exposing them to the artillery fire from above. But nothing of the sort has happened.

  The elevator reached the ter of the tower, and the walls slid aside to reveal buzzing steel minions fluttering about the hangars. Workers bored diligently, assembling intricate teological pos for instaltion inside a suspeeel servant. None of the workers dared look at the Wolfkins; fear of the minions watg them kept them at their tasks. Janine ched her axe tighter as she spotted traces of blood on a wall.

  The elevator reached the top floor, and the nervous captain and his guards led them to the sealed doors. There were no traps, no sudden ambush, and no attack. The doors opened, and the group stepped into a chamber of steel, inhaling pristine, recycled, and cool air.

  Their target was on the opposite side of the wide dome. A dais supported her simple steel throht a was a row of quietly humming databases and servers, akin to advisers attending a ruler. Bck tiles in the shape of a rhombus covered the floor in an orderly fashion. A single gold disd two bronze discs adorhe ter of the dome’s ceiling.

  Teo-Queen herself looked like a young woman, dressed in a light exosuit up to her neck. A purple cape flowed from her golden shoulder pads. A golden with a red ruby in the ter held her short brown hair in pce, while her mog green eyes looked at the intruders. Her skin was too perfect; every traperfe or scar had been surgically removed. A bowl of fruit sat on the arm of her throne, making Janine wonder where she got it. Trade, no doubt. But from whom?

  “My queen.” The captai. “I am sorry, but…”

  “Stop groveling, Bors!” the woman replied, admiring the Wolfkins’ armor. “You think you could’ve brought them here without my knowledge? If they are here, it is because I allowed it.”

  “Teo-Queen.” Janine brought her axe’s head to the floor, sending a tremor through the dome as an unspoken threat. “Your city has fallen. Your kingdom is in shambles. You have no choice but to surrender…”

  “Well, you sure got two out of three correct.” The woman yawned. “This pce is a wreck, true. I have little use for its tinued existence.”

  “My queen?” Bors raised his head.

  “Yes, you heard it right, Bors. Have you looked outside?” The ressed something ohrone, and a holographic dispy flickered behind her, showing the toxid lifeless surroundings of the capital. “Who in their right mind would want to rule over shit with a side of shit?”

  “But,” the guard struggled for words, “my queen, you yourself unleashed the poison on our nds!”

  “Naturally. It served my purposes. Now be quiet, Bors; I’d like to amuse myself talking to primitives.” The image on the s ged, showing the ruined remains of the steel servants, as well as a few more still engaged in battle with the warlords. “This try merely served as a test polygon for me to get a grip on my power. Instinctively, I know how to assemble even the most plex maery, but if you don’t polish your talent, hard work may get ahead.”

  “Your toys are not very sturdy,” Jaated at the sight of the wreckage.

  “And that ck of prehension is the reason why you would make a lousy stist.” A smug smile spread across Teo-Queen’s lips, and she stood. “Trial and error, both to push the limits of my imagination by creating pact ons capable of fitting in ineffit frames and to test different alloys and onry. The designs showing promises are being stored in databases as we speak, the iive ones discarded. A brilliant mind learns from everything, failure included. The Recmation Army’s fame is not unknown to the world at rge. You freaks have certainly made waves. Disting your spawner, your ilk are some of the stro Abnormals in the known world. Yet here I am, crafting engines of destru capable of ripping through your battle lines and making the fabled warlords break a sweat. And I’ve achieved it ihay years, using bootleg teology and substandard resources! I had to build everything from scratch: factories, railroads, training peons so they could be of use…” Her smile briefly turned into a scowl, and then she fshed her perfect white teeth again. “Imagine what I could do with the proper funding and personnel. Any try will gdly take me in! Warlord Janine…”

  “I didn’t say my name,” Ja her off coldly. A faint cli her helmet sighe restoration of the and link.

  Dragena said nothing, and Jani her sileoo, trusting in her named sister’s ability to jure up a pn that would turables. Their cousins thought the Wolfkins to be stupid brutes. There was merit to it, but they fot which group had first embraced ranged onry. Where the Ice Boys sought nobility in all things, the Wolfkiehat courtesy to friends, family, and worthy foes.

  For the mad, pgued by illusions of grandeur, an effit kill would suffice.

  “No, you did not, mutant. I took the liberty of listening to your secure els.” The woman looked like a cub against the warlord. “I owhing here. Man, woman, child, mutant—it matters not. Everyone born in these nds is mio spend as I see fit. So here is my offer. pete against my test iion. Should you win, I…”

  “You are in no position to make offers.” Janine gripped the Taleteller’s haft.

  “Am I, though? Foolish doggie, are you incapable of uanding the words I speak or oblivious of the situation at hand?” The woman inhaled. “Fine, I’ll take your puerile at face value. Act against me, and every borer in my factories goes boom. I’ve made sure to show you steel minions on the way here. This is just the tip of the mountain. Disobey me, and they, along with the steel servants, will be unleashed against your rabble, g new lives. Oh sure, they’ll lose; I am not delusional, but it will be a hollow victory, no? Dead soldiers, no civilians, a ruined city… Oher hand, should you win, I’ll gdly surrender.” Teo-Queen raised a finger over a button ohrone. “So which of the two options do you prefer?”

  “There is a third choice. I kill you before your finger moves a millimeter.” Janine warned her. Teo-Queen arched a brow and burst into ughter.

  “You … certainly try,” she forced the words out, fighting back the fun. “Oh, Janine, you eairuth for truth. I learhe limitations of my body years ago.” A fsh of anger worthy of a wolfkin flickered in the woman’s eyes. “And I’ve ated for it, o be helpless again,” she hissed and ran a hand over her face, calming herself and tinuing in a pleasant tohis plex is fully automated. Go on, swing your axe, and find out how insignifit your reas and speed are in parison to the defensive systems implemented by yours truly.” Teo-Queen cpped. “Pardon the excitement, but you are so funny! It is to be expected from an ignorant savage, but I assure you, there is nothing in this world that I ot break.”

  “ you break this?” Janine o her axe. The smile faded from Teo-Queen’s face. “It was not made by an AI or a powered person. Ordinary stists made it as a joke. you destroy it?”

  “Nht now,” the tyrant admitted. “But I destroy you, and in time I’ll replicate the knowledge of how to manufacture whatever material is used iing this lumberjack’s tri,” Teo-Queen said icily. “If you think me a yman unaware of my limitations, feel free to flip that , but I assure you that this resistance will only bring you disappoi and the deaths of your soldiers. I’ll stay alive, and you’ll still dao my tune. But I would rather you make the logical choice yourself.”

  “I didn’t expect you to be a propo of freedom. Is this how you became a queen?” Janine asked.

  “Of course. I gave everyohe same choice as I had to make. Bors here attest to the truth of my words.” Teo-Queen her officer. “If you blow enough people into a million pieces, even the dumb-dumbs will fall in lirong rule, Jahis much your tribe of flea-ridden savages had gotten right. But enough pleasantries. Make your choice, Janine.”

  Janine pondered for a moment, bidiime fena to plete preparations. In truth, there wasn’t much of a choice here. What good is the nd if there are no people? True, the Recmation Army Recmation Army subjugated those who refused to join, and in the earlier days they had made inexcusable mistakes that led them to vow o repeat an act of genocide, o pletely wipe out cultures or nations again.

  The nation forced cruel cultures, such as the Orais, to reduce their violence, but otherwise grahem a measure of self-gover, f their upliftment through patiehe Dynast made his will clear. Under his bahe Recmation Army sought to ie all. Oion. One world. An imperial ideal that slowly took over traditions, bridging people, showing that they weren’t so different after all, and no matter what the culture, parents wao see their cubs succeed and thrive. And by building this superstate, the Recmation Army would eliminate any ce of another Extin.

  Thus, it was her duty to save the locals. Janine grimaced, feigning anguish over her decision and feeding the Teo-Queen’s ego. The Wolf Tribe’s members could nee limbs like the Trolls. But the Blessed Mother bestowed upon them a unifying link, their power, which molded the winners of fierce battles into better versions of themselves until one day they reached their prime. Their innate aggression and desire for domiemmed from it.

  She reached her prime years ago, and the doctors whurly performed check-ups firmed a heightened healing ability and signifit physical ges in her ans. The burns on her knees and legs no longer bothered her. Janine grinned, weling the challenge.

  “Bring it on.”