Chapter 38: Juggernaut
Yet another stupid ghoul came charging at her. The three of them had already taken down dozens of them as they climbed the tower. Alexia brought her sword slicing down and easily cut through the neck, sending the head flying.
But rather than crumple to the ground the now headless body stretched out both arms and reached out for her.
"Eek!" Just a tiny bit freaked out by the sight, she let out a shout and jumped back. The sound she made was definitely a shout and not a shriek. Alexia did NOT shriek! "H… Hey! Why is this thing still moving?!"
"He's a vampire, not a ghoul!" Mary yelled. She drove her sword through the chest of the enemy she was fighting. Unlike their previous opponents, this one suddenly dissolved into dust. "To kill a vampire, you have to pierce the heart."
Before Alexia could act on this new information Claire jumped in front of her and stabbed into the decapitated corpse. It promptly turned to dust. The girl then turned to her with a smug grin.
"You're welcome."
Alexia glared at the arrogant strumpet. "I didn't need help. I just didn't know I had to take out the heart."
"You sure?" Claire replied with that same infuriating grin. "You looked pretty helpless to me, princess."
The two girls locked gazes and were about to argue when Mary shouted at them. "Hey! There's no time to waste we need to keep moving!" She was already headed to the staircase.
Alexia and Claire both set their words aside and followed her up to the next floor. As they climbed the steps Claire spoke.
"You seem to know quite a lot about vampires."
"Of course, I do," Mary answered without breaking stride. "I'm the world's top vampire hunter."
"Uh huh, then why did you sound so sympathetic about them down in the basement?"
"I… I don't know what you mean."
Alexia noted that small hesitation. Why would a vampire hunter have any sympathies with her primary enemy?
"You said you spent eight years digging a tunnel into this tunnel just for tonight. You are here to kill the vampire queen, right?"
"…" Mary continued to climb the steps without answering.
"Let it go, Claire," Alexia said. "She's helping us, that should be enough."
Claire looked at her and frowned. "You don't find any of this suspicious?"
"Sure, I do. But were in the middle of the Lawless City during a Red Moon that has vampires and ghouls running wild while we try to rescue Cid from being made a human sacrifice. Maybe now's not the time to ask each other about our deepest darkest secrets. How about we just accept her help and be grateful for it?" Given her experiences with Cid, Zenon, Alpha, and Rose she'd learned to judge people by their actions and to be very, very cautious about prying into who they truly are.
Claire gave her an exasperated look but didn't argue.
Mary glanced back over her shoulder and sent Alexia a grateful nod.
The three girls kept climbing the stairs.
XXX
They made it up three more flights when Alexia sensed someone with a crazy amount of mana in them. The other girls sensed it too. Mary motioned for them to be quiet and sneaked over to a door. The girl cracked it open and peeked in. Alexia and Claire both crept close to peer in as well.
Inside was a muscular, tanned man with his hair done up in dreads. In one hand he easily held a massive iron sword that reminded Alexia of what Delta had used in the Sanctuary. In the other he gripped a vampire by the neck and was holding him up off the ground. The vampire was covered in blood and had deep gashes all over his chest and stomach.
"Where's your boss? Where's Crimson?" The swordsman demanded. "Tell me and I'll make it quick."
The vampire hissed at him and bore his fangs.
That earned him a laugh from the swordsman. "Oh? Not gonna talk? You're pretty brave for a blood sucker."
"It's not that I won't talk," the vampire's entire body dissolved into a red mist. "It's that I don't have to!" His voice spoke from out of the mist.
"What?!" The man looked about in sudden panic. "Shit! Where'd he go?"
Alexia saw the mist solidify behind the swordsman's back. Alexia was about to shout a warning when the man jumped around and slammed his sword clean through the vampire's chest.
"Ha! Just kidding, I've got good instincts."
The vampire turned to dust.
Mary cautiously shut the door and stepped back from it.
"Who's that?" Claire asked in a low voice.
"Juggernaut the Tyrant," Mary answered in an equally low voice. "He rules the Black Tower and is one of the three lords of this city."
"Can we ask him to join us?" Alexia asked. "The more powerful people we have the better."
Mary shook her head. "No, he is way too dangerous and has a bad reputation for killing people for fun. Let's just-"
The massive blade smashed the door behind them to kindling.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Three little lost lambs who have stumbled onto a wolf. You don't look like vampires, but it's your tough luck that you crossed my path. Guess I'll kill you."
The girls leapt back to get some distance and had their swords at the ready.
"Hold it!" Alexia said. "We're not your enemies. We're here to take out the Blood Queen and rescue someone who was brought here to be sacrificed. If you're fighting the vampires too that makes us allies."
That made the man put his head back and roar with laughter. "I'm the one and only Juggernaut, the master of the Black Tower and soon to be the lone boss in this whole town. Only weaklings need allies, little girl."
To prove his point, he charged straight at her and aimed a killing blow. Alexia only barely blocked it in time and even using both arms and reinforcing them with magic, he still shoved her back.
"This is what we call a Lawless City Hello. Do you even know where you are? You're in the jungle girl, and you're gonna diiiiiiiieee!"
Claire and Mary both jumped in attacking. Juggernaut stepped back and blocked both of them, wielding his ridiculous sword with just one hand. The way he was smiling he seemed to be having fun.
"Don't take us so lightly!" Claire yelled at him. "I happen to be this year's God of War Tournament Champion," Claire glanced at Mary. "And she is the world's strongest vampire hunter!"
"Oh yeah?" He nodded over at Alexia. "What about blondie?"
Claire looked over at her. "She's better than average I suppose."
"Hey!" Alexia shouted in outrage.
Juggernaut chuckled. "You really the God of War Tournament champion?"
"That's right!"
He gave her a grave nod. "Well, that is pretty impressive."
Juggernaut filled his body with mana and suddenly charged at Claire and brought his sword down in a savage overhand swing. Claire blocked it and let out a painful grunt. Alexia saw the stone floor crack beneath her feet.
"Just kidding!" Juggernaut laughed at her. "You really think winning some stupid tournament matters, girlie? You've got no idea how big this world is or the sorts of monsters who live in it."
"You're arrogant!" Claire spat before stepping forward and launching a counter.
Juggernaut easily knocked it aside and then punched her square in the face hard enough to send Claire flying.
"It ain't arrogant if you can back it up girl." After saying this though he stopped and noticed a slight cut along his ribs. It wasn't a serious wound, the cut looked to be just enough to draw a trickle of blood. But it seemed to genuinely surprise the man. "Huh, not bad, maybe you're not as weak as I thought."
"None of us are weak," Alexia said as she confronted him.
He fended her off without any effort, but as she'd hoped Mary took the opportunity to get him in the back. But before she could reach him, he whipped around and used his blade hack deep into her and send a spray of her blood gushing out.
"Seriously, what part of 'I have good instincts' do you three not get?"
"Mary!" Alexia and Claire both shouted at once.
Claire ran to her side as Alexia launched a series of frenzied slashes to keep him occupied.
"Why are you even attacking us?" Alexia howled as she threw in a whole series of desperate strikes.
"Cause you're here and cause I feel like it, I don't need any other reason," he laughed and parried with one hand. It was painfully obvious to Alexia the man was playing with her.
If this had happened to her a year ago, she'd have fallen to despair and thought things were hopeless. As it was this wasn't even the worst fight she'd been in in the past week.
"Don't get so full of yourself, I know someone who could kill you with a snap of his fingers. Compared to Shadow you're just a puppy."
Her words made his eyebrows rise and he seemed suddenly interested. "Oh, so you know that guy, huh?"
His words caught her off guard. But then looking past him she saw Mary suddenly grab Claire and give her a full on open mouth kiss.
What the Hell?! Alexia thought. When did those two get so close? This isn't the time for that!
As Alexia held her ground all of Mary's wounds closed up and she launched herself at Juggernaut raining down lightning fast strikes. The man was forced to jump back and give her his full attention. As this was going on it was now obvious that Mary wasn't human but a vampire.
Juggernaut was laughing even as a couple small cuts appeared on his arms. "Not bad! Not bad! You're better than the last blood sucker I fought. But," one vicious swing got past her blade and cut into her shoulder. "I'm still better!"
Marry stumbled back and collapsed. "Ugh, no good, I'm still not used to drinking blood."
Despite the sudden revelation Mary was a vampire both she and Claire moved to protect the girl and shield her from the enemy.
"Well, this has been fun, but I've got work to do. So, lets wrap this up now."
With a psychotic grin on his lips, he raised his sword. The two of them braced themselves.
Then, as if appearing out of thin air, a man in a black long coat holding a black sword appeared.
"You're in my way." With one nonchalant kick the new arrival sent Juggernaut flying into and then through the nearest wall into empty space.
They heard the man's shout as he fell. "Shadow you baassstaaarrr…"
And just like that, the fight was over but instead of facing Juggernaut they had Shadow standing in front of them. Alexia relaxed but Claire kept her sword up and ready. "Are you going to attack us too?"
He glanced at her. "Never thought sis was into girls. Is she experimenting?"
Shadow mumbled something Alexia couldn't make out, then straightened his back and gave them a frosty gaze. "The time of awakening is nigh and the time we have left is little."
Then just like that, Shadow was gone.
Alexia let out a sigh of relief and Claire finally lowered her sword. With the danger now past Alexia turned to the other girl and shared something that was really important.
"Hey you arrogant strumpet, what the Hell did you mean, 'better than average'?!"