Chapter 26 - The End To All Monkey Business! (Part II)

It was eerily quiet, save for the sound of trees rustling in the light breeze.

The two armies of Macaque soldiers were facing off in a vast, open field of white flowers, as neither side appeared to be willing to make the first move.

Immediately, a stark difference in their forces could be noted: Bali's army outnumbered Sugary 2:1, but Sugary's was far and away the better equipped,as Bali's visibly lacked even basic armor or weapons of any kind. Sugary and his generals rode on elephants, towering above the footmonkies, causing the earth to tremble with each step. Sugary's forces had longbows to use for attacking from afar, whereas Bali's would have to rely on more traditional rock and poop-slinging.

They issued threatening howls at each other, as each army stood their ground and wouldn't budge. This went on for several minutes while Akira and company, in their hiding spot in the forest, covered their ears and exchanged anxious glances.

Once the howls subsided, Sugary stepped out to the edge of his Howdah.

"Where is my coward brother hiding!?" He yelled, as his furious gaze shifted across the long line of his foes, without fear.

"Don't think I shan't slaughter every last one of you in order to get to him, if I must!"

During this time Akira was checking her Dao menu.

She was having trouble deciding how best to make use of her unspent Dao point, that she'd gained from engaging in repeated, unprotected sexual intercourse with Sugary.

'I definitely want another bow skill, so I can keep my distance from this Bali guy.'

'Based on the intelligence Ai gathered, he's not exactly someone I want to fight up close to.'

With this being the primary consideration on her mind, the choice was clear:

[Heart Attack]: [Bow attacks from a state of non-detection, when aimed at an unarmored front-facing enemy, result in instant death.]

The Macaque War then commenced, as the once peaceful woods became a battleground.

Both sides clashed in a brutal struggle, filling the air with the bizarre screams of the bloodthirsty, the wounded, and the dying primate combatants.

Akira quickly gave out her orders:

"Ai! Come with me in Stealth to find Sugary's brother!"

"Kanna and Vash, you guys stay and fight—make sure it's OUR monkeys come out on top!"

Ai and Akira disappeared into the deeper forest, as Vash and Kanna turned to each other in their absence. Whereas once, an air of unspoken awkwardness used to settle in between the two, it was ironically here—at the center of a raging battlefield—where they felt completely relaxed.

"I guess we've been working together a lot lately," Vash said, with a slight chuckle.

Kanna grinned. "It's true we make a good team, you and I."

"Just try not to stare at me too long—as good as I look in this armor you picked out for me."

"That'll be...difficult," Vash said, with a signature tip of his hat. "But then again, that's why I chose that particular set..."

On that note, the dynamic duo wasted no further time and sprung into action against Bali's forces.

Kanna launched herself to the forefront, creating huge twisters with every swing of her new spiked, rose-tinted hammer. Vash remained under cover of the forest, picking off individual threats from afar with a rain of fireballs; watching Kanna's sweat-slicked back both literally and figuratively.

...

Meanwhile, Akira and Ai were [Scurrying] through the woods at blinding speed, far-removed from the battlefield. She only stopped when she reached a clearing, where five of Bali's soldiers were standing patrol outside of a tent.

Ai nestled up beside her, as they were looking out from a hiding spot behind a bush.

"I wonder if the monkey we're looking for is inside there." Ai said.

Akira warily inspected the floating names and levels of the Macaque guards. "Even if Bali is inside that tent, there's no way we can get through all those Level 8s just by ourselves."

However, as always Akira Maximilian had a business plan. And in this case, a brutally simple one.

She crept through the forest, back toward the battlefield, and looked until she found where Sugary was—presently in his roided up killer-gorilla state called [Level 15] [Rampaging God Ape Beast]—wreaking havoc on the mobs of meager macaque that dared to challenge him: smashing skulls together. Flinging them through the air for miles, to their death. Crushing them into piles of gore and shattered bone, with a swing of his mighty fist.

"Hey! Big Man!" Akira called out to the transformed king, then brought her fingers to her mouth to loose a loud whistle.

Sugary was lifting up another Macaque, about to crush it like a banana, when he noticed her.

"What inferior wife doing here!?" He growled. "This battlefield—not bedroom!"

Akira's eyes narrowed as she scrunched up her face, doing her best to let his remark slide.

"Save the sexy talk for another time!" She called out to him. "Because your lovely wife MIGHT have just found where your brother is hiding!"

No further words were needed—Sugary was now their rabid, drooling, hulking dog on a leash.

He made quick work of the Macaque guards, flattening them into pancakes while Akira and Ai stuck to the shadows.

Akira laughed, as she watched the violence unfold. "A savage beast, through and through."

She then turned to Ai sharply, with a devious look.

"I don't know about you, but I personally don't think a violent, sex-crazed idiot like THAT has any right to rule over anyone."

Ai giggled. "Big Sis is plotting something right now, isn't she?"

Indeed she was, but wouldn't tell, as she turned to Ai with an amused smile.

Once Sugary was done clearing away the guards, a figure emerged from inside the tent.

"My brother," croaked a weary, old voice. "It has been a long time...since we last met on the battlefield."

An old Macaque, with a look that was identical to Sugary in his base form, shambled into view.

Sugary laid his eyes upon him, and hunkered down unto his wrists with a low growl.

"Bali! You thieving, greedy vermin!" Sugary snarled. "Everything I have...me kingdom, me wife, me favorite banana...you take it all from me!"

Bali leaned back, puffing out his chest as he beat against it with his lanky, hairy arms.

"Mom always like you best! It time we settle score once and for all!"

Sugary charged, and as he did, Bali quickly transformed into the same bulked up state, called a [Level 15] [Rampaging God Ape Beast], as his brother. Their hands met and interlocked, as they proceeded to grapple each other.

"Even...my power...you steal!" Sugary groaned. "Damn you...to 28 Hells...brother!"

Through all their twisting and turning, as they each tried to gain a stronger hold on the other, Akira stood with her bow aimed, ready to shoot, when it dawned on her that she was now presented with a bit of an issue:

"I can't tell which is which!" She complained to Ai, beside her. "Damn it! What now?"

'After all I did to make it this far, am I really going to be stumped by something so stupid?'

Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and it was the shadow counselor—the 'white monkey guy'—returned again in the nick of time.

He came bearing a wreath of flowers—the same white flowers growing in the field nearby.

"Perhaps THIS may be of assistance to you!" He said, as he draped the wreath around Akira's neck.

"Quit playing around!" Akira snapped without pulling her gaze away fro the struggling Macaque brothers, not realizing he'd already disappeared again in a cloud of smoke. "What's a bunch of flowers supposed to accomplice, anyway!?"

Ai, who had been eyeing the wreath curiously, suddenly let out a gasp of realization.

"Big Sis! Let me have that wreath!" She exclaimed abruptly. "I just had an idea!"

"I'll give you a signal, of which one to shoot!"

Before Akira could question her at all, though, Ai had already pulled the wreath off her neck, and disappeared into [Stealth].

Sugary and Bali were still at it: punching at each other and moving around constantly.

"Bali..." One grumbled. "Sugary..." The other answered, but Akari couldn't confidently keep track of which was which long enough to line up a shot.

'If I shoot one, it will alert the other. So, I have to be sure to hit the right one, or else..."

Suddenly, she glimpsed the floral wreath Ai had taken, as it was draped by the invisible Ai around the neck of one of the two brothers!

'That's it!' Akira realized. 'That's the signal she was talking about, to mark Bali!'

'Ai, you adorable genius! You figured it out all on your own!'

She fired her arrow at the Macaque marked with the wreath, as the two were locked in each other's outstretched hands again.

"Guh!" Bali cried out, before instantly collapsing—dead, from a direct strike to the heart.

Sugary turned to Akira. Rather than being thankful; however, he flew into a rage.

"Brother...must only die from my hand!" He shouted. "My hand alone!"

The level-up fanfare played—signalling Akira's achievement of [Level 6]—while she tucked her bow away, to replace it with her boldly drawn fists.

"Payback time.." She said, wearing a fearless glare as she faced the behemoth ape.