Chapter 297 Androctonus

As Phyrne made her way through the corridors of the Belit Babili, the Ishtar Familia compound, she came across a group of fellow Amazons and remarked with a snide tone, "Shouldn't you ugly bitches be guarding the perimeter or off earning some money for the Familia? Why are you lazing about here like a bunch of idiots, huh~!?" The primary target of her snide remarks had been a relatively seductive looking Amazoness with a lean figure and very revealing clothing reminiscent of a dancer. She was currently the second highest authority within the Ishtar Familia, just behind Phyrne, and also the leader of their primary fighting force, the Amazon combat troupe, Berbera. If Vahn had been present, he would have recognized the beautiful woman as Aisha Belka, the Amazon he had freed from Ishtar's charm during the rescuing of Haruhime.

Aisha stared at Phyrne with venomous eyes and stated plainly, "We know about what happened to Tammuz, so I had everyone gather just in case something happened. That boy, Vahn Mason, has incredible infiltration skills and might attack if we lax our guard." The large group of Amazons behind her nodded their heads in agreement while Phyrne spat a large wad of spit directly onto Aisha's chest and said, "Eh, you would be the one to know that kind of thing after you let that snot-nosed kid steal that bitch out from under your nose, wouldn't you~!? Well, whatever, go and find me a handsome boy and bring him to my quarters unless you want to be their replacement!"

Without waiting for Aisha's response, Phyrne walked away while laughing boisterously in a manner reminiscent of some crazed animal. Aisha wiped the spit from her face with a cloth that had been handed to her by a nearby Amazon. She saw it had a disgusting green and yellow hue and felt a strong urge to vomit before seeking out Phyrne and fighting her to the death. If not for the fact she wasn't a match for the frog-like behemoth, Aisha wouldn't stand by and accept such mistreatment. Her primary concern right now, however, was trying to convince the other members of Berbera to avoid any future conflicts that might find their way to the Ishtar Familia. She didn't want to draw attention to her actions by opposing Phyrne, who she had no chance to defeat in combat. Even if she used poison, the monstrous Amazon had an S rank resistance against abnormal status effects.

After the blob of flesh had disappeared through a corridor, Aisha turned to the group of Amazons and said, "As long as Phyrne is in charge, the Ishtar Familia will continue down a path that puts all of our lives at stake. We can't continue to wait for Ishtar to lead us to our deaths as she provokes the alliance between the Hephaestus and Loki Familia. After Tammuz's invasion of the Hearth Manor, we need to be prepared for a counterattack and use the opportunity to escape. I know most of you have no real loyalty to Ishtar, so this is the best opportunity for us free ourselves from her licentious clutches."

For the past few days, Aisha had been proactively colluding with the members of Berbera to stage something akin to a coup in an effort to escape Ishtar's clutches. Fortunately, Ishtar wasn't capable of managing things on her own and had almost zero leadership capabilities. Because of this, she had put Aisha in charge of Berbera in an effort to 'shame' her for having the 'audacity' to protect Haruhime in the past. Even though the members of the combat troupe were 'loyal' to Ishtar because of the effects of her charm, they had also been ordered by her to follow Aisha's commands. Though Vahn hadn't realized it at the time, he had set events in motion that would inevitably change the lives of dozens of people after freeing Aisha from Ishtar's control.

As if set about by some divine cue, a loud explosion sounded within an area of the Belit Babili, ironically in the direction that Phyrne had disappeared to earlier. Aisha wasn't sure what was going on, but she assumed it was related to Vahn and the Alliance at large. She knew the boy was the decisive type, so it made sense to her that he would use the opportunity after being attacked to seek vengeance against Ishtar. Without delay, she turned to the largest combat potential of the Ishtar Familia and said, "We're moving, don't fall behind. If you wish to die for Ishtar, feel free to stay." Aisha motioned for the troupe to move and led more than thirty Amazons, eleven of which were Level 3, away from the sound of conflict. Their destination was the brothels owned by the Ishtar Familia, and their mission was to gather as many Amazons as possible and urge them to escape the aftermath.

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Phyrne had been very pleased with Aisha expression when she spat in the ugly girl's face. She never liked the way the inferior Amazon looked at her and wanted to teach her a lesson but spared her since it was a hassle to manage things on her own. Phyrne would rather drink delicious alcohol, eat whatever she fancied, and sleep with whoever she pleased. The only thing she was missing in her life was a 'worthy' man to sire her some children and was now eyeing Vahn with the intent of adding him to her collection. Though she destroyed the bodies of the men she had killed, Phyrne had a habit of preserving their genitals within jars that were hidden away in her private residence.

Wondering about the 'worth' of Vahn, Phyrne nearly stumbled into a figure that walked out and blocked her path. She stared down at the small figure and shouted, "The fuck are you standing in my way for you little shit!?" However, the moment she saw the figure completely, Phyrne's frog-like eyes widened into saucers as she jumped back and barely evaded the spear strike that would have pierced her neck. The 'small figure' had been a cat person wearing pitch-black armor that included a visor that covered his eyes. He had onyx-grey hair and carrying an unadorned silver spear that shone with a lethal light. Even though they hadn't met often, Phyrne immediately recognized the cat person as Allen Fromel, one of Freya's loyal subordinates.

Were it almost anyone else, Phyrne would have crushed the 'foolish' person that attacked her, but Allen was Level 6, and closer to Level 7 than she was Level 6. Since he was an agility fighter and notorious for his skill with a spear, there was no way for Phyrne to actually fight against him without assistance. As she evaded his strike again, Phyrne shouted in a shrill tone, "Why the fuck are you here Allen!? Don't tell me that ugly bitch Freya is helping that brat too!?" The moment she uttered the words 'ugly bitch Freya', Allen's ears twitched and a visible red light shone through his black visor.

Phyrne felt a powerful premonition of dread overtake her as a cold sweat built up on her already clammy skin. Without even seeing the path of the spear, Phyrne felt a powerful collision near her own heart as her body flew through the air and collided with a wall, destroying it in the process. She coughed up a mouthful of blood as heavy steps echoed from the corridor that she had just been sent flying from. Before she could climb from the debris, Phyrne her a cold voice speak through clenched teeth, "You filthy sow...you dare insult my goddess with your vile mouth!? Go die you frog-faced slut~!" Allen leaped through the hole and created by Phyrne's body and began thrusting his spear toward her appendages in an attempt to disable her. Even though he told her to die, he actually intended to cripple her permanently so she would spend the rest of her life suffering.

Even though she knew she wasn't a match for Allen, Phyrne did her best to trade blows with the much smaller cat person. He was more than 30cm shorter than she was and less than a third of her weight. All she had to do was land one good blow with her [Fist Strike] and she would be able to turn the fight in her favor. Unfortunately, Allen was far too quick for her and accurately targeted near her vitals without actually piercing them. It was an incredibly one-sided fight because he was far more nimble than she was and outranged her with the use of his silver spear. In less than ten minutes, she had more than thirty wounds all over her body before she screamed out like an animal being slaughtered, "WHERE THE FUCK IS EVERYONE!?"

Since it hadn't been that long since she separated from Aisha and the Berbera, Phyrne had some small hope that reinforcements would arrive to help her. However, the longer the fight dragged out, the more injured she became and the less likely it seemed she would survive even if help arrived. She had tried to heal some of the wounds on her body, but noticed that Allen's weapon seemed to carry some kind of curse that prevented the wounds from closing. She was steadily losing blood and had already started to become light-headed from the severity of her injuries.

Though it wasn't the true answer to her question, Allen showed a cruel smile and said, "Scream you dirty pig! Lo and behold, the intrepid and mighty Phyrne, the touted 'Man-Killer', bested by a man half her size~! I'd say you're enjoying your just desserts, but I can tell by you're figure you've more than indulged plenty, hahahahaha!" At this point, they were no longer fighting each other in a life and death struggle. In the ten minutes they had been fighting, Allen had spent the majority of the last five just playing with Phyrne. It was rare he had such a 'large' target without it being an actual monster, so he was curious to see just how much blood she could lose before passing out. Though he couldn't be sure, he was almost certain she had lost enough to fill an entire washbasin.

Unable to continue the fight, Phyrne kneeled and looked down on Allen as she asked, "What is your purpose here Allen? Even if Ishtar and Freya are enemies, there is no enmity between the two of us...if you spare me, I'll willingly become your woman and let you do whatever you want with my bo-." Before she could continue her words, Allen's spear cut through Phyrne's mouth and severed her tongue while destroying several of her teeth. He literally spat his response, "Fuck you, you filthy fucking pig! You think I'd give up my goddess for a literal sow!?"

Phyrne held her hands to her mouth and mumbled inaudible words before launching a desperate series of attacks toward Allen with the hopes of landing a lucky blow. She knew that she would die if she couldn't defeat him in the next few minutes and find a way to stop the flow of blood from her wounds. However, no matter how much she tried to push her wounded body, she was already much slower than she was at the beginning of the fight. Even when he was enraged, Allen still fought with a level-headed mentality and easily avoided all her desperate blows while severing the tendons in her arms and legs with ease. After a long string of attacks, Phyrne eventually fell face-first into the ground with glossed eyes that were quickly losing their light.

(A/N: Serious trigger warning ahead. Nothing 'significant' happens after this point, so move on if you have weaker sensibilities~!)

Seeing Phyrne fall to the ground, Allen walked around her gigantic body and confirmed that he had cut all of her tendons. Even if she was 'playing dead' and wanted to get him to drop his guard, there was nothing she could do with her body in the current state. A cruel glint appeared in the red eyes shining through the black visor as Allen walked over to one of the windows that was fixed with iron bars, almost like a prison. He swiped his spear across and picked up several of the long metal rods in his hand as he made his way over to the catatonic Phyrne.

Uttering a short chant, Allen gathered flames in his hands and began to heat up the rods as he remarked, "So the reputed Androctonus falls to a man, rather ironic isn't it~? Well, I wouldn't want you to be lonely after you made an effort to seduce me, now would I? Here, as a parting gift, I'll leave you with an everlasting memory of today's events." With a crazed look in his eyes, Allen went around to the backside of Phyrne and skewered the damp mound of flesh with the red-hot metal pipes. She squealed like a pig and managed to move her limbs slightly even though the tendons were cut. Incited by her muffled squeals, the cruel glint in Allen's eyes grew in intensity as he inserted the remaining five rods alongside the first one. Even though the putrid smell of burnt flesh made him slightly nauseous, he couldn't help but feel a sadistic glee in Phyrne's suffering. From the moment she slandered his goddess, Allen had decided that her fate would not be a kind one.

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Aisha's Plan : Ripples of Fate','Phyrne engages a handsome man','Smells like teen spirit')

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