Rage of the Alpha (Part 2 of the Alpha Queen series)

LIFFIN

Neall was quite a disconcerting presence. The power this woman wielded was truly astounding. Liffin understood the mechanics of Neall - being daughter to the most powerful being they knew, mother to Saber who turned more powerful than... who knew? Because these three women had turned everything they knew upside down.

Liffin once believed his mother was the ultimate royal - she had the look of it, the sound of it - he had not wavered in that belief. But his beliefs had been irrevocably altered. Whereas he had already fallen in love with Saber - being his sister by Asher - and had loved his mother throughout his life, this woman - Neall - he would revere her as more.

Everything she was, she owned it. She never disguised her power as anything other than her own. She had no qualms over being a Deamon, because she never thought herself better than anyone else. Neall had a tiny bit of theatrics - she would put flair and flourish on even small things, like now for example.

Instead of just showing them what was happening down there in the clearing, she asked them with a wicked gleam in the eye, "Care to know what events are unfolding?"

She'd made a wide circle in the air with both arms and pushed the unseen thing away. Cupping her hands together, she shook them as if they contained dice, and then blew into a space between her thumbs while opening her pinkies.

Butterflies came out and spread in a twirling motion, circling bigger and bigger until all of them were centered in the imaginary circle from before. They rippled once, twice, and the third time turned into a perfect, zoomed in, moving image of three figures moving toward one.

Liffin had to concede, Neall had just turned nerves into butter. She melted them all and reformed their focus. No small feat, considering they had the bulk of the armies here - already split into two parties that would surround the battle from north and south when half the numbers from below were taken out. That was the harsh reality that plagued each person here before Neall did her little magic trick.

Standing beside Ferian, he noted his brother's pride at seeing Lamia's true colours. The earth started shaking as the Deamon's warning at not having his family would not go down well. Neall grinned proudly when Saber's answering purple lightning cascaded around them.

They heard the demon's curtesy line about taking the power and then ending their world. Neall cheered her daughter as she dodged Argon's blow and simultaneously skid between his legs, slicing in an upward motion toward his jewels. He laughed as he jumped, clearly enjoying himself as much as Neall.

They could only bear witness to the ensueing battle and after a while, it seemed providence would not be on the invader's side. Apart from the Wolves ripping them limb from limb, the Witches surprised Liffin - they fought like wild cats. Lamia used pure black claws to to eviscirate and decapitate.

More Deamons entered the fight, just appearing from nowhere, and suddenly the Witches were cut off from all sides. The fresh Deamon soldiers flowed over them until blinding light flared and fried some of them closest to it.

When the light dispersed, an enormous gory red patch was painted over the rich greeness of before the battle, with a black panther at its centre. The Witches' cry ululated with more intensity this time as more Deamons fell to their swords and Princess's teeth.

"My Gods," Ferian uttered as he beheld Lamia's carnage.

"Better stay on her good side brother," Liffin mocked, but not entirely joking. She made a viscious sight. Then three lone figures were casually strolling toward the fight. One veered in the Witches' direction, the other two seeming headed to the Fae and the Wolves.

"Bit off more than you can chew, 'ey Argon?" One of them clearly couldn't care less about interrupting his concentration as they passed them. Saber didn't give Argon any chance at reply, making Liffin wonder if the Deamon heard his comrades at all.

As if they had done this a million times, each of the newcomers waited patiently watching their intended target until the three of them were at their chosen battle. At the same moment, blue light encased their bodies, even that of Argon.

"Oh no," Liffin heard Neall say just before everything went to hell.

"About time, brothers," Argon hissed as Saber's sword nicked his throat.

ARGON

What have they been feeding this child? He wondered for the umteenth time as he felt the power surge between him and his brothers. He could not afford to spare even a millisecond for thinking. This girl was not tiring as he had assumed she would by now. Instead, it was as if she was growing stronger during their clash. More of her power came through with every blow and her focus just refused to fail, even for a moment.

The blue tinge came to his vision not a moment too soon as he bent over backwards, barely missing Saber's deadly strike. Focusing his vision, Argon could follow the flow of power through Saber's veins and he marvelled at the sight. Instead of finding the usual vein-like structure which he could have severed with a blow to the right spot, her whole body was flush with it.

Aside from never having come across this in his long life, this posed a serious problem none of them had ever faced. Even Deamons had synapsis, all the realms they had conquered had living creatures and none had this kind of access to the ether. With this kind of protection the girl would never even lose a limb. She was made of power. At least his brothers were having success, although Argon had no time to monitor them.

Ullyses had chosen twelve opponents, yet they could not penetrate his defences. Some had even turned into wolves, but they were no match for him. When his brother stopped toying with them for a moment and slew one, Argon noticed the flash of colour within the girl's power.

Though it was momentary, it happened again after Ullyses felled another. The girl's aura also changed this time and Argon realised she was linked to these creatures. That was how she would be defeated. The smile on his face was automatic.

Dreyfus also had minimal trouble with the panther, even letting the creature get him a few times. He was enjoying this as much as always. He loved it when his toys were covered in his blood and not their own. He would never heal himself during a fight, just for that purpose. Over millennia, Dreyfus had formed the opinion that consuming his prey made his power grow.

Even though it was untrue, no-one cared to set him straight, in the end it served their purpose of conquering all the realms, why waste that? Dreyfuss must have nicked an important artery of the big cat, because she was suddenly biting at his brother's throat, trying and failing to rip it out with blood gushing all over his face.

She kept her body on the other side of his head, not wanting to give those arms any chance at her organs, but she was losing consciousness while he happily drank up every drop of blood spilling into his mouth.

Saber caught Argon in the stomach, beautifully executing a mockup of her missing a step and falling sideways, then taking advantage of his lunge to stab her. He could see the anger coursing through the girl when she noticed the wound healing even as she pulled out her sword.

Her luminescent emerald eyes turned purple, sparkling with electricity.

"Let's see you try that again pops," she grinned at him. Argon admitted to himself she made him nervous. If she could not see things his way, she would need to be destroyed. What have you created Mab?

What seemed like in direct response to this girl, a dragon appeared to their left, and the girl's power surged at the sight. That's her mate!

"Kill the dragon!" Argon shouted to his brothers. As one, their power combined into a blue spear, heading straight for Asher. Saber attacked with even more verocity as she also switched forms, purple lightning cascading from the heavens and killing his men with each tendril.

Argon had never fought so hard in his life. Ever. The wolf attacking him now was twice the size of Fenrir from Norse legends. He had slain that beast himself barely a thousand years ago. Besides that, this girl - wolf - still had command of the ether, body still filled with it, and she was not even using much of it to turn the battlefield into a bloodbath all on her own.

The spear was having trouble with the dragon too. Her power must be shared with him if they are true mates. Argon let a small wisp of power take that knowledge to his brothers, Dreyfuss and Ullyses would have to drive the spear. He was certain that Caspian was having as much difficulty with the dragon as he was with this wolf.

ASHER

Since the moment he saw the newcomer, he had kept a close eye on him. There was a familiar feel to him, but with the fighting there was no time to inflect on it. However, when the new Deamon lit up all blue and he attacked Asher, there was no denying who this was. The facial features were slightly off, but they'd fought and trained together their whole lives.

"Caspian."

"Congratulations pet, I was hoping you would notice. Makes this all the more appealing, does it not?" The hatred on his face was pure.

"Now will be your only chance to sway me from killing you brother," Asher baited. Stalling was all he could do to figure this out, and the Caspian he knew was always too quick to anger. With a little luck he was still the same, just with a slightly different face.

"Sway you?" Caspian took the bait and laughed like a maniac.

"I was charged with ensuring Mab's safety once she married my brother and became Queen. I was so invisible to her that she never once discovered me. Even when she shoved dear Argon through the portal and betrayed him, I stayed for her. I had hoped she would notice me when I reached out to console her after the portal closed and she was free of him."

"Alas, before I could touch her she screamed her rage to the heavens. A crack opened up beneath me and I fell - she still did not notice me. I tracked her down eventually, pregnant and isolated from the people she had convinced she was their ruler. I believed my moment had arrived to show how much I loved her."

"Unfortunately, Mab's sole focus was on the bond - so that Argon would not know of the child's birth, and again she did not even know it was I who caught the child from her womb. She did not know it was I who cleaned the dead babe, not even did she hear that it was my voice that told her to light the pyre for the infant."

"It was sad that after the child was put to flame, Mab would never hear my voice to know her little girl was being born in that fire. When I eventually gave up trying to reach Mab that way, I went to bring the babe to her, alive and well, so that finally we could be together. But the babe was gone with no sign of where she went. I could not face my beloved as a failure, so I protected her from the shadows - killing and maiming any who would dare question Mab's glory."

"I followed her many years later when she stole you. And when the second time came around, I used my power to switch places with the young prince she took for herself. That babe never left the Summer Court, and I have been loving her all this time. So here is what you will be doing dear brother, you will convince your mate not to kill Argon, because then, Mab would die and we can't have that."

"Instead you will imprison him so that I may have my fun, and Mab and I can finally be together, can finally share bodies, and can finally rule as we should have from the start. Do you have any questions?"

Through all Caspian's monologueing, they kept circling each other. And now that the one-sided dialogue was over, Asher had only one thing to say after careful consideration.

Shifting into his dragon, he told him; "Not quite."