Chapter 169 – Showdown
Neither Nuwa or Zagreus have ever seen this woman, but they know that there are three Fury sisters from the legends and that Megaera is only one of them. Judging by how similar they look to each other.. the conclusion is obvious. Instead of summoning weak mobs as reinforcements, Megaera is finally bringing a heavy hitter to help her out.
The Fury next to Megaera has blue skin, a green wing, a green whip, off-white hair, and similar clothes as Megaera, but with a different color scheme. She wears a blinding smile and says, “Eheheheh. That redblood boyfriend of yours looks real juicy, Meg. And what else do we have here? Little Miss Princess finally comes out to visit? Gehehehe! I’ll show you some of Hell’s famed hospitality.” By the end of her dialogue, drool leaks from her serrated teeth.
(A/N: Alecto, peak-t3 demigod, middle Fury sister)
“Alright, settle down Alecto. The Lord has forbidden us from harming the girl.” says Megaera with obvious reluctance.
Zagreus and Nuwa are dismayed. Judging from Alecto’s bulky muscles, which are as developed as the more familiar Fury, this evil sister of Megaera will be just as challenging to defeat. All of Zagreus’ former confidence of winning is gone seeing the newcomer, even with the warning that they aren’t allowed to fight Nuwa. He is familiar with Megaera’s attack patterns and habits, but fighting Alecto would mean he will have to rely on his battle instincts and learn her style on the fly. The chances of victory, even one-on-one with Alecto, do not look good without facing her 10 times or so to gain some familiarity.
“Aww.. whittle baby needs Daddy’s protection?” says Alecto with a baleful snicker. “Wake up, whittle baby. Daddy’s not here!”
Alecto dashes forward and Nuwa recoils backward out of fear. Everything about Alecto is like something out of her nightmares. The creepy smile, the teeth, the power, and the blatant threats of violence. She is like an entirely unhinged version of Meg that would never be allowed anywhere near the safety of the House of Hades.
Alecto freezes abruptly in midair and growls loudly, “Sister!!”
Megaera has her whip wrapped around Alecto’s leg. With a sharp tug, Alecto is pulled backward like a dog on a leash. She furiously brandishes her own whip, smacking it on the floor in the direction of Megaera, and shouts, “What the heck! I was just going to have a little taste of snake meat..!”
As much as Megaera hates dealing with her idiotic sisters, she knows what makes them tick. So she says with contempt, “Shut up, numbskull. You can fight Zagreus, and only Zagreus, or you can hurt Nuwa and be locked up in a tiny cell by Lord Hades for a few years with not a single shade to torture.”
The threat is too harsh for Alecto, so she sucks up the rest of her complaints and redirects all her frustration to her target. Zagreus is also angered by how much Alecto had scared and promised harm upon his darling sister. They stare at each other viciously for a moment and the psychotic smile returns to Alecto’s face. Nuwa backs away slowly with her bow drawn.
All of a sudden, it starts. They both go at it like animals. Spear and whip clash with incessant regularity. Just like Megaera, Alecto has tons of health and Zagreus has to whittle it down while avoiding any major hits from landing on him. In comparison to Megaera, Alecto’s whip technique and magic skills are weaker, but she is more relentless in her pursuit and has an additional slow-moving vortex magic attack.
Nuwa tries to aim for Alecto with her bow, but the figures are moving too fast. Her connection to Zagreus is strong, but she lacks the foresight to land an arrow in the heat of the battle. She is also worried that if her arrows are shot with the intention of inflicting damage to Alecto, but miss and hit Zagreus, then he might take damage. She only knows that her healing arrows work when aimed at his heart with the intention of healing. They probably should have tested it more carefully.
Alecto stops, flaps her wing to hover a meter above the ground, and puts a shield around her to charge up a magic bombardment. Deftly backing away and avoiding a stream of magical projectiles, Zagreus charges forward back into the fray since her shield is down. As Alecto drops from her hover point, Nuwa recognizes the moment of vulnerability and begins shooting Casts at her. Unfortunately, Nuwa’s arrows are smacked out of the air by the whip of the previously idle Megaera, who only now is choosing to interfere.
Nuwa glares at Megaera and hesitantly points the bow at her, unabashedly stating, “Didn’t Father say you couldn’t hurt me?”
“I never liked you, Nuwa. And now, I have one more reason not to.” Megaera says in a matter-of-fact tone, entirely ignoring Nuwa’s question.
Burning with shame, Nuwa lowers her bow and stares back at the hateful bitch with consternation. Amid the violent clashing, she asks in a tone that Megaera should barely be able to hear, “Why? Why are you always here to stop him? Zag was always nice to you! Why do you have to stand in his way so overbearingly?!”
Megaera mildly frowns and states, “A little girl like you wouldn’t understand.”
Narrowing her eyes, Nuwa retorts with pride, “I’m a grown woman now and I’ve been through more than you know.”
“Right..” Megaera says sarcastically as she runs her eyes disdainfully down Nuwa’s clothing, which is designed to look even sexier than full blown nudity. “You’ve 'grown' into a harlot.”
Nuwa grits her teeth and scathingly spits out, “Oh yeah? Well, Zag loves me deeply for who I am. You're the bitch standing in his way that he hates!”
Megaera cracks her whip on the floor and looks at Nuwa with blistering anger.
“KuaHAHAHA.. This is gold! I can barely pay attention to my fight when there’s such an entertaining catfight happening.” comments Alecto unnecessarily as she laughs hysterically. She takes quite a bit of damage as a result of this distraction, but her laughter immediately turns into angry roaring as she hits half health and goes into a ‘Rage mode’ that Megaera does not have. All her attacks and movements are faster. Zagreus had figured that Alecto had a trick up her sleeves. The fight had been too easy so far compared to Megaera. He has only taken minor damage so far, but now he feels the pressure.
Nuwa and Megaera stare at each other tensely until Megaera grunts dismissively and turns her attention back to the fight. She periodically snaps her whip to make sure none of the stray magical blasts come near Nuwa. Even though Furies have a disposition to succumb to their fury, as is their namesake, Megaera can deal with hers surprisingly well. If she couldn't, she wouldn't be allowed in the House of Hades.
Unfortunately, Nuwa is not leaving it at that. Megaera doesn’t inspire the same sort of fear in her that Alecto does. Even at the risk of pain or death, Nuwa can't stand Megaera and hates being protected by her. Nuwa quietly says, for Megaera’s ears alone, "I bet you've never felt Zag make tender love to you, not like I have."
Megaera freezes on the spot, forcing her recalcitrant charge to have to dodge a magic missile. The Fury turns her head slowly to the side to face Nuwa and starts to say, “You.. fucked.. your own..br-”
Before she can finish that statement, Nuwa raises her bow and shoots at Megaera’s head with a Cast. Most of a Fury’s power is in their physical body, so the rapidly spinning arrow, resembling a magical drill, only slightly pierces the skin of Megaera’s forehead, despite its ability to pierce cleanly into the brain of Ares’ divine projection. Nevertheless, the pink arrow turned white, having fulfilled its purpose to inject the Dao String.
“Yeah, bitch, and his cum is still inside my womb!” whispers Nuwa as she takes a step towards Megaera and uses her Gorgon Queen Gaze to try to capitalize further on the element of surprise. Instead, Nuwa herself is assaulted with blinding pain from the backlash of attempting to use her Gaze in the face of overwhelming physical power.
Megaera takes a step forward, shrugging off the momentary sense of lethargy from looking at Nuwa’s eyes. With one mighty flap of her wing, she dashes forward the rest of the way, grabs Nuwa’s leg, takes a rapid turn, and throws Nuwa against a wide pillar. They are now both out of sight of the fight and won’t have to worry about magical projectiles.
Zagreus notices this and shouts, “Sis!” but Alecto keeps him from checking on Nuwa. The enraged Fury laughs maniacally and increases her onslaught even further. Letting up his attention from the fight will result in him taking massive damage and risking death. His body is much squishier than either of the Furies.
“Oof.” Nuwa lets out a grunt from her light collision with the pillar. She opens her eyes to see what’s going on, but she only sees green, the color of her blood, and feels excruciating pain before closing her eyes again. All her snakes’ eyes are locked shut. Diluting the blood trails, tears now escape from her eyes, as much from pain as from the frustration of not being strong enough. However much despair she feels though, Nuwa refuses to cry out loud. That would be admitting defeat to Megaera. So she stews motionless in silence.
Nuwa feels a firm hand grab her chin and a deep breath land on her face. She activates her sex sense to get a feel for her surroundings, but there’s only a blurry image of her Dao String in front of her. Megaera is too much stronger than her for a scan of her fetishes to work. A furious voice whispers into Nuwa’s ear, “You insufferable strumpet! If I didn’t have to protect you, I’d bleed you dry!”
Hissing angrily, Nuwa wildly swings her bow like a melee weapon, but a strike lands on her arm, and another hit to her wrist disarms her. She continues flailing, but judging by how hard Megaera’s skin is, she can tell landing punches and slaps on the Fury is hurting herself more than it hurts her target. Still blind to what is going on around her, Nuwa cannot resist tantruming like a child, even though she knows how immature it would look on the outside.
Out of nowhere, a sharp flash of light courses through her body! Nuwa squeaks in a high-pitched tone, “Huuwh?!” She brings her hands down to her skirt and feels Megaera’s hand holding something there. Megaera states ominously, “There are plenty of ways to punish an incestuous slut.”
Nuwa’s mouth is gaping in surprise, ‘She.. she went there. This bitch actually shoved something up my pussy!’