But Jack simply swatted her away, clearly more interested in the Holy Castle than engaging with the opponent at hand. Blinding agony assaulted him when he reached the castle’s barrier, and Jack began slamming his fists into the magical wall, enraged. Even though this should have been as futile as punching a tank with bare knuckles, Jack’s abnormal strength shook the castle with each blow. A full-fledged monster would have been burnt to atoms by the barrier’s holy pulse just by getting this close to it. But, for better or worse, Jack was still half human. He felt the unbearable agony of the castle’s magic, but his demonic rage did not allow him to walk away.
Queen stumbled to her feet and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. “An unbreakable toy isn’t very fun either,” she grumbled, activating yet another stat-boosting skill.
—Triple Strike!
(Triples the user’s Attack, but the effect is too strenuous on the human body. User takes continuous damage.)
Queen’s eyes became bloodshot and blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth. While Monkey Magic’s half-ape body could withstand the effects of this skill, Queen’s fully human body creaked under its enormous effects. Gritting her teeth, she unleashed a powerful strike on Jack.
Finally, her blow seemed to have impacted him. “You bitch! Out of the way!” he bellowed.
“Calm your tits, motherfucker. You’ve never seen a castle before?”
Jack turned to Queen and began swinging his fists wildly, each punch potentially lethal.
Dodging the blows with little room to spare, Queen continued pummeling her foe with Sigma. “Once a dictator, now you’re pounding sand outside our castle. Bitch move.”
“Shut your mouth! I am still the king of Euritheis!” Jack twisted and exploded into a charge. “Liger Pounce!”
Queen immediately set up Wall of Light, but Jack’s strength far exceeded her expectations. After what sounded like the head-on collision of two semis on a highway, Queen went flying and crashed into a shop, bringing the structure down. Still, she stood from the rubble, holding herself up with her hammer. Despite boosting her Defense as much as possible and bracing for impact with a magical barrier, that singular collision had nearly destroyed her. Jack’s strength far outclassed anything she had faced in the past.
“Do you finally realize who your king is, stupid bitch?” Jack snarled.
“No king of mine has an ugly mug like that. What a laugh.”
“Stubborn, aren’t we? It seems more discipline is in order.”
“You’ve already stopped being human. It’s about time I leveled the playing field.”
“What?”
Queen arched back, arms limp and eyes closed, her face pointed to the sky. Palpable divinity surrounded her, as if to prove her legitimacy as a Holy Maiden. It soon grew into a pulse of energy that frosted the air around her. Warlkin, who’d been watching the fight close by, shivered.
Just then, Fuji returned to the scene and let out a yelp. “My Queen, you mustn’t! The last time you...”
Fuji’s shouts were drowned out by the geyser of energy coming from Queen, which took a bizarre form in the air above her. Those who witnessed this divine being would feel frozen down to their marrow. Large and spherical, it resembled a floating eye that threatened to shorten the lives of those who beheld it.
The massive eyeball was made of thousands of smaller eyes, a series of masklike faces mixed in among them. Winged eyeballs hovered by the hundreds behind the large eyeball. Coldness shrouded the divine pulse emanated by this accursed supernatural deity.
Soon, Queen began chanting in a clear voice as blinding light swallowed her. “Temptatio vos non adprehendat nisi humana fidelis autem Deus qui non patietur...”
—Blessing of the Still Angel: Angel Madness!
(All stats gradually rise, until the maximum of +44. Sanity gradually diminishes.)
While she still had the mind to speak, Queen turned to Fuji. “Get everyone out of here. If I lose my mind, you take me out. Got it?”
Although dubbed a “Blessing,” Queen’s skill was more of a curse than anything else.
Years ago, she’d lost many men because of it, killing them with her own hands when the curse had taken too much of her sanity. When the Northern Nations sent a legion in the tens of thousands, Queen had defeated them with this Blessing. By the time the invading army had been decimated, her mind had been frayed...so she kept killing, even when only her loyal subordinates were left. History remembered that battle as the Gatekeeper Tragedy.
She had kept this power locked away since. Without it, Queen knew there was no defeating Jack.
At this point, the former tyrant finally recognized Queen. “The Holy Castle... I’m in Holylight. That makes you the Holy Maiden with a bucket of loose screws.”
“Says the walking abomination. Have you seen yourself in the mirror?” Queen kicked off the ground and rushed up to Jack. Starting with a blow to his face, she unleashed a furious hammering, which Jack blocked and countered with all of his strength.
In the midst of their supersonic battle, the corners of her mouth curved up. “Both of our clocks are ticking. I won’t be able to talk soon, so I’ll tell you this now...”
“Oh? The last words of a crazy bitch?”
“Mark my words... Get fucked, shithead.” Queen flipped him off one last time with brazen disgust that stoked Jack’s wrath.
The few people who bore witness to their battle could not move, save to quiver where they stood. No matter how many blows Jack landed with his fists, Queen never flinched, but only countered faster.
“How...?! The force of chaos is with me! How could a mere human...?!” Jack bellowed his frustration, while Queen merely laughed maniacally. “Don’t look at me like that! I’m a king! I’m not a slave anymore!” In Queen’s face, Jack saw the disgusted looks from his past that still haunted him.
Desire for revenge had made him hunger for more and more power until he had an entire nation under his thumb. He had been a slave, forced to face fearsome animals and Hellbeasts in the Colosseum. Each time, he had run for his life to the great amusement of the audience. Surviving a fight in the Colosseum earned him a pinch of coin and a cold, hungry sleep in his cell. Once he climbed his way out of that misery, Jack believed with all of his being that he was invincible.
Now he saw his past self in Queen, as she kept coming at him no matter how many times he struck her. That irritated him to no end.
“Give up! Eat dirt already! I am king! The ruler of all!”
Fists like boulders collided with Queen’s body over and over. At last, Queen fell to one knee. Seizing the opportunity to finish his foe once and for all, Jack brought down his foot in a devastating stomp. The ground below her cracked and caved in, but Queen still lived, having blocked the stomp with crossed arms. Her mouth moved inaudibly. Whether she had tried to spit out more curses or to ridicule Jack, he hated that she could still move.
Designs of clocks in all shapes and sizes appeared on Queen’s skin, triggering a terrible skill.
—Duel Skill: Game of Death!
(User can continue performing actions even after being determined dead. Status redetermined after time elapses.)
Watching Queen rise to her feet yet again, Jack nearly had an aneurysm. “What’s it gonna take, you bitch?! You lost! Admit it!”
Queen let her tongue hang loose and gave Jack the finger in a final “fuck you.” Her mind was nearly gone, but her stats were still rising with every second.
When they reengaged in combat, Jack could barely land a hit as Queen moved faster and faster. Her hammer found its mark on Jack’s head, then immediately in his ribs. A swift leg sweep, and before Jack even hit the ground, Queen had clocked him in the jaw. She moved faster and struck harder than any human should have been able to—in exchange, her muscles were tearing, bones were cracking, and her heart was about to blow.