Amy and I make the approach towards the dick head laser deer. The two of us are the first to make a direct attack on him and it shows; he seems shocked as we speed down into range and attempt a strike on him.

He’s basically been acting as artillery for the whole battle thus far; initially he’s charging to fire another light beam at us, but his focus quickly changes as my axe approaches his exposed neck.

Just before the moment of impact, a shimmering wall of force intercedes itself between my blade and his throat; the metal of my axe drawing a line of scattering sparks as it scrapes across the insubstantial but apparently impenetrable shield.

“Fuck! He’s got some kind of barrier!”

More than that he’s got the power to return fire and does so with great vigor; by the time we pull away my wrist is sore from parrying the staccato barrage of glowing beam projectiles.

“Addie, we’re going to need some more firepower!”

“I’ll do what I can, I think I have an idea; try and keep his attention!”

“Amy, lets keep it up! if we keep hitting him we might find an opening!”

"Yes Amber."

Going around for another pass I swap the axe for my crossbow and fire off some potshots; not the usual kind either, a bead of blasting putty on the bolt makes them pack a bit more punch. Grenade sized explosions rattle off with each one that lands; at first it seems like it does nothing until one is a bit off target.

He’s busy firing another beam off into the swarm trying to support his hornets when its charge finally goes off and it rattles him good.

He can only keep the shield up when he’s not attacking.

“Come on Amy, lets keep the pressure up!”

Together we lay down a good bit of suppressive fire, explosive bolts run out quick and the alchemical bombs don’t last much longer but we keep it up making swipes with the axe or my dagger hand.

“Hey Addie, just what is this guy’s damage anyway; was that little wolf shit really that important?”

“Yes… well… No, he’s trying to use the hunt for you as an excuse to take the meadow from me. Even if you weren’t here he’d press the attack; he’s been gunning for my home for the past hundred years.”

“Holy shit, seriously? Now I have another reason to hate this asshat… Hows your plan going?”

“Almost done, but keep the pressure up, we’ve reduced his forces by almost a third.”

“You got it!”

The battle rages on for what feels like hours before I hear from Addie again, though its probably closer to a few minutes; even with my stamina and mana recharging almost as fast as I use it, fatigue is beginning to hit me.

“How’re we doing Addie? I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.”

“Just finished! I’ve made up some alchemical bombs and had workers bring them to the open level of the hive, I’m hoping you can use them like the [Pilots] from your kingdom.”

“Alright! We’ll give him an air raid and finish this up; have your troops follow my lead, alright?”

All at once a few hundred bees break off from the assault on the hornets and move in a sweeping formation with Amy and I at the spearhead. Together we move back to the hive and collect hexagonal wax barrels of some nasty alchemical concoction.

The hive-mind connection makes coordination a whole lot easier and I think it might be buffing me too; maybe Addie has some kind of leadership Skill or Ability.

Together we descend in v-formation and I do my best to keep his attacks focused in my direction, hurling a few of my more insults and jabs; even so a number of our wing are blown out of the sky, those shots triggering the alchemical explosives early. 

Even with those losses we press on.

This is shot for shot a fantasy Death Star trench run, isn't it?

“Steady… steady…. DROP THE HAMMER!”

The barrels fall all as one, exploding in a scintillating light show of elemental energies that eclipses the stag’s form completely; this blast is bigger than anything I’ve seen to day, even the shot that blew off my hand.

“FUCK YEAH! EAT SHIT YOU RAGING DOUCHECANOE!”

I feel my mood peak as we broke away from the swelling explosion

“I think we got him!”

Before we could celebrate too much, reality set in.

We did not get him.

---

Countless lances of light burst from the cloud of smoke and dust we left behind, burning the bulk of our little assault squad to ash like the wrath of an angel; time slows to a crawl as we spin out of control in a dizzying corkscrew careening towards the ground, crashing in a heap.

Holding down a wave of nausea I take a look at my partner, the wings on her left side have been scorched away and the rest were mangled in the fall, she’s not going to be flying again any time soon.

“Amy! can you hear me?”

“Amber, I am disabled, leave me as a distraction and select another war-caste to continue the assault.”

“Fuck that, we’re buddies just… just give me a second to figure this out.”

“Amber, It is okay, I die in service to hive and queen. I could not ask for a better death.”

"Don't give up so soon, he's got to be hurting after that hit."

My own body isn’t looking much better, my right leg is spun the wrong way around below the knee and a bit of white peeks out from the red; but the pain barely registers in the face of what I see next.

A silhouette emerges casually from the smoldering crater; elegantly long but muscled legs casually strolling out of a veritable hellscape as the hornets in the sky above seem to scatter, breaking formation.

“This has become most tiresome human.”

Cernunnos steps free of the cloud, completely unscathed… he’s a lot bigger up close and dwarfs even the blink hog in size. Laying here on the ground his antlers seem to scrape the clouds.

“At first, it was entertaining in a way, a strategic game… but you have succeeded in ruining my fun.”

He continues his approach and it seems he doesn’t even need to look as he fires off more beams of light, downing the stragglers attempting to make another bombing run. Its pitiful, but I start crawling backwards, dragging myself towards my weapon as he waltzes forward charging an attack aimed at me.

“I suppose on some level your effort should be applauded, you have succeeded in breaking my concentration and forcing me to strike with full force, but it is most inconvenient; now with my focus broken the [Devourer Hornets] will scatter and strip the meadow to the root.”

Just a few more feet… 

“It will be an exercise in frustration returning the hornets to my thrall after this is resolved to renew my assault, but at least I’ve got you; the [Lupine Empress] will have no issue with trading your head for the rights to this territory.”

There!

“Eat a dick bambi!”

Just as he fires his shot I bring the axe up and parry the blast back at him! This close to the source the metal screams with the sudden heat but it manages to hold as his reflected attack impacts his chest.

My moment of triumph is short lived as the beam ricochets off his silvery hide into the blue sky.

Another beam of power, more forceful and dire than the last, is fired; burning my hand and sending my axe careening off, glowing red and nearly molten but still holding its shape.

With nothing to lose I take the chance to try and rush him, the dagger on my wrist springing out as I manage to go three steps on my mangled legs before a sharp sensation stops me.

“ENOUGH!”

A flash of silvery light breezes past me and I hear a low thud. At first I can’t tell what’s happened, but the spray of red from my shoulder tells me everything I need to know; apparently those ‘barriers’ aren’t just barriers.

“Be still.”

Lightheaded I slump to my knees before bindings seemingly made of pure light materialize around me, encircling my ankles, wrist, and neck and holding me upright even as the strength drains away from me in scarlet waves.

“I am going to relish this... though… I can’t have you bleeding out, can I?"

He seems to consider his options for a moment before deciding on a course of action; I can’t help but scream as he fires off another ray of heat and light, searing the stump of my missing arm shut.

“There.”

He turns his head and projects a message over the din of battle, one loud enough to shake the foundations of my mind.

“Queen Adelaide! I will now begin the execution of the human that so grievously injured the scion of our rightful ruler; if you wish to intercede on her behalf, you may do so in person!”

Fuck! He’s trying to lure her out… without control of the hornets he can’t approach the hive unless he wants to rumble with the main swarm.

“Don’t listen to this asshole, keep fighting!”

He turns to me silently and looks me straight in the face.

That was a bad idea.

No matter how much I try, I can’t get my head to budge as that ring of light wrapped around it holds me tightly in place. My mana doesn’t respond to my amateurish tugging and no matter how much I try I can’t force Arcane Backfire to work.

Before I can try anymore a beam of light, less intense than his slicing rays of destruction but no less painful sears the left side of my face, my flesh sizzles and pops like bacon in a pan.

“AAAAAAA FUUUCK FUCK FUCK!”

My vision from that eye goes black as it boils and evaporates out its socket in a scalding plume of steam.

“Remain quiet human, or you will lose the other.”

He turns once more to call out to her, voice thunderous and wrathful.

“Have you no care in your heart? The one you so readily went to war for is suffering Adelaide and I assure you, she will suffer most terribly under my care!”

He taps his hoof and a carpet of greenery regrows around my feet, my HP rising as my empty eye socket scars over rapidly. Son of a bitch is healing me; I’m not going to let him use me as bait.

“Fucking kill me you coward! Do it!”

His voice is cool and casual and he doesn’t even meet my gaze.

“No.”

The collar around my neck tightens preventing me from screaming. Looking into his eyes, I know he’s going to keep torturing me and he’ll kill me either way.

“F-fuck y-you.”

My mouth fills with blood as I bite my tongue, hoping I can at least stop this myself… but its not to be.

“Look at her devotion Adelaide, she tries to decide for you, but I will not allow it; I am merciful you see, you deserve a chance to save her.”

I can only manage pitiful bloody gurgles as he heals me again, the divots in my tongue sealing up faster than I can remake them.

The torture continues, he rakes away chunks of flesh with laser precision or blasts me with searing bolts only to restore me moments later; again and again and again until at last he loses patience.

“I grow tired of waiting Adelaide... “

I can see it in his face, this next attack is meant to end me… but just before he fires, a familiar figure intercedes itself between us, the little bee I first saved; the one who carried me here.

“Oh Adelaide… “

She buzzes furiously before me, brandishing a stinger at the immense stag who halts his attack to laugh; His prismatic antlers shine for a moment before another band of light materials around her bumbling form, halting her frantic motions.

“...I was not informed that you had a daughter.”

He lifts her up by those bindings of light, seeming to examine her as she thrashes and attempts to lash out with her stinger.

“Oh isn’t that just so precious, I can see that she takes after you; a curious and courageous heart. So young too, she cannot even use the [Wild Speech] for more than sending her emotions, can she?”

He continues to appraise her, waltzing around the bound Apidean in a circle.

“She seems to be fond of your human, is that why you’ve been so protective of her? You really can’t let your offspring dictate your actions; such sentimentality doesn’t suit you [Wise Queen], but it seems your child takes after you in much the same way.”

System Alert! Updated Sub Objective: Stop Him ►Accept◄

Adelaide breaks her silence

“Don’t you dare touch her! Cernunnos I swear-”

“You swear what? You hid this child from the empress and I am completely within my rights to dispose of her; by her order we of noble baring are not to produce true offspring without her leave... but perhaps this child does have some use. “

System Alert! Updated Sub Objective: Kill Him ►Accept◄

I taste vomit in my mouth as he speaks and I can only imagine how Addie feels, fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him fuck him.

“If the human’s suffering is not enough to draw you from your hiding place, then perhaps this,” the word punctuated by razor edged plane of force swiping off the princess’s wings, “will be enough to stir you to action?”

System Alert! Updated Sub Objective: DESTROY HIM ►Accept◄

“Or this! perhaps this?! this? or maybe… this?”

Each word is followed by another razor edged slice and the crisp sound of limbs being severed neatly.

System Alert! Updated Sub Objective: MAKE HIM SUFFER ►Accept◄

I can’t look away… I hate him, I hate every thing about him and I have to do something.

Everything happening now is my fault, everything is because I showed up.

Desperately I try to struggle against the shimmering force locking me in place; there has to be something, some skill, some title, some ability that I haven’t used.

My menu appeared and glowing in my sight was one that had mocked me: [Surpass Limits].

I earned that one on my first day here, it gave me the strength to outrun a mob of goblins through a forest fire and swim kilometers through monster infested open waters. I’ve used it before, but how?

I have to remember...

I dug deeper in search of a memory that I wasn’t certain I had; trying to find something, anything that matched the sensation of using that ability. The world drifts away, Cernunnos’s threats, Addie’s anger, the pain wracking me… all of it falls to the wayside.

“I remember.”

---

One night, just short of a decade ago by my own personal count, I’d had a job; I was a delivery driver for a few years. It was storming and I was speeding down the road my 92’ Corolla with the bass beating against the windows to drown out the sound of thunder and the silence of solitude.

A hurricane wasn’t a good enough reason to call out of work, my supervisor had been clear about that, though despite the threats of firing, several of my coworkers opted to call in sick and so I was running a double load; my own finances necessitating I work even with the risk to my life.

Two semi trucks one in each lane on either side of me, and the rare breed tailgater willing to match my speed in the rain, practically burying the front bumper of his raised pickup in my tailpipe as his headlights blasted my retinas.

I remember musing about my job in the moment; I thought of the semi drivers as kindred spirits, we both spent a lot of time on the road, though they lived there and I was only a visitor.

Normally I was fast enough that the average driver wouldn’t consider going bumper to bumper with me, much less so in a hurricane, but I can only assume by the size of the vehicle and the rack of lights on top that this was a man who had something to prove; several somethings to drink as well probably.

The needle on my speedometer was jiggling on the edge of 90 and I was thinking of dinner waiting for me at home when it happened; the semi on the left signaled a lane change and I realized I was in his blind spot. The truck behind me backed off, slowly breaking to avoid losing control as the bravado left him and I was left stranded.

In the moment I had nowhere to go, couldn’t break safely unless the truck behind me let up on speed a little faster and I knew my car couldn’t actually go fast enough to get ahead of the semis; there didn’t seem to be any way out of the slowly closing valley of diesel driven steel.

My body reacted before my mind did and I swear I felt the whole world shake; emergency break, sharp tug of the wheel and the semis carried on without me, my car spun and passed at an angle through the gap between bumpers with a hairs breadth of clearance. I heard my tires scream against the pavement and the raindrops froze in motion for a split second before I hit the gas again.

By the time I knew what was happening again, I was laughing and singing along with Queen blaring on the stereo.

I was 19, an amateur who’d been driving for less than six months and I had moved like an experienced stunt driver; adrenaline, necessity, and some strange pristine calmness combined to make my body and mind act well beyond their limits for the barest fraction of a second.

That’s what it means to surpass your limits.

The moment I was home and my engine was off, I collapsed behind the wheel and cried for a full ten minutes, but at that second as the steely vice of death closed on me, I was unstoppable.

I found the feeling of that moment, the perfect calm in the midst of panic, and I tapped into it.

---

“[Surpass Limits].”