The ornate gates of the Ishtar Familia's temple groaned open, revealing a grand inner hall carved from pink-veined marble and veiled in sheer silks that swayed gently in the warm air. Perfumed incense clung to every breath, and golden lanterns cast slow-dancing shadows across mural-covered pillars. The soft hum of music echoed from somewhere deeper within the temple, a decadent rhythm of strings and sensual drumbeats.
Caelun stepped inside first, his massive frame darkening the threshold like a stormcloud on the horizon. Carmine and the rest followed- each woman alert, rigid, cautious despite being on familiar ground.
Then came the voice.
"Ohhh~? Who's this strapping little beast?"
From behind a wide column etched with a mural of entwined lovers slithered a figure who made the air feel suddenly fouled. Towering at 6'9, her girth matched her height- bloated limbs swaying beneath the thinnest attempt at silken clothing. Her head was nearly as large as her torso, and her wide mouth displaying thick and broad teeth, curled into a mockery of flirtation. Her bile green amphibian eyes glistened with something sickly sweet and wholly unnerving. Her skin was that signature shade of brown which marked her as an amazon, if it weren't for that feature there would be no convincing Caelun that she didn't have beastly ancestry like Daz or at least was the kin of a particularly large 2nd generation albinauric.
Phryne Jamil.
Freshly levelled to five. The political hammer of the Ishtar Familia. And soon, if she had her way, its captain.
She waddled closer, her hips swinging grotesquely, her voice cloying. "Where's Daz, hmm? Shouldn't the little captain be barking orders at me by now?" Her tone dripped with feigned concern. "Don't tell me something tragic happened to the poor fool…"
Carmine spoke flatly. "Daz is dead. Killed in the lower Dungeon."
Phryne gasped theatrically, one hand raised to her wide chest as if the news pierced her soul. But behind her glassy eyes, a darker thought slithered-
'Finally. That pathetic fool actually went for it. I told him felling a barbarian tribe would earn him honor and the goddess's favor, but I just wanted him- and the rest of his sluts- to die a miserable death in the bowels of the dungeon. What a shame the girls made it back… But now that he's gone, the position's wide open. And maybe… just maybe…'
Her eyes slid to Caelun. They lit up with a sickening mixture of interest and perverse dominance.
"Well, well, little Carmine… you didn't come back alone, did you?" Her long tongue flicked against her lips. "You never told me you liked the monstrous type. What's your pet's name? Or do you just call him 'mountain' when you 'mount' him and leave it at that?"
Carmine's jaw tensed. A vein bulged on her temple.
Phryne grinned wider, taking a step forward. "Come now, sweetie. Don't be shy. What is he? Where's he from? What hole did you dig him out of?"
The party was silent. Tension coiled like a drawn bowstring. Carmine's hands were clenched at her sides, her jaw twitching, her amethyst eyes burning with restrained fury.
Caelun stepped forward.
A slow, easy stride. A grin played across his lips- wicked and amused with his head tilted up 10 degrees, like a wolf regarding a squawking hen.
He looked Phryne up and down, unbothered. Unimpressed. Slightly repulsed but otherwise, utterly unaffected by her presence.
"And why," he said smoothly, his deep voice curling with sarcasm, "should she answer your questions?"
Phryne blinked. "Huh?"
He tilted his head. "Must the graceful swan bow to the bloated, ugly toad? Do you croak so loudly you think yourself royalty, or perhaps even divinity?"
The room fell silent.
Even the music deeper in the temple seemed to pause. Carmine's eyes went wide. One of the other Amazons choked on her breath. No one—no one—spoke to Phryne Jamil like that.
Phryne's eyes went bloodshot. "What did you say, freak? Say it again—your accent's weird."
Caelun took another step closer. His golden eyes burned cold with amusement. "Oh, was I unclear?" he asked, feigning innocence.
"Let me fix that, You are fat, self-important, and ugly as sin. Your bloated head and form matched only in sheer ridiculous size by your own ego, you are so one note I can see through you without having gazed on your slick amphibian form for but a moment. A pustule squatting on a throne built by better women, I bet you rape all your unwilling clientele and charge them triple for a go with such a 'beauty' you shame to all who would bear the title of whore. Crawl back to whatever dark hole you squirmed out of. We've better things to do than humor the slobbering delusions of the clearly infirmed."
Phryne screeched.
She launched forward, surprisingly fast for her size, hands outstretched in fury. But she barely made it a step before-
CRACK.
Caelun's open palm lashed out with casual brutality, backhanding her across the face. The impact echoed like thunder, and Phryne's bloated form went airborne, crashing into the wall with a sickening crunch that cracked the marble and left a dent in the mural behind her. She slumped to the floor unconscious, drool and blood mixing on her torn lips.
Caelun shook his hand once and turned to the party.
"Let's go," he said, voice calm. "I tire of speaking with swine."
Carmine stared at him, a stunned smile tugging at her lips despite herself, a blush heating her face at the demonstration of his formidable strength once again. Behind her, one of the other girls whispered, "…Holy shit."
They left the wreckage behind without another word, stepping deeper into the temple toward its true mistress- the goddess of love and war, who now undoubtedly knew they had arrived.