"HHHAAAAAAAARGH! *CLANK*" My sword clashed with my opponent in the fields of Onderon. The swamps of the northwest were the slaughtering grounds for thousands of the people in the local militia. As Cardan, the last leading officer still standing, I was left alone with a single enemy. I am a middle-aged man of a noble descent from the family of Oldeo. After the fall from grace of my family, losing all our riches and honor, I aimed to reclaim our heritage by founding a local militia and fighting for the protection of the lower people.
We were just trying to fight back when the succubi started dragging away the people of our village to take them to their realm. But in the end, it turned into a nightmare. The forces of the demons were much larger than we anticipated and we lost almost all of soldiers to the succubi.
We stood no chance, even as their companions fell to our attacks they didn't seem to be distraught by it in the least. It was as if even dying didn't remove the demon power stored within them. As if their power, even after death, still lived on.
But to me it didn't change anything. I slayed as many of their troops as I could before being left with only one opponent... a Dullahan. A fierce woman with silver hair, glaring red eyes and sturdy steel armor along with a two-handed great sword in hand.
We stood in the middle of the foggy swamp land. Harsh rain was rushing down on top of us and running down our faces. Her look was unfeeling and unwavering as she stared me down. She wasn't even heaving in the slightest.
"Come on, make your move, mortal! I don't fear you!" She called out to me with an emotionless, empty look on her face.
I was already out of breath from our battle as I raised my longsword in a last effort of attack. "*pant* Taunt me all you want, demon! I will not let you go through to Onderon and let you take the only few people left there as well!"
"You're a fool if you really want to stand in the way of the demon lord's will. Surrender now and there doesn't have to be any unnecessary bloodshed. But one way or another, at the end of the day Onderon will become a part of the demon realm." The woman braced her sword in an offensive stance, ready to face me.
I wordlessly raise my sword and step forward.
"So that's a no then? Shame." She said with an annoyed sigh before stepping towards me as well.
Her eyes turn determined as her first swing hits my blade. Sparks fly as our metal strikes together.
I lunge towards her, pushing her backwards in hopes that she would stagger. She didn't let up though and instead only fought back stronger and harder.
Every one of my swings is just easily brushed aside and I lose my strength bit by bit. I was just about to lose my last breath as I could see an opening. The Dullahan put her sword to the side and we were at a stalemate.
"Come on, mortal. You can't seriously be trying to keep this going on forever. Just surrender your village already, and give your land to the demon lord. We can still settle this peacefully."
In rage at her nonchalant attitude towards my people, I gripped my sword tightly and prepared for the last strike.
Before she could even ready her weapon, I lifted my sword over my head in a circular motion before striking at her head. My blade went right through her neck and sent her head flying as I decapitated her.
Her headless body stood before me and I was about to celebrate my hard-fought victory. "Haha! Take that, you monster! Nobody messes with Cardan Oldeo and gets away with it! This clan will never bow to the demon lord!" I raised my sword in ecstatic joy... but my victory was not long-lived.
I noticed that her decapitated body didn't plump to the ground and instead just kept standing there, sword still at the ready. It should come without saying but it's not supposed to be able to do that without a head.
It took a few seconds as I heard a plopping sound in between me and the headless body. It was the head of the Dullahan that landed on the muddy ground. Her face was facing towards me and it still moved despite being decapitated.
My mouth hung open in absolute disbelief as her head looked up to me with a deadpan face.
"*sigh* Nice going, idiot. Look what you've done now!" She said in irritated annoyance.
"I... this... you... uhhh!" Was all I could wring out as I tried to wrap my brain around the fact that a decapitated woman was speaking to me as her torso stands next to us, holding its hand to its hips, tapping its feet annoyedly.
Then a howling sound emitted from her body and a fountain of colorful souls shoots out from the spot where her head once was. It was as if I had opened Pandora's box. As I watched the flood of spirits, I recognized faces of my soldiers that were captured by the succubus army before as they floated towards the heavens.
The Dullahan looked at me from the corner of her eyes, her gaze cold and hateful. "Was... was that just my demon energy that I heard? Tell me that wasn't what I just heard!"
I stood there frozen as her body slumped around, looking for its head blindly. My legs did the thinking for me and I bolted. I almost stumbled over my feet as I panicked and ran away from the angry and ranting Dullahan.
"Come back here, you worm! Put my head back on and face me!" I heard her yelling but I didn't even care anymore. Saving face is nice and all, but I'm not dealing with this shit.
I run for a long time until I am fairly certain that I have outrun her.
I break through the doors of an abandoned barn and slam them behind me. I am out of breath and gasp for air while I slide down to the ground.
The barn was still lit with torches. Must've been raided just recently. Guess that's just fitting for me. I strip down my armor, wanting to reacclimate my body from the condensed heat underneath the plates. I use a nearby plank of wood to barricade the doors and take a breath of relief.
In blue buttoned up shirt and brown pants I find myself a corner with piled up hay and let myself fall into it. "I didn't sign up for this. I can deal with succubi, familiars and whatnot, but when your decapitated enemies start talking without their head on it's time to draw a line in the sand. I just hope the people in Onderon will be okay."
I rest my head in the hay and feel my eyes getting droopy. I felt like I was safe in the locked-up barn and let myself fall asleep.
The thunder rings outside as it's still raining hard. Unknown to me, there was a black figure looming on the horizon outside the barn. A black horse, carrying an armored rider with a cold glare in their eyes. The thunder reveals that the rider was headless and carried their head underneath their right arm. It was the Dullahan, her face scrunched in anger and her brows furrowed in her desire for payback.
I hear rattling from the barn doors and jerk up from my hay bed as a loud bang wakes me up. The hinges shake and a howling wind blows through the cracks. I grab my sword and walk over to the creaking wooden doors carefully. One of the windows in the large door swung open and slammed shut over and over.
I fixed it and hooked it back into its lock to stop the banging. "*sigh* Thank the gods. It was just the shutter. Shit, I'm getting paranoid already. Hehe."
"You should listen to your instincts. They often know better." I freeze in place, hearing a female voice behind me. Before I can even turn around, something smacks against the back of my head and my vision grows black. The last thing I see, are a pair of armored boots.
One hour later:
"Urgh, my head. What the hell happened? Wh...what! Why...why am I naked?" I wake up and find myself tied to one of the feeding poles with rope. My clothes are tossed into the empty feeding trough and as I look around, I see the Dullahan with her back turned to me. She seems visibly reluctant to do something as she stands there.
I quickly lay one leg over the other to hide my manhood. "Hey! You there! What do you think you're doing here? Knocking me out like that was such a cowardly move, you monster!" I complain as I try to loosen my restraints. She looks visibly annoyed by it and shoots a cold glare my way. She seems to be unsteady on her feet and keeps rubbing her thighs together for some reason.
In the light of the torches, she almost looked like a normal human, even though I knew better. She was more feminine looking than I remember during the fight. Her face seemed fragile, yet determined and her white shoulder length hair was still wet from the rain. Her plated armor was black with silver outlines.
"Doesn't feel nice to get hit in the head when you least expect it, huh? Hehe... NNnhhhh!" She smirked devilishly but shortly afterwards winced for some reason. She took a deep breath and steadied herself again before looking at me as if she needed something from me. "Listen..." Suddenly, she started to strip off her armor. It revealed a nice figure with wide hips, voluptuous thighs and heavy-looking breasts. She was only clad in standard, black underwear underneath her plates, dressed in a black bra and black panties. Her midriff showed off a flat, smooth belly and her uncovered arms were pretty feeble, making me question that I had so much trouble in a sword fight with her.
She walks toward me and closes her eyes at how reluctant she is to do something. "...you will take responsibility."
"Wh...what? What are you talking about, Dullahan?"
"It's Shanaya for you, mortal!" She said as she groaned "You are the one responsible for this, and you will make up for your actions."
"What do you mean? What did I do?"
"You freed my demon energy and thanks to you... Ahhhnnn...I'm in this annoying state. I need to refill my power or I'm not going to be able to move for much longer." She moaned in the middle of her sentence and as I saw her from the front, I knew why. She was dripping wet and her panties were pretty much glued to her folds. It gave me a perfectly clear view of her pussy's outlines and left little to the imagination.
I gulped as I watched her admittedly sexy figure in front of me, but I couldn't let myself be fooled by this monster. "And how do you suppose to do that? Assuming, that I'd even agree to help you."
