Slay the Hierarchy

Fortress of Doom

The staff rumoured it to be an extension of the main manor. 

To some, it was believed to be a monument in memory of the knights that had fallen at the young master's engagement.

And others, that it was a greenhouse the young master (rather impetuously) built for his betrothed.

After all, the sand in the trenches was ideal and ripe for growing. There was nothing to obstruct the sun. It was the perfect - almost ingenious - addition to the Blazkowicz Manor after everything.

Yet these hopes were expectedly dashed when the gardener returned after days into the ceaseless construction; his heart suffering terribly at the sight. Because no greenhouse in the kingdom was made out of steel. No greenhouse was made this tall and round.

No greenhouse... well... looked like a coliseum, really!

Placing down her teacup, the Countess sighed longingly as she looked out her study window at the addition's progress. It was so stupendously tall that it cast a shadow over the main estate, but oddly, she couldn't find it in her to be surprised anymore.

'Monsters... a Green Knight... a coliseum! What is next? A titan to appear in the Blazkowicz County!?'

She sighed again as she placed aside her father's letter. He was so taken by the events leading up to this that he could scarcely even utter his usual endearments towards her.

Not that Sylvia could blame him. It was a lot to take in. So much, in fact, that she sighed again when she thought of the princess.

It was no surprise the young woman was withdrawn after everything she saw and experienced. She hadn't heard from or seen her ever since the disaster at the engagement, and wondered if perhaps any one of these night would be her last on the estate. And how would the Countess go about redacting her own son's engagement?

She sighed for the umpteenth time and the servants could only stare on pitiably. Be it at the lady's great sorrow, or the monstrous thing taking shape outside the windows... no one could tell.

The two weeks following the engagement, however, didn't find Daisy leaving the estate or cancelling her engagement to the Blazkowicz family's only son. Oh, no.

Instead, it found Daisy far busier than she ever imagined herself to be. Busy in the form of replying to letters. Dozens and dozens of them! Who knew a demonic invasion of her own engagement would skyrocket her popularity instead of soiling it?

Well, she certainly didn't.

For the few days after the fact, the princess had been asleep, stirring only when she sensed a presence. She was too groggy to make them out, too weak to; her right shoulder all the while aching and pulsing like a raw wound.

By the fourth day, however, Daisy had regained some semblance of energy. Though the pain was still present, it subsided enough for her to sit up in bed; the princess quickly realising she was back in the guest estate.

And boy, when she thought back, her engagement was certainly one to remember as Daisy pulled away the top of her nightdress, staring disdainfully at the big, ugly purple blotch on her shoulder. It looked almost like an old wine stain on carpet. A sight that triggered the memory of how she'd gone into shock shortly after the Slayer's arrival, convinced she'd lost the arm entirely when she couldn't feel or move it in the least...

And then she thought of the skulls. The red demon. The massacred knights.

She could only assume the adrenalin at the time was what kept her going, because even weeks later, the reality hit her like a wave of nausea. One she struggled to dispel as she set aside the pile of letters in front of her, massaging her temples tiredly.