An earthquake rattled the battlefield as humans clashed with undead and demons in a brutal, chaotic struggle along the border.
Ice streaked across the field while fire blasted from metal pipes, searing the air.
"FIRE!"
Undead burned to ash while shielding the demon forces as they advanced against the invading Celestine army.
From a distant cliff, Lucius watched the human army relentlessly attack his undead forces. He frowned, puzzled that they ignored the obvious gaps in his defenses.
"This doesn't make any sense. The gaps are there, and they're… fighting head-on?" Lucius peered at the far-off ridge where another small army lay in wait.
Curious, he scanned the ridge beyond the battlefield. A familiar figure caught his eye: pale-faced, blonde-haired, and watching silently from afar.
"Azar? No, that's the angel Enocht Jala warned me about. But why is it just watching?"
From across the battlefield, Enocht caught his eye and smirked knowingly from the mountainside.
Lucius scowled. "What's the...!"
An explosion rocked the field. Lucius snapped his head left as smoke billowed upward. Before he could react, Enocht flew in front of the smoke, wings outstretched, blocking his view. She made a subtle gesture, and a faint breeze brushed his ear.
"How do you like this magic?"
Lucius flinched, hearing Enocht whispering through the wind.
"It's something that one of the great Heroes of Prophecy wrote in one of their many journals… all of it, safely guarded by the Celestine emperor."
"What game are you playing?"
"No game. Well, nothing fun anyway... All I can do is sit back and act as support," Enocht said. "But at least I get a front-row seat to some interesting magic. Like that magic your general uses... Shame about his arm. Really, I expected a bit more from him. But perhaps he'll have more to show today."
Lucius glanced back at the battlefield, where increasingly powerful magic streaked through the air.
"I'm not in the mood for a fight, so I'll stay back for now. That is... if you behave yourself. Otherwise, I might have to turn and destroy the rest of your kin." Enocht's smirk deepened as she lowered herself onto the ridge behind her. "And you wouldn't want that now, would you?"
Lucius narrowed his eyes, suspecting the angel was scheming. He conjured his large sword and stabbed it into the ground, his expression hardening as his mind raced. He watched her closely as she turned back to the battlefield.
"Rickard!"
A meek Karnal stepped to Lucius's side, nervous. "
"
Enocht glanced over, remaining seated and watchful.
********
Surrounded, Lillian dodged waves of fire aimed at her and Rakon. Searing heat curled around them while Terrocht retreated, step by step.
"Get back here!" Lillian growled, then conjured a huge wall of water between herself and the golden army surrounding them.
Without hesitation, Rakon lunged forward and grabbed Terrocht. Fire tore through Rakon's hollow body, ripping him apart as he held firm, pulling Terrocht back, and irritating him.
"Pah! And what does a hollow body and transformed hero expect to do?" Terrocht snarked. He turned his hand, conjuring wind that shattered Lillian's wall, forcing her to quickly raise another.
Terrocht ripped Rakon in half from his waist. "Your determination never ceases to amaze me."
Rakon struck Terrocht twice across the face, each blow quick and forceful, yet ineffective.
Amused, Terrocht smiled and flung Rakon back to Lillian before turning away.
Behind Terrocht, two soldiers stepped forward and unleashed fire, but water instantly quenched the flames as a barrier formed around Lillian and Rakon.
"Keep firing, men!" The captain ordered.
"What about that pale man?"
"Ignore him. Our targets are the demons!"
Steam billowed around them. Lillian grimaced from the heat and turned to see Rakon's body reforming, his neck cracking as he stood.
"Damned human!" Rakon sneered, baring his fangs and glaring at the soldiers. "Let me through. I'll kill them, and you can go after Terrocht."
"There's a problem with that plan." Lillian's voice strained as she took a few deep breaths. "Each of them is wearing a piece of Cassell's holy stone. If you try to fight, you might be repelled—or worse."
"Then you deal with them."
"I can't…" Lillian steadied her breath. "I feel like all my energy is drained. R-right now, this is all I can do."
"Tch!" Rakon glanced between the attacking soldiers and Terrocht, who was preparing to take flight. "Then I'll distract Terrocht until you recover."
"W-what!?"
Rakon plunged his fingers into Lillian's watery barrier and surged through, breaking free without hesitation.
"Rakon! What are you doing!? Wait!" Reluctantly, Lillian conjured a gust to clear the steam, watching as Rakon darted past the soldiers and latched to Terrocht's back. His hand morphed into a blade and stabbed into the angel.
Terrocht whipped around and slammed his enlarged fists into the ground, missing as Rakon's body swirled like liquid around him.
Irritated, Terrocht swung his other hand, barely catching Rakon by the neck. "Persistent demon."
"Heh! I recognize you now. You were the human who got close to Kalika. That Celestine man."
"If you mean the human I-" Terrocht's eyes twitched. Moments later, black blood poured from his eyes. "Stronger will than I thought," he muttered.
Rakon furrowed his brow. "What?"
Terrocht squeezed harder, then hurled him toward a group of soldiers. "Kill him!"
Terrocht unfurled his wings and soared into the sky.
Without warning, watery tendrils lashed out and wrapped around Terrocht's ankles. He laughed, effortlessly absorbing the magic.
Moments later, stone chains coiled around him, followed by more water tendrils. As if in challenge, a whip of fire snaked around his body.
"What the-!" Terrocht glared back at Lillian as she coughed blood.
"S-so the same principle works on you too," Lillian stammered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rakon dodging blasts of fire from the soldiers' pipes.
She fixed her gaze on her target, narrowing her eyes in determination as she pulled harder. She braced as the golden army spewed a relentless torrent of fire that blasted at her and Rakon, with a few whisking past the chains binding the angel.
Bemused, Terrocht forced a smile. "You two can try all you'd like, but you can't break destiny."
"Where'd the demon go!?" a soldier blurted.
A bloody mist flew over Terrocht, and from the mist, Rakon jumped on the angel's back. His hand formed a dagger and, from behind, stabbed him in the chest.
"
Scowling, Rakon drove his bladed arm through the angel's wing and tore it away in one motion.
Terrocht crashed to the ground, and Lillian dragged him closer to the edge of her watery barrier.
"Kill the demons!" the captain shouted, spurring the soldiers forward.
Soldiers rushed at Rakon, pipes raised, poised to swing.
Rakon raised his blood-pouring hand and slashed at the soldiers, his attack bouncing off invisible air. A blue pulse faintly outlined the sphere-like barrier.
Rakon sneered and took the blow head-on, letting their weapons rip through him. Both soldiers froze in shock.
An arm burst from Terrocht's back, pushing Rakon off and slamming him into the ground beside him. Terrocht planted his feet, straining against Lillian's pull.
Several new limbs sprouted from his body, breaking the elemental chains that held him.
Indignant, Terrocht glared back at them, watching the soldiers' fire fail to reach Lillian and Rakon. With a wave of his hand, a torrent of wind whipped through, slashing the barrier apart.
Lillian grimaced. Her face was more strained as she fought to keep everything together as the heat intensified.
Another hand emerged from Terrocht's chest. "You can only keep this charade on for so long, Holy light holder."
The angel's hand shot at Lillian. But from the ground, Rakon liquefied, then caught and stabbed Terrocht's hand into the ground.
Terrocht clenched his teeth, and from behind, two soldiers shot a torrent of fire into Rakon, burning through his body and grazing Lillian.
Rakon growled, trying to slice Terrocht's arm as his body expanded and solidified.
"Rakon! Don't worry about me! Save Kalika!"
Rakon glanced back. "Tch! And give my brother another reason to kill me? That's out of the question!" Rakon tore off Terrocht's limb and threw it into the soldiers' stream of fire, letting their attack incinerate it.
Rakon stood, regenerating his own lost limb, then caught an attacking soldier's pipe.
Panicked, the soldier tried to pull away. Rakon held firm and pulled him back. His eyes widened, feeling a subtle change in the air; he smirked. "Interesting…" He shot a sharp spike from his hand, piercing the soldier's neck.
Slowly, the sound of fire dissipated, and the other soldier took a step back, more cautious. Confused, Rakon peeked at the army on the ridge and surrounding them, watching as more scrawny soldiers ran through the ranks, passing small leather pouches.
"What are you doing!? Reload! RELOAD!!" Their captain ordered.
Rakon smirked. "Oh?"
He pushed the dead soldier off him and blocked Terrocht's ambush as the angel's hand grew. A silence filled the air as a grim expression overtook both combatants.
Flustered and furious, the captain reorganized his ranks, breaking the sudden quiet as Rakon and Terrocht wrestled.
"I nearly forgot about that grey powder those humans need." Rakon mused.
Lillian slowly rose. "Grey powder."
Rakon glanced. "You've fought them long enough. Surely you remember those weapons need that crystal-filled grey powder."
Lillian lowered the water wall around them.
"What are you doing?" Rakon questioned.
"We have to get those barrels, right?" Lillian unfurled her wings, taking to the air.
Gritting his teeth, Terrocht unleashed tendril-like arms from his body, lashing them toward Lillian.
Rakon tackled Terrocht, veering the angel's hands off course. He stabbed into the angel's body and slashed at his arms.
The last of the nearby soldiers rushed and swung at Rakon. "Get off him!!" Rakon caught his pipe and, with a snicker, killed him.
"FIRE!!"
Rakon winced as the air echoed with the booming heat of the fire.
Fire tore through his body again, unabated, until–
"The Woman! The Woman! Aim for her!!"
Rakon watched as torrents of fire were redirected into the sky while Lillian dodged the fire magic from the weapons. Her eyes swept the ranks of golden-armored soldiers, half-blinded by their shining armor as she searched.
Far behind the ranks of soldiers, barrels sat ready on horse-drawn carts as soldiers refilled pouches and scrambled back to the lines.
More fire surged at her. She twisted between bursts of fire and forced what little magic she could muster into a fireball. She coughed blood, then hurled the fireball into the first barrel.
To her shock, the entire barrel exploded into a fiery inferno, shattering barriers and taking a few soldiers with it. Suddenly, a wave of fire washed over her, burning her clothes and bags of supplies.
With sheer will, she conjured a layer of water over herself and fled out of their range—only to end up within range of the other soldiers.
"Grr! Will this never end?" Her eyes darted around as she searched and dodged, then sped along to destroy more of the army's supplies.
Barrels exploded one after another, and slowly the fire began to dwindle. Concerned, Lillian turned back and watched Terrocht wrestle to free himself from Rakon's relentless grip and stabbing attacks.
Heat filled the air again. Lillian dove back into the fray, between the streams of fire, and destroyed the remaining supply carts where she could. However, it wasn't long before soldiers broke ranks, guarding the barrels with their own bodies.
Lillian scoffed and wiped her face.
"GAH!"
Lillian whipped her head back toward Rakon. Her eyes widened as she saw Terrocht stab him with a ruthless number of spike-like tendrils, black blood erupting from Rakon's body.
"You worm of a demon!" Terrocht yelled.
Several wings erupted from his body in uneven numbers. They shriveled in and out as he struggled to control himself.
Lillian darted towards the angel, fire following her path as the golden army converged on her from all sides.
Terrocht finally took to the sky, but Lillian quickly rammed him back down.
Terrocht knocked her off him, but Lillian stumbled back to her feet and conjured a new barrier of water around them, trapping Terrocht with her and the hole-filled remains of Rakon's clone.
With a gesture of her other hand, she slammed a large square stone onto the angel, but it slowly crumbled away.
Alarmed, she turned back to her water barrier, horrified as holes slowly opened up.
Terrocht chuckled as Lillian rose. Even as Rakon attempted to grab him, the angel pushed him back into the steaming barrier as fire flashed through.
Terrocht coughed up more blood. "It was a good effort, using the power Cassell bestowed on you just to reach me… It's a shame you never put it to use more often. Maybe you would've managed much better." He raised his arm, a wide smile playing on his face as he approached. "But now it's about time to finally end your futile resistance."
Feeling weaker, Lillian slowly slumped to her knees, unable to stand as exhaustion overtook her. She lowered her head and whispered a prayer beneath her breath.
"Please, I don't want it all to end here. Old creators, celestials once driven out by Cassell, please, I beg of you. Help me save my sister. I don't care who she is now or what she looks like; please bring her back to me—"
Her mind reeled, a familiar wave of vertigo rising as memories drained from her as if being pulled away. She felt a touch on her head and froze, but nothing happened.
She glanced up and saw Terrocht frozen in place, his hand outstretched yet far from Lillian, as black blood flowed nonstop from his face.
Lillian blinked. "This feeling… I've felt it somewhere before. It was after I lost consciousness…" She looked at Terrocht and saw orange flooding his once-yellow eyes.