Zavian's men were butchered faster than pigs at the slaughterhouse. The creatures moved fast, blink and you'd miss them slash past you, only to look down and see one's innards spilling out to the floor and death would kiss them to a permanent slumber.
Freya matched their killing pace with Azriel by her side, swords slicing at incredible speed. Zavian narrowly missed his eyes being plucked out by one of the creatures. They were wild, and around them, the ear splitting cries of the soldiers grew louder and louder.
Zavian looked around, chest heaving, watching the bodies of his fallen comrades. Aloysius had really outdone himself, everything was nothing they could ever imagine.
Far off, he could see the dull blue of the Darstun soldiers galloping from the direction of the castle. Neera, her name brightened and shocked his body like lightning, if she was hurt, he couldn't…
He ran to the direction of the castle, but one of the creatures jumped in front of him. Zavian had his attention shift from the war to Neera, a huge distraction. And when the claws of the creature met his midriff, he was too slow in backing away.
His armor saved him, but not his upper thighs.
Blood sprouted from his lacerations with fast trickles, but the element of surprise didn't wrap around Zavian as his sword clanged against the creature's long claws, curved like talons, but the creature snatched his sword and broke it into half.
Zavian was quick to duck when the other hand came slicing at him, the creature pissed now. He reached for the plaque sword, and the creature was faster, snatching it from him and sending it flying high up and far away.
"Zavian!" Someone yelled his name, but he seized the creature's claws in his hands and pushed back with all the force he could muster. The shouts and screams around him crowded his ears, and he grunted as the creature weighed into him with fangs dripping with blood.
"Zavian!" He only managed to look back enough to see Freya helplessly clawing away from the grasp of one of the creatures that dragged her feet. She grabbed onto bodies, but it was useless, the ground greasy with gore.
He couldn't even help her.
He didn't want to die, Zavian thought as he funnelled all his strength into pushing the creature away. His sister will not die, primal rage swirled in him, boosting his power, and he pushed.
He managed to look back to see the creature rip at Freya's armor, leaving her exposed to its maiming. It was taking its sweet time to cut her open, perhaps by Aloysius request.
"Freya!" He found himself screaming as the creature raised a gleaming claw above her chest, ready to pluck out her heart..
The creature above him doubled down on its strength, pushing Zavian back down to the ground.
The creature over Freya reached for her chest.
And just then a bright, sizzling light appeared in the sky, lighting up the battlefield. The creature was momentarily stunned, and Zavian used this opportunity to bury his claws into its chest, sending it slumping down and squirming as life vanished from it.
Zavian rose, and in the centre of the field, Anna and her coven stood, eyes and hands glowing, spread and raised toward the sky.
….
Neera didn't understand where the light came from, but it served her enough distraction to the enemy for her to meander her way through the fallen trees. The light covered the battlefield like a dome, and she watched afar from behind a tree trunk at the battle.
It was more up close and worse than she thought.
She had seen the number of warriors that left that morning, seen them spread so far that she couldn't see where they ended, and now, they dotted inside the dome in small numbers, numbers she could headcount within minutes.
She rose her head, and quickly flattened herself into the damp soil as some enemy's soldiers ran to the battlefield. She rose slowly, and found some of them banging on the dome like a solid piece of glass.
She was in awe of it.
When she squinted her eyes closer, she saw Zavian.
His golden hair gave him away, but there was an unsteadiness to his stride, and worry knocked her. Was he hurt? She needed to get closer to find out.
So she wrapped her hand around the solid weight of the dagger hanging by her side, and crept silently through fallen trees.
….
Anna walked over to Zavian, just as the same time that one of the other witches, the dark skinned one, helped Freya up to her feet. Freya held unto the witch's weight, her hands wrapping around the witch, the miracle of being alive still not dawning on her.
"I am sorry we just came, your Majesty," Anna said, her eyes two bright orbs of white light.
Zavian looked around him, the large bodies of the monsters on the ground, blood dripping down their mouths. Every single one of those creatures, gone.
"What did you do?" He asked.
"Gathered my coven for this spell, it lasted for days and it can only hold for some time," she said. "It kills everything that isn't demon or human, so," she spread her arms out around her. "This is the only way we can help you fight this war, and we had to perfect the spell before coming here."
The witch holding Freya brought her to Zavian, and he collected his fragile mess of a sister from her hands.
"I am okay," Freya said, extracting herself from his hold yet keeping a hand on his arm to steady her stand. "It was…it was the same one that attacked me. I know where I gave it scars. It wanted to make me suffer before I die."
"It's over with them now," Zavian said. Some of the soldiers were still fighting the soldiers of the enemies, but only very few since most of the soldiers had retreated to let Aloysius's monsters finish up the work for him.