Page 222 of Season Warriors & Wolves

More. There were more of them that we had counted and now their weapon hovered over our heads, sputtering fire that burned the air itself. The moment a sliver of it touched skin, the whole body burned into ash. But none…not even her had taken as many lives as the creature I was walking towards had.

The immortal general turned his head to me, bearing sharp teeth and claws, prowling in my direction and launching in the air. Only to crash against my air shield, his whole body shaking when I seized the air in his lungs. See, I was quicker than most. It was why Alaric had recruited to train me long ago, and since then, I’d only gotten better.

“Go on. Breathe. It is not so hard.”

“I remember you,” he wheezed, raising one shaky limb at a time. “Your scent. Not from the village before. Even earlier on. You look just like him, too. Like your father.”

I must have faltered, because he suddenly kicked back to his feet, almost grazing my stomach with his claws.

The wind turned sharp at my order, slashing thin strips of wounds all over his scaled flesh, black blood spurting everywhere.

“Skilled just like him, I see,” he groaned when my daggers flew towards him and embedded deep in his forearms.

This man knew my own father better than me. He’d gotten to see him, to remember his face, and I hadn’t. This man had been the one to deprive me of the only thing I’d ever desired. This man had robbed me of everything.

“He was hard to kill.” He launched in the air again, breaking through the barrier of air I lifted, causing me to stumble back to avoid another hit. “But with a little effort,” he growled, a slavery sneer curling over his fangs. “I got there.”

My fist shot forward, hard wind knocking him back and then he was struggling to breathe again. “He died protecting our people,” I said, reaching and slashing my sword through his chest to nail him to the ground. “I will die killing you.”

“I cannot be killed.”

His clawed hand wrapped around the magic forged steel and a curdling growl of pain escaped him when the metal hissed and steamed against his skin.

“Blue gyre,” I whispered, nailing another dagger on his hand to pin him down. “All over your bloodstream and all over my metal. You weak, pathetic, son of a bitch.”

He laughed when a wave of screams tore the air, the sound so rough and dark and wicked. Kilian’s shield had broken in places from Aurora’s attack and the white fire had consumed most that it had rained over. “Useless. Just like him, just like your father,” he taunted. “What are you going to—”

His words were cut in half. The above cried and shook the grounds below, thunderous rain poured and a thick, stentorian lightning suddenly shot from the skies, knocking Aurora to the ground.

I laughed in the beast’s face, feeling my friend’s power fill the atmosphere so intensely. “Knock, knock, motherfucker.”

The thing began breathing faster, his eyes darting around relentlessly trying to find where Aurora had disappeared.

I nailed another dagger on him, and another. Many others. Making sure to prepare him nicely for who was to serve his cold painful slow death.

A whistle ran close by, and every beast’s head snapped in my direction, growling and then running for me at his order.

I nailed another dagger on his other arm and stood, unsheathing my sword. “Shit.”

Something crashed on the ground next to me, a boom echoing right after, like two slabs of land had hit each other, and icy wind blew madly. Eren’s face was covered in black markings. Wind and ice manipulating and twisting at his command, blowing and slicing the beasts and soldiers to a thousand pieces. Red and black blood sprayed all over—all over for miles.

He wasn’t done.

No.

The part of the battlefield we stood on cleared, emptied. Only death remained. “Cai!” he shouted, backing towards our troops. “Look back.”

Vas broke free just when Eren was about to turn his attention to him. But instead of crashing against wind or ice, he stilled on the spot, eyes wide and starting to glow red.

Right on time.

He dropped to the ground, revealing Visha standing behind him. Her fingers twirled with red shadows, slithering like serpents around her body and over the icy ground until they engulfed Vas entirely. “Hello, Vas.”

Both of their figures disappeared soon after. So did Eren.

I was alone in a pit of beasts, fighting off as many as I could, searching and sorting through dead bodies to find him. “Eren!”

Chapter forty-seven