die today, aid me again.
My shadow fire sputtered in the pit of my magical well and then whooshed up along the walls, as if pleased to finally be recognized and unleashed. It blasted out of me, crashing into the Veil. As my shadow fire and the Veil’s flames merged, the columns of fire started to move toward each other, still weaving with my shadow fire in the process, until the Veil returned to its original form. The vertical flame connecting heaven and earth cut off the demon horde, and I nearly whooped with exultation.
A squad of demons screamed and rushed at me. I threw up my hands to meet their challenge.
Vines, black and thorny, sprouted out of the ground beneath me. Part of them twisted into a living shield around me, while the rest shot toward the three nearest demons. The vines whipped at the hell’s pawns, faster than lightning. When the demons cut one branch, more vines cropped up, binding and squeezing their victims, their long, poisonous thorns piercing the demons’ thick skin.
The Fae kings stared at me for a moment before continuing their battles to reach me. They hadn’t thought I had this kind of power.
Me neither.
I smirked as I watched my vines work.
A couple demons sniffed at me and my vines, confusion and fear crunching their grotesque faces.
“Princess?” one demon asked, but my vines strangled him before he became talkative. What was he thinking about? This was a battlefield, not a social event.
With no more demon reinforcements, I had the luxury of watching the Fae kings combat while my vines handled the rest of the demons for me.
Rydstrom opted to use his obsidian sword to cut down the demons instead of applying his magic. His shadow power didn’t have much effect on the demons since the creatures came from a dark place. Occasionally, he used his starlight to slow down his opponents.
The Night King wheeled amid five giant demons, retreating, dodging, and lunging. He slashed at his foes left and right, faster and mightier than them, but the demons tried to overwhelm him with their sheer numbers and height.
It was a sight to watch as they blurred and crashed. When they broke apart, a few demons had lost either a head or their limbs. But more demons filled the spots their Hell brethren vacated, thanks to the Night King’s merciless killing. Demons were truly a bloodthirsty bunch.
Rydstrom swung his long blade backward without looking and beheaded a yellow-horned demon. Pride welled up in me. He could take care of himself, though I saw he had some nasty slashes on his left side.
Rowan alternated between tossing his ice spears at the demons and lunging to swing at them with his broadsword. Demons used their cold hellfire to counter his ice spears most of the time. When the Winter King saw there were still many demons between him and me, he roared in rage and shifted to a massive silver wolf in a shimmering light.
His wolf was over eight feet tall on all fours. A few demons stumbled away from him before they regrouped and charged him. The ferocious wolf clawed through the demons, tearing into them, his fangs dripping with black blood.
Baron proved to be the most effective royal warrior among the three in a killing spree. He vanquished a group of demons with his brilliant sunbeams, but the more powerful demons held their ground and countered his solar flare with their cold hellfire.
While his sun power battered the demon fire, he charged into their rank, wielding his blade like a lethal dancer. He put much more effort in making his slaying more brutal and faster when he noticed me watching.
All three Fae kings fought their own battle. If they ever fought back to back, none of them would have so many wounds. They probably each hoped the demons took out the other kings.
Then I sensed the most powerful demon amid the horde—how could I sense their power grade was beyond my perception, and it scared me a little. I faced the direction of the greater power, and the demon’s attention snagged on me.
He was the last one that had slipped through the Veil. He’d watched the battle instead of engaging the Fae kings. Now he watched me as the cords of my thorned vines separated a few demons’ heads from their necks, or thrust into the demons’ chests and yanked out their black hearts.
I was shocked by my brutality and violence, but then it was the doing