The Blood King's Bride

She slammed into Slovic hard, sending him flying several feet away, but she didn't cease

in her assault. She was adamant about putting an end to him. His blood, his death, was the only thing that drew her attention. Firoza, she assumed, would attack her if she began to beat up her ally. On the other hand, the woman merely stayed standing, her head cocked. Her face had a thoughtful expression on it.

Calhoun stood behind her, ready to intervene if she had any thoughts of retaliating

against them. He was anxious about his wife, but he noticed that she had a resolute expression on

her face. She wouldn't stop until Slovic was dealt with. She had no choice except to kill him

herself.

She needed to demonstrate her worth.

Calhoun was aware of the situation. He knew that ending Slovic would be a minor inconvenience for him. In reality, he was tempted to do so because of the man's previous treatment of his wife. But he kept his cool and let his wife handle things.

Slovic was perplexed. Just a few moments ago, this woman was frail. She was scarcely able to stand on her own two feet. What led her to become so powerful all of a sudden? That mysterious force that had driven him back earlier had to be it. In any case, he wasn't going to stay there and let this female beat him. He proceeded to strike harder, summoning all of his strength. He called out blue flames and hurled them at her. She swiped it in half with a quick dodge. He'd discovered a long time ago that he couldn't lift her into the air with only his power. So he made the best of what he had.

He kept attacking, relentless in his strikes, but he was beginning to tire. When he looked

at his opponent, he noticed a glimmer of red in her eyes, which surprised him. Her face was emotionless, and she attacked him as if he were already dead. He looked to his niece for support. She just sat there, fuming, watching them fight. He was tempted to call her for assistance, but he'll be damned if he ever relied on a woman's aid. He was never going to hear the end of it. He re-established his determined expression and started another bout of attacks.

This time around, he fought dirty. His moves were ill-mannered and lacked the finesse of

a proper warrior. His attacks caught Elena in surprise, but she quickly caught on. Since Slovic

had decided to throw away any regard he had for his life, she would simply help him put an end to it.

With moves like water, she flowed seamlessly around him, and before he could

understand what was happening, Slovic found a sword pierced through his heart from behind him.

Time stilled.

Elena drew her sword out, the blade touching the ground as the blood of her attacker still stained it. Slovic collapsed on both his knees, his hands clutching his chest. He faced his niece one final time and saw a look of nonchalance on her face. Gritting his teeth, he took his heart blood and began to mutter some incantations. Elena couldn't see what he was doing as his back was facing her, but Calhoun could see it. He immediately started going forward to put a stop to

it.

"I wouldn't if I wear you." Firoza said, spreading her arms wide to stop him. Calhoun

didn't really know what would happen, but he knew it wasn't good.

He was just about to push Firoza away when he heard the unmistakable sound of an evil growl. He quickly turned to look at Slovic, and his eyes widened in shock.

In front of him was a huge beast the size of four mountains, one larger than all the other beings he had ever fought in the evil forest.

Wazir whipped his head towards where the sound had come from. He and every one of his men turned towards the sound. Their opponents, who didn't have much control over their thoughts, were forced to pause and have a look. The monster was giant enough for everyone to see. It was more of a demon, with no face except for the jagged teeth that decorated the space where his eyes and nose were supposed to be. A familiar scene had him understanding immediately what had taken place.

An Allikan had taken a blood oath.

He remembered the first time he had encountered such. The monster wasn't as giant as the one he was currently seeing. In fact, it was much smaller, almost to the average size of a man. So who was that powerful to summon this type of demon at the cost of his own soul? Elena didn't understand what was going on. One moment, she was done with Slovic; in another, a giant monster stood in his place. The beast was massive, far more prominent than the blood castle. It towered over her, suddenly making her equivalent to an ant when placed next to him. She began to back away slowly, studying her opponent.

The monster had jagged pikes of teeth where the eyes and the nose were meant to be. Its whole body was surrounded by blue flames, and strange markings covered every part of him. She knew without a doubt that the monster who stood in front of her was Slovic, as she could see the shredded white garb, he always wore at his giant feet. She didn't understand why he suddenly decided to change into that massive being to defeat her. He was more likely to be slower than he was before.

Wazir felt a foreboding. Something wasn't right. Quickly he faced his men and began to shout...

"Erect the barrier! Erect the barrier now!" he said, waving his hands quickly.

Immediately, they all got to work, forgetting their opponents to set up barriers. For the ones who had no control over their thoughts, they all stood strangely still, their sights on the demon. His men dragged them inside the barrier as they began erecting their barricade. Hundreds of soldiers and blacksmiths worked together, even going to pour the ore around them. The ash had been deeply mixed with the iron ore to create metals that the Alliance wouldn't be able to stand against.

The Alliance who tried to stop them were either killed or suffered the severe burns that came from the metal.

"If I can't defeat you, I'd rather die trying!" a voice boomed within the monster. Elena knew it had to be within the beast as she didn't see its mouth moving. There were crazy people out there, she surmised. She had known first hand that the world was evil, but she was yet to experience this type of craziness where one would willingly give up his soul in exchange for immense power. He had heard of several tales like this, but they all believed it to be myths like others who had also heard them. She was shocked that even the Alliance practiced dark magic. What else didn't she know about?

"Why would you do this to yourself?" Elena screamed out. "Can't you just simply accept defeat?"

The voice laughed. "Scared little girl? Well you are wise to be. You have no idea who

you are up against." The monster took a deep breath, and instinctively, knowing that whatever was coming next wouldn't be good, she took advantage of her size and ran towards the being, taking cover behind its giant foot.

The monster released a large stream of flames, the heat so strong it felt like her skin was

melting. Once it stopped, Elena looked to where she had been standing, then she looked beyond

it.

Wazir, she thought, her heart sinking. The fire was so great that it had spread to where the

battle was. Smoke covered everywhere, and even that couldn't hide the stench of blood that permeated the air. She had totally forgotten that she had men behind her. Why hadn't she thought of it?

The smoke slowly cleared, and she breathed a sigh of relief, falling on her knees when

she saw the still erect flag of the Blood kingdom and of Neba, along with the people with it. She could see that there was some sort of barricade around them, and she wondered what it was and how it had worked. She also took note of the bodies that lay outside the barrier, surrounding them.

Every one of them was burnt to pieces.

Elena moved back as the being began searching for her. She gasped as his head rotated

360 degrees, making the front side of his head to be facing his back.

"Found you." It said, and she could have sworn that it grinned evilly.

It began firing different flames from his hands towards her, and Elena ran about quickly, thinking of what move to pull next.

Calhoun couldn't stand doing anything, but when he wanted to help, Firoza stopped him again.

"If you help her, you are only condemning her to death, by my hands." She said maliciously. Calhoun squeezed his fist by his side. Never had he ever felt so helpless. Elena kept running, dodging the attacks, but they were getting nearer and nearer to her. She was thinking of what to do. The voice in the vision hadn't told her what to do in a situation like that. All she knew was how to use her sword against Firoza.

Her sword.

That was it. She should have thought of it sooner. If her sword can kill Firoza, it would definitely be a small work to kill the monster in front of her. She was so occupied with her thoughts that she didn't see the incoming attack, and before she could react, it was too late. Wazir looked outside the barricades at the bodies that surrounded them. The good news was their job was made easy for them. Every one of their enemies was burnt to the crisp, with no thought of ever returning to life. Fortunately for them, they could erect the last barrier just at the last minute. They felt the heat of the blue flame from their barricade, yet just as he had been told, it never touched them. For that alone, he would be eternally grateful. Now remaining just one problem. What was happening at the other side of the field?

Elena groaned painfully, slowly standing up on her feet. She was thankful for her size at

the time, as the strike had pushed her away from her opponent. . Her small size would give her a few minutes to hide from him and think properly of her plan.

Her sword was meant to kill Firoza, which means it was enough to kill Slovic. She guessed that she would have to do that thing which Calhoun did when he called upon his blood flames, but something told her it was best to leave that till her final fight with Firoza. Slovic, thanks to his current monstrous nature, was now much slower. She had to use that to her advantage. She took a deep breath then went out to face her opponent.

She had to end it now.

She quickly made her way to the monster, silently, hoping that it wouldn't see her, but it proved futile. It fired another flame towards her. She dodged it then raised her sword, screaming as she ran towards it. The monster fired another flame, but she escaped it, heading straight for him. She finally reached it and began climbing it using the rough edges on his body. The being saw her and tried shaking her away, but she held firm despite the severe dizziness she felt. Once she reached its arm, the monster swiped at his arm but missed. Elena trudged on, not willing to give up. By this time, the beast wailed angrily, but Elena was past caring. She reached its shoulders and was able to get a good view of the horizon. She had to put all her strength into that one attack, or else everything she had done was for naught. Taking a deep breath, she jumped off the shoulders and quickly, once she had reached her intended attack point, turned and stabbed him deeply, hanging off her sword.

His heart area was surprisingly vulnerable, or perhaps her sword made it easier, but she didn't care. Her plan worked.

Monster Slovic fell down heavily, and Elena quickly jumped away with her sword before

she could suffer any damage caused by his fall. A loud thud reverberated over the wasteland, a cloud of dust covering the air. Finally, when it settled, all she could see in the monster's place was a naked man.

Slovic was finally dead.