The Soul Keeper

I could feel the two commanders' magic slowly warping reality. An unnatural cold began to settle over the battlefield. Even the Ereth seemed to be affected by it as the Inquisitors called upon the Divine Pillar's light to aid their troops.

I wanted nothing more than to just fly down and kill the remaining inquisitors, but without me and Vixia leading the battle up in the sky, our troops would soon be forced to retreat. We had already suffered so many casualties. As such, I did what I could – focused on the battle at hand.

My wings stretched wide, I dove through the Ereth ranks. I could hear the sound of leathery wings beating as a large group broke off from their ranks to chase me. I ignored them, I was too fast for them to catch up.

As I flew below the Ereth ranks, with a beat of my wings I rolled on my back and raised my hands up into the air. Flying upside down, I called upon my flames. They burst out of my open palms like a pair of flamethrowers.

The Ereth screamed as my flames clung onto their lower bodies. Hungry for things to consume, my flames quickly roared and rose. Soon, bodies began to fall. 

While I was striking from below, Vixia was doing something quite similar from above. She had flown up quite some distance. I could periodically hear the snap of her whip, immediately followed by the pain filled screams of the unfortunate Ereth who got hit by her.

Feeling my mana slowly being exhausted, I stopped spewing my flames and turned upright again. I glanced back, only to see an arrow of light fly past me. One of the Ereth chasing me had used the Divine Pillar's power to create a bow made of light. 

I clicked my tongue as he hooked another arrow. Had he gotten this idea from Fetheion? With an effortless beat of my wings, I dodged the incoming arrow, then rushed towards the group of Ereth soldiers. 

I pulled my right arm back as I tightened my grasp around the shaft of my scythe. As soon as they were within my reach, I swung my scythe with all of my strength. The crystalline blade cut through their flesh like butter, and their bodies plummeted to the ground below.

Knowing I couldn't waste any more time down here, I flew up to join the Demon forces again. I quickly took my place at the very front of the small army, and with Vixia raining death from above, we once again started pushing the Ereth forces back.

I was the first to clash blades with the Ereth, and soon I heard the sound of metal hitting metal all around me. The proper rows of soldiers soon broke off, and the battle turned into a chaotic mess within mere minutes. There were skirmishes above and below me, behind me and way ahead of me. It was impossible to tell who was winning and who was losing.

Soon, the snaps of Vixia's fiery whip stopped. When I shot her a quick glance between opponents, I quickly noticed the reason. Some Ereth solders had somehow made their way to her. Facing off against two of them, she was forced to lay aside her whip and switch to a shortsword.

I ducked under a claymore and focused on my fight. Vixia was strong enough to take care of herself and I wasn't entirely safe out here either – it was quite the opposite actually, since more Ereth soon began approaching me.

I was immediately wary of engaging as I noticed some of them try and circle around me. With a powerful beat of my wings, I retreated a little while still keeping an eye on all of them. I was not going to get surrounded again like in Baile Chailce.

The Ereth also noticed my mindfulness, and soon gave up on trying to surround me, and attacked me head on instead. Five of them rushed at me at once, three of them wielding spears and two claymores. Taken aback by their apparent death wish, I extended my arm and sent a volley of dark bolts towards them.

Golden barriers formed on all five a split second before my spell connected. I clicked my tongue as I shot a hate filled glance at the remaining inquisitors. Oh, how much I wanted to kill them…

I didn't bother wasting any more mana on offensive spells. A battle of magical strength wasn't one I could win. And I didn't have the time to try it either. Two of the three spear wielders had reached me already. Having mounted their spears under their armpits, they tried to impale me. I folded my wings and fell a little, letting them pass over me harmlessly. It was quite simple to kill them afterwards as they couldn't protect themselves from the two quick, precise swings of my scythe.

As their bodies plummeted to the ground, I caught one of the falling spears and turned my attention on the remaining three Ereth. They were still protected by the inquisitors' golden barriers. I furrowed my brows. Why hadn't the inquisitors protected the two I just killed?

A few possibilities crossed my mind, but I couldn't quite focus on them. I couldn't afford to think anything else while three Ereth attacked me at once.

I poured some of my flames onto the spear and swung it sideways towards the three Ereth soldiers. They beat their wings and moved back a little, clearly fearing my black and purple flames. I grinned, the used Death's Scythe. Flames covered the crystalline blade of my weapon as I beat my wings and dashed at them.

The spear user immediately went on the offensive as soon as I moved forward. He thrust his spear forward, Aiming for my chest. I pushed the wooden shaft of his weapon aside with a simple strike of my own spear, then cut it in half with my scythe. 

The Ereth's eyes widened, and he shouted something in Ereth. I couldn't make out the words amidst all this chaos and noise, but I was fairly sure it was a shout of terror. At least, that's what I wanted to imagine.

I swung my scythe again, and the satisfying sound of the barriers shattering sounded. I raised my arm to strike all the off them at once. 

And I would have done so, if the air at the centre of the battlefield hadn't decided to implode.