Fragments of shadows

Kallion flew using his shadow wings to the head of the colossal beast; the serpent unleashed a breath of green emerald energy at him.

He moved to the side and slashed with his sword; a visible red energy came out in a straight line and divided the beast in half. The serpent quickly regenerated her lower half at a speed visible to the eye.

'OK, that didn't finish you off. I'll have to go for the head,' Kallion thought, and he flew towards its head and unleashed another slash that severed it from the rest of its body.

The serpent immediately turned into a mass of energy, which quickly faded.

This creature was a bit too easy to kill compared to Serafina's usual constructs; it lacked the quality her magic usually carries. Something doesn't quite add up, Kallion thought while he retracted his shadow wings and descended to the ground.

Your construct could not even last a minute against Kallion. Surrender, and I might consider letting you leave," Rasmus said.

Serafina's face twisted in fury, and with a wave of her hand, a hail of arrows headed towards Rasmus.

Rasmus leapt towards the arrows, and with a flurry of moves, he deflected all the arrows towards the ground.

"I'm done playing," Rasmus said. He charged at all his opponents, his eyes flashing a brilliant red.

Deflecting an attack, he broke a werewolf's neck. Hopping onto another, he unleashed a fiery red energy from his palms and severed another's head.

Suddenly, all werewolves and witches started to fight against each other to the death, their eyes turning pitch black with no trace of warmth whatsoever.

He looked back and froze. Elara's hair stood upright; her eyes were pitch black as she stretched her hands towards the werewolves.

Rasmus felt his control slipping away from him as his eyes looked like a bottomless abyss.

In an instant, he appeared by Elara's side and held the neck of the guard closest to her. "I asked you not to let her out of your sight. Now, you did not only let her out of your sight, you escorted her to the battlefield. Now tell me why I shouldn't kill you!" Rasmus asked angrily, his vein popping up all around his neck.

With her eyes still pitch black, Elara smiled and answered him, "Don't hurt him, my love. I could not bear to leave you alone, so I bent them all to my will."

Hearing Elara's calm voice, Rasmus began to regain control over himself. Suddenly, Elara fell to the ground, but Rasmus caught her before she could reach the floor. By this time, most of the witches and werewolves were already dead from the infighting.

You have used too much power and worn yourself out, so will you now be a good girl and command the guards to take you to a safe place so you can rest? I'll come to you immediately after dealing with this.

'Promise me?' Elara asked, her voice sounding weak.

'I promise,' Rasmus said firmly.

'Gua...' Elara fainted.

At the same time, a sword cut Rasmus into two pieces. The two pieces came back together in a split second; Rasmus turned immediately and kicked the attacker with all his might.

His attacker coughed, and blood began to trickle down his mouth as the assailant raised his head to look at Rasmus.

Rasmus failed to notice that blood also trickled down Elara's mouth in the same way as it trickled down his attacker's mouth.

When Rasmus's eyes met those of the attacker, a look of confusion appeared on his face.

'Lucian, is that you?' Rasmus asked the attacker.

The attacker had a look of pain in his eyes for a split second, which was quickly replaced by fury.

"I may be Lucian, but I am no longer the Lucian you knew!".Lucian struck his sword at Rasmus, who just blocked it with his palm. You have no idea how much we searched for you after the news of your disappearance.

Elara was heartbroken; I can see they have done something to you, but I hope you remember. His reply was another swing of his sword aimed at Rasmus's head, which he easily dodged and parried forcefully.

"Serafina, what have you done to him?" Rasmus asked the witch who remained at the back of Lucian as they fought. "Nothing much, just a necessary sacrifice to protect the good of many."

Rasmus snarled at her reply and kicked Lucian in his guts, making Elara's jaw dislocate. "Rasmus, stop!" Kallion shouted immediately when he noticed the anomaly. Rasmus stopped to look at him.

I don't know why, but for every hit Lucian takes, it affects Elara with twice the effect of the hit. It's like Serafina is using a forbidden spell to manipulate the blood link between Elara and Lucian for her advantage," he said.

"You must not hurt Lucian, because that would be taking a risk with Elara's life," Kallion added.

"Fuck this bitch, Rasmus cursed ; no wonder she felt comfortable coming to my turf with some overgrown dogs!"

"How dare you call me a dog!" Alpha Derek, who had quietly stood at Serafina's side and observed, lunged forward, and his arms were inches away from Rasmus's neck.

Suddenly, Kallion summoned his sword and cut off his arm. As the arm was about to regenerate, Kallion severed Alpha Derek's head from his body and drove his claws into Alpha Derek's still-beating heart, ripping it out and finishing him off.

"I was beginning to get tired of your whining," he said while he threw Alpha Derek's remains away.

"As for this bitch, I'm going to kill her! How dare she use my beloved Elara against me!"

Rasmus' eyes flashed with power as he lunged for Serafina's heart with his claws.

When Rasmus was a split second from ripping out Serafina's heart, Lucian stood in her position, and the claws dug into his heart, ripping out his still-beating heart which he squashed with a squeeze of his hands.

"Noo!" Kallion screamed. He immediately went to Elara and held her while standing on one knee.

Elara had an injury in the spot where her heart was supposed to be; she was breathing heavily as she struggled for her life.

Meanwhile, Rasmus began to regain his senses. He noticed that Serafina was still alive, and he saw Lucian's lifeless body on the cold floor.

His mind pieced two and two together. He quickly turned and came to Elara's side as tears slowly slid down his eye.

Elara stretched her hands to caress Rasmus's face. "Pls Ras....." Her body went still as her lifeless eyes stared at Rasmus with a gaze filled with pain.

Rasmus's irises gradually flickered from crimson to pitch black as he stared at Elara's lifeless eyes while he could feel her body getting colder in his hands.

Noooooooo! he screamed at the top of his voice, looking up at the desolate moon with a gaze filled with pain.

Rasmus's eyes turned pitch black. "Everyone must pay," he said firmly.