The now bulked up Doomcry warriors rushed toward their enemies. Their eyes shined with an unnatural red glow, even the corners of their mouths foamed a bit red, as many of them issued their roaring battle cries. Each Doomcry maintained their own weapons, with many using different weapons, such as maces, axes, and swords. Some carried them in combination, and others only used one large two-handed weapon.
Warmarshal Frostgard had already ordered her Frost Knights to charged into the now rampaging Doomcry warriors. The Icehoof Draft Horses were known as the moving fortresses of the undead horse breeds, but they had one additional monstrous ability. They could gain full momentum from a stopped position, in but a few seconds. An Icehoof going at full speed was not a fast horse, but the sheer charging power and knockdown force of a one thousand kilo, or twenty-two hundred pounds, war beast, and rider could break lesser armies.
All the Frost Knights, beast and rider, collectively leaped forward, in unison. They moved like a flock of birds or a school of fish, as one body. The disciple of the Frostgard was evident his their moments honed to perfection. The Icehoof came down in sync, landing on their front right cannon bone. Icehoof Draft Horses bones were dense and tough for the full weight of the beast and rider to be maintained on the canon bone.
Each rider was equipped with a massive shield tower, and a short sword. These weapons were crafted by the Metalheart Clan of Saigunrai. Master artificers of Deagoth. This sword and shield combination was tempered from the rare metal found only in the icy flow rivers that snaked across the ruined continent, Shiver Iron. A metal with freezing properties, a most suitable match to the Frostgard.
As the charge gained its full momentum, a With Warmarshal Frostgard at the front, her two Generals to her left and right flank, and her formation complete, the now Arrow shaped formation plowed into the Doomcry troops.
Many of the Doomcry warriors were instantly destroyed by this impacted, the remaining warriors did not even hesitate, as they began attacking the Frost Knights on horseback they were mobbing them in a raging frenzy. Several Frost Knights were pulled from the back of their horses and continued their fight on foot.
As the Warmarshal broke through the ranks of her enemies, her and her remaining Frost Knights rode out of the conflict gaining speed again. With the formation reforming into its arrowhead. The outer riders closed the gaps left by their brother's being pulled down.
They plowed into the Doomcry warriors, again. More Doomcry fell to this assault, but unlike last time, they had mobbed up to catch up to the Frostgard, thus they have not broken apart as they were last assault.
Unholy howls rang out, with the clashing of sounds of metal scraping against shields, and the dull sound of blows to flesh and bone made for a symphony of destruction that only served to empower the Doomcry's Ebon Berserkers.
Warmarshal Frostgard was busy bashing and slashing many Doomcry warriors that confronted her, now that her Frost Knights on Horseback had been bogged down in the quagmire of battle. Each time she had dealt a large blow to a berserker, they would quickly get back up and charge over again, totally disregarding the damage they took.
As she was fending off three silver ear berserkers, a heavy blow slammed into her back. Powerful enough, that it ejected her from her steed. She landed with a thud and rolled, as she rolled she tucked her self and used her shield to spring from the ground. Warmarshal Frostgard landed on her feet and looked to her steed, Black Ice. Her steed, like the others, was continually fighting, as it kicked, reared, and trampled the surrounding berserkers.
In front of her a flash of red followed by another heavy blow to her shield, she was able to raise her shield in time to withstand the impact.
"I am... Going to... Enjoy you..." Xav was running at full speed toward the downed Warmarshal.
Something flashed in Frostgard's eyes... [A talking gold ear... This is bad.]
Warmarshal Frostgard sheathed her sword, and called out "Xiresawield." At the end of her spell, icy air swirled around her right hand and arm. They congealed into existence a new shield, a mirror image of the large tower shield she wielded on her left hand. She was trained in her family's famous duel shield techniques.
As the last second when the ice shield hardened, another blow struck down upon the Warmarshal. For a brief moment, a groan was issued.
"No you don't..." taking her double shield's she went on the attack. With the left shield, she bashed the relentless Xav sending him sliding through the rocking ground back a few meters. Frostgard started forward chasing behind him.
Xav took his large two-handed mace and swung it in front of himself, in an attempt to sweep the warmarshal. Frostgard ducked lower, turned and fell on to her ice shield on her right. Using it as a surfboard she slide under Xav's attack. With a thrust of her right arm, she slammed into Xav sending him again flying.
*******
Gerald was having a time, as well. He had been fighting five berserkers at once. Granted these were two silver ears and three bronze, but every time he knocked them down or away. They would pop right back up, and chargeback at him with no regard to the wound he inflicted. At one point he had severed both arms of one of the silver ears, but the silver ear rolled back up and roared at him. These weren't warriors!
In Gerald's opinion, these were beasts, unreasonable beasts. This was his first time fighting the Doomcry. His cousin, the Warmarshal, had fought them a few times before, but that was, in fact, before he was promoted to her general.
Her last general retired, an old war vet named, General Cold Hard Bettie. Why she never became the Warmarshal was unknown. She was the instructor for all the Frostgard for a long time, even now in retirement, she still made time to come out to teach new recruited Frostgard. When she retired, Gerald had ground hard through the rings and tests to make his position. He had just become General a hundred years ago.
"Stupid beasts!" He shield bashed the armless silver ear away and cut the head off of a bronze ear in front of him. He was getting real tired of this, real fast. Normal enemies would have been wore down by now. These Doomcry didn't know the meaning of tiredness, even undead would grow weak with fatigue after spending all their stored energy!
As he fought, he saw one of his Frost Knight get toppled over. One of the weakness' the Frostgard had was falling to the ground. They wielded plated armor and massive shields, so they were not easily up-righted. Not everyone could be like Warmarshal Frostgard, who was considered a genius.
With the Frost Knight down, Gerald, again bashed his foes to the side and ran headlong into the fray where his fellow was brought low.
"Xiresahon" As he uttered his spell, an arctic blast of air smashed into the Frenzied Doomcry, that was circling the downed Knight, like vultures.
He kneeled and slide next to the Knight, "Sister, are you okay?"
"No, one of the bastards took my right leg!" The Knight spoke in grunts of pain, as both Gerald and the Knight fended off the Doomcry attacks.
"No... Problems... The Bone docs can have that fixed up when We get back. I'm going to give you a temporary one, It's going to be a bit stiff... Ahhh!" Again he bashed, a legless Doomcry in the face with the butt of his sword, caving in his skull.
"Just get me back to my feet so I can continue!"
"Xirelehizeyade" It was a long spell, but the air chilled, and swirled. It moved to the down Knight's leg, as it slowly started to freeze at the stump of the knight, just below the knee. A large Icicle formed and took shape as it grew longer, it started to thicken.
As the pair finally bashed another two silver ears away, the leg and foot were now made of solid ice, producing a frost prosthetic. Gerald stood up, and took the hand of the Knight, and righting her up.
"COME AT US!" Gerald roared.
"AHHH!" The Knight shouted in response, as another wave of Doomcry crashed in.
*******
"Frost... Bitch..." Xav spat out a mouth of black blood. He rolled backward and back on to his feet. He jumped high into the arm, intending to drop the hammer on his enemy, the Warmarshal.
Frostgard paused, waited, and took her stance. At the last moment when the hammer would cave her head in, she stroke. Lowering her head, and slamming both her shields into Xav's body. He dropped his hammer, as the crashing force of the jagged ice points on the spear produced many wounds upon his body.
Frostgard backed up a moment, as Xav staggered back a few paces, his wounds oozing black blood, that plopped to the ground.
"Voidstone... MINE!" Xav pulled a pair of axes from his back's brawler's harness, and proceeded to his attack, renewed, as if his wounds were no concern. Doomcry warriors were prone to losing their weapons in combat, as they traded their skills for power.
"Voidstone?" Warmarshal Frostgard made a rare frown. she had been wondering this entire time, why did the Doomcry want Nicholas Grimnight's body? At first, she thought they wanted it to bargain for more benefits, in the court, but after she seen that the Doomcry warriors went berserk, they intended to kill everyone. The kingdom would never let them off if that was the case. So why?
But hearing Voidstone... This was the trap!
She fended off the mad Xav. This time, when he came in to attack, she unleashed a well-known spell of the Frostgard.
"Zihoxire!" A large ice wall formed in front of the Warmarshal, and with her double shields slammed into it. The ice wall was propelled into Xav's charge. Moving to fast, and not in full control of his facilities, the ice wall crashed into him. This again, sent him flipping through the air, to land harshly over a dozen meters away. Xav was looking a lot worse for wear, as his prior wounds were now free flowing with black blood.
He spat on the ground another clot of black blood, as he smiled. It had been a while since he had a good fight, and he was ready for more. Frostgard had other ideas.
Relinquishing her ice shield, she redrew her sword and thrust it into the air.
"ALL FROST KNIGHTS! CONVERGE AT MY POINT!" Warmarshal Frostgard shouted in a booming voice that rolled over the sickly sweet sounds of battle. All the Frost Knights that were pulled down earlier were currently fighting off three to four berserkers a piece.
As they heard her shout, each of them employed their families signature technique, "Ice Cold Bash." A mighty swirl of fridge ice condensed on top each shield and with a powerful swing, the power swept their foes in front of them to the side. This cleared a path to the Warmarshal, as they continued to shield bash all enemies in their way.
Finally making their ways through the crowds of Doomcry, which now had been thinned by a quarter, they took their positions around the Warmarshal.
"GIVE THEM THE FINGER!" The Warmarshal roared to the surrounding Frostgards, as she knelt down to begin her ritual.
A ritual was different from a spell, as it required reagents, an accompanying incantation, and the spell to be finished. The Reagents would be produced, the verses or words spoken, then the spell itself would be said. This would produce the desired effect. Rituals were only used by Cultivators that were too weak to actually cast the spell. With the drawback, that a ritual can only be cast by one who was one rank below the spell's rank.
A Disciple rank Cultivator could cast a Master rank spell if done by a ritual. A Master rank could cast a Grand Master spell, Knight rank could cast a King spell, so forth and so on. It was unknown why The Holy Witch King did not perform a ritual for his Angel of Death. Some theorized that because it was actually an Ancestor rank spell, that it couldn't be used in a ritual, while others believed that The Holy Witch King made the spell at the last moment before the Battle of Angel's Decent, and thus didn't have a ritual in place to use it.
"You heard the Warmarshal, PHALANX ICE BONE PRISON!" All the Frost Knights grouped up, in a circle surrounding the Warmarshal. Shields up, swords to the side. When the Doomcry came in, they pushed forward with their shields and thrust their swords into them, as they retracted their shields.
A few moments of this maneuver, bought the Warmarshal the time to complete her ritual, as she begun to speak softly, until the end she began to shout, "The land is your back, the oceans and lakes your blood, the sky, your sky, the wind your breath. SO LET FORTH YOUR ICY BREATH, YMIR!!! XIREYMIRNOVA!!!!"
Above the battlefield a giant's face appeared for a moment, blue in color with piercing red eyes, it looked down upon this spit of land with malice. Its forehead was adorned with two horns, with one broken off, and a large icy beard. It pursed its lips and blew down upon the group of Frostgard. A howling winded erupted and flowed out from the Frostgard. They all stood steadfast, as the temperatures plummeted.
The Doomcry that continued their attacks were flash frozen in place. A few Doomcry that had jumped into the air to pile into the phalanx froze in mid-air, soon became comets that smashed into pieces upon impact with the ground.
Xav was frozen in place during his charge from outside the battle to get back to his target. Now with only eyes watching, the red lights of all the Doomcry warrior's began to fade.
Warmarshal Frostgard stood up and looked to the direction of the Doomcry leader, Xav.
"Now, We can talk..."