Ash's wings flapped as he hovered over them.
He floated to the peak of the chamber's roof.
The ice canons spun around him as Adriel and Lykos watched in awe.
Dania was on the floor barely able to see from the shallow slashes left by Ash's claws.
Zahira and Iaceo were knocked out on the floor.
Mira looked up at Ash, she began to shake. It had been so long since she saw him release that form.
Ash's ice plates cracked as he bent his arms up and down. His mask of ice opened into sharp jaws. A long tongue whipped around as he let out an ear splitting screech.
"This feels so good!" Ash hissed.
The canons of ice began to spin around him.
A loud humming echoed around them as the canons began to charge up.
All the air around them began to be pulled in.
Adriel and Lykos shook.
Dania managed to get up, but from the loss of blood collapsed once more.
She struggled to stand as she watched in horror.
A blue orb of cold energy began to form at the mouths of each of the canons.
"Fucking go now!" yelled Adriel as he went to grab Zahira and Iaceo.
He pulled them into cover as Lykos followed suit with Dania in hand.
-BOOM!-
Bright flashes of blue light filled the chamber. They were blinded as they closed their eyes.
Beams thrashed around the room, freezing everything it touched.
The canons spinned faster, the beams followed suit as they tore through pillars and walls of the castle.
Adriel and Lykos could feel the sub zero temperatures.
Lykos casted the others and himself in a dome of fire. The overwhelming furnace was barely enough to protect them from the cold.
"What the fuck is this!" yelled Adriel.
"Consonance." said Lykos
"No shit! I mean how the hell are we gonna beat it?" yelled Adriel. He saw the canons begin to slow down as Ash descended onto the ground.
"I don't think we do." said Lykos. He stood up and removed his dome of fire. He took a step forward.
Ash couldn't help but be amused by his boldness.
Dania looked up at Adriel who remained behind the cover.
She whimpered as she looked into his eyes.
Adriel looked down at her.
He took off his tunic and used it to wipe off the excess blood on her face.
He had a clear sight on the wound.
He could see the red meat shredded on her cheeks and nose.
"You'll be alright Dania. I need to help Lykos." said Adriel.
Adriel carefully freezes her gashes. The blood vessels constricted and she shook and yelled from the pain.
Adriel hushed her as he kept going.
The bleeding soon stopped, but Dania was left in pure agony.
"I'm sorry you'll have to deal with the pain or you'll bleed out. Just keep quiet."
Adriel began to walk away from Dania. He could hear her sobbing.
Lykos and Adriel stood side by side facing the Ice devil before them.
Ash's wings flapped. He stretched his icey jaws into a wide grin.
The ice canons floated behind him and aimed at Adriel and Lykos.
Snow began to fall.
The flakes landed on them and froze bits of their flesh and clothes.
"This is where your funeral begins." said Ash.
Adriel and Lykos dash forward.
Fire envelopes Lykos as massive magic circles appear all around them.
The circles spin and morph into a runic dyson sphere.
Ash's eyes widened in surprise.
The sphere collapses on itself before exploding, forming a massive snout of fire.
The beast continued to emerge from the circle in a fiery mess.
Adriel struck at Ash with his own claws of ice.
The claws bounced off his frozen plated armor.
"You think you're invincible?" asked Ash.
Massive spikes emerged from the ground in a blink of an eye. They pierced through his abdomen.
Blood gushed out as the spike continued to grow at a rapid rate until he was pinned to a wall.
Ash turned his attention to Lykos as he was greeted with a brilliant orange light.
Lykos hovered in the air in between the jaws of gargantuan wolf head.
The wolf head went plummeting into the ground sending a wave of flames all throughout the chamber.
The glass and carpet began to melt from the intense heat. The ice remained strong.
Ash laughed as the cannons shot beams of ice at Lykos hitting him square in the chest.
Lykos's body began to freeze. He looked up to see his brother before he froze entirely.
Adriel bled as his body tried to heal. His wound was obstructed by the ice.
He couldn't heal. He began to feel light headed.
Ash flew up to Adriel and watched him.
"So, you're the last one who remains?" asked Ash.
He reached out a hand to touch Adriel's cheek. His ice claws dug into his skin as Adriel remained emotionless, already broken from the pain of the ice waged inside him.
Mira shook in horror. She looked around to see the bodies of the knights splayed. She began to cry.
"Ash! Stop it!" she pleaded
Ash turned his attention to her.
"Why do you say that?"
"This isn't you Ash!" she responded to his question.
"This was too far even for us. We have killed enough! L- lets just leave ok? We lost Renus from this dumb job. Please just let them go. Isn't it enough?" Mira wept.
Ash looked at her in pity.
He didn't want her to be sad, but he had no choice. He had been hired to do this.
"Look Mira, we both know that isn't possible." His wings began to melt. His ice plated armor flaked off as he was back in his winter coat and shirt. His ice mask fell off revealing his lip lacking face.
His teeth clacked after every word.
"If we did… You know what would happen to us."
"Yes I know Ash, but we will just run. Live free and alone. He could never find us. Just us escaped from everything." said Mira as she grabbed his hand, tears streaming from her eyes.
Adriel went limp. Blood continued to soak the ice he was impaled on. He had lost too much blood to remain conscious.
Ash looked into Mira's eyes. He then looked at the side that Lykos had burned.
"But look at what they did to you? How could you pity them? They tortured you!" said Ash, his voice tense.
"That may be so, but they are just like us, Ash. When we just wanted to help the people in our kingdom. They are putting their lives to just save a few prisoners! Please Ash don't you see? We are no better than those who ostracized us! We strayed away from our purpose." said Mira looking down as she whimpered.
Ash looked down at her bowed head and pondered. He could leave and run with her. They would be able to escape from the grasps of Eldrim possibly.
Even then that wasn't a guarantee and they were sure to make a powerful enemy if they abandoned his request.
Then again his brother was dead. His friend's face was burnt and permanently disfigured.
They had already experienced so much pain who was he to continue, forcing them to deal with such torment.
The canons of ice crashed onto the ground and melted. The ice that impaled Adriel began to retract.
His body fell. He landed limp from the fall high up on the wall.
His wound began to pulse and slowly heal.
The Ice on the floor and walls that covered the chamber began to disperse.
"Fine Mira. We will go. We will be together."
Mira smiled happily as she hugged him. He hugged her back.
Together they began to walk away. The ice that enveloped the village began to disappear.
Lykos became unfrozen. He fell onto the floor unconscious.
The ice was gone, and so were Mira and Ash.
They fled into the nearby woods.
Adriel gasped as he awoke his wound healed.
He looked around. Everyone was unconscious.
Orange light poured from the cracked and shattered windows.
He could see it was sunset. The orange glow began to fade.
Adriel felt a sudden surge of pain in his head.
He felt a sudden rage pour out of him as he shook violently. He couldn't understand, as if the emotions weren't his own.
He eventually lost consciousness once again.
The first one to wake was Zahira as she stood up holding her head. She saw the entire place was cleared of ice.
Iaceo soon followed as he forced himself to stand.
They both began to limp their way down to the dungeon in the castle. Inside they saw massive cells each at least holding over a hundred people.
They helped them out and explained what happened and how their friends were injured.
The towns folk scurried over to see happy to be free and help their saviors. They took them all down to the medical ward of the castle.
There the knights sat in solitude. They could hear the cries of joy, sadness, and anger.
They saw the aftermath of their town. Many saw the bodies of those they cared for.
Five weeks they sat recuperating.
They were visited by Yarell and his family consistently as well as the lord of the town.
By the fifth week, most of the town had been fixed, although much still needed work.
They cleared the bodies and buried them all in the massive crater left by Lykos massive attack against the water titan.
Dania's face had been left terribly scared with a massive dark scar across the side of her face of the claws that slashed her.
Their morale was low. They had won yet it didn't seem like they did. It felt like a pure circumstance.
The lord then came to finally properly introduce himself to the knights after much time of waiting for them to feel well.
"Hello I'm lord Luarcus. I'd like to thank you all for your help. Please allow me to treat you all with a party. It's the least I could do for everything you have done. It will also be a great way to make the people of my village take their minds off the events that transpired."
They looked amongst themselves.
No one spoke. They simply nodded.