A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

On the main battlefield in the courtyard, a cacophony of sounds reverberated around the area, from yelling and screaming to explosions and blood splattering.

Spells were flung back and forth between the Ashcroft sisters, and the six second-ranked guards, who were becoming increasingly frustrated at the fact they couldn't disengage from a mere two people.

Meanwhile, Seraphina and Astrid had managed to dodge, parry, and weave through the formation-spawned spiritual warrior's attacks, until they each reached one of the clustered groups of first rankers that were conjuring those spiritual warriors.

Once there, they began a slaughter.

Over the last seven years, both of these women had killed enough people to become desensitized to it. Not only did these first rankers stand between them and their goal, but the stakes were actually pretty high as well, and that was more than enough reason for them to ignore their terror-filled screams.

Then, Erik's howl echoed, and the girls knew everything was going according to plan.

Emma, Emily, and Astrid ignored the sound and focused on their tasks, despite a small smile playing on each of their lips, but Seraphina was different, unsurprisingly.

The raven-haired vampire avoided a spiritual warrior's blow, even as she split a man open with her sword, before turning around to watch the others. And she couldn't believe what she saw.

"Unbelievable," she muttered, as she saw the Ashcroft sisters working together seamlessly to occupy three times as many opponents, while Astrid was clearly doing no worse than she herself was.

The problem was, for the last two years she'd been considered the rising prodigy of the Council and was now indisputably the most powerful second ranker among them, despite the controversy she'd faced over the past year.

And yet, that status would instantly be challenged if any of Erik's wives joined the Council.

"Where the hell did he find them all," she muttered absentmindedly to herself, as the prospect of victory suddenly became far more real.

Seraphina was disciplined and wouldn't let her own fears and doubts influence her part in a battle, which was why she didn't hesitate to charge in, but a part of her constantly expected to be attacked from behind, when these other women failed to hold up their part.

Suddenly, before her thoughts could get any further, she felt a heavy impact on her side, and she flew a few meters through the air with a pained scream.

Her distraction had cost her, as one of the spiritual warriors had smashed into her side with its shield.

Yet, she was far from done. She gracefully landed on her feet, and snorted, wiping away any useless thoughts, and went back to dismantling these formations.

Astrid and Seraphina didn't actually kill every first ranker they find, they merely killed enough to disrupt the formation, before moving on to the next. Without their formation, these first-rankers were harmless.

Meanwhile, on top of the walls, the first rankers who'd conjured the spiritual warriors with bows, were all momentarily stunned in fear.

In the midst of preparing to launch another salvo at the distracted fighters below, the group was suddenly jolted by the impact of a massive shapeshifter crashing onto the castle gate. This formidable being radiated terrifying waves of power and grinned down at them with menacing intent.

The castle's architecture featured two walls extending outward from the gate at a slight inward angle, providing a commanding view of the courtyard. These walls were lined with three formations of first rankers on either side, leaving the walkway directly above the gate exposed.

It was on this very spot that Erik had landed.

Despite not actually landing among the first rankers, his appearance, howl, power level, and echoing crash, were still more than enough to stop the formations from firing their arrows.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

But, after that, he didn't actually go on the offensive straight away. Obviously, he could theoretically kill them all relatively quickly, but… he'd made some promises.

So, rather than attack himself, he released Alice from his back on one side, while on his other, suddenly appeared the shimmery image of a heavily armoured minotaur named Eira. She was wielding a one-handed hammer, which was flat on both sides, and a large round shield.

Her expression was no less excited than Alice's.

Today was the first time for both of them to be able to fight in a battle themselves, and while Eira was less excited about the fighting itself, and more about the adventure, she was still planning to enjoy herself.

"Go on then," Erik grinned at both of them. "Have fun. I'll be watching from over here."

Instantly, the two of them darted of, each to one side, just as the first rankers were starting to recover from their surprise. Meanwhile, Erik remained behind to keep an eye over the entire battlefield, including the courtyard, to see if anyone needed help, although most of his attention was on Alice.

She was the weakest, after all.

The young wereverine's expression was full of excitement as she ran towards the first rankers, but while she did so, a change took place. First, she transformed into wereverine form, a process that didn't hurt her anymore after Elora helped her, and then her stretched out clothes were replaced with armour.

It was a sturdy armour, which was less agile than Astrid's, and more fitting to Alice's fighting style: hand-to-hand. For that purpose, her arms were well-protected, and the gauntlets were designed to enhance her ability to use the destructive claws that wereverine's were known for.

Before the first rankers could react to her approach, she crashed into the first group. Her claws flared up with the power of her first ability, Frostfire Talons, and she started rampaging through the crowd with a wild expression.

Although she was technically a first rank as well, several factors allowed her to keep up. First of all, there was Erik's training, her armour, and her relatively powerful affinity, but most of all, it was the fact she was engaging these thirty or so Arcanists in close combat.

Not only were Arcanists, and especially first rankers, very bad in close quarters combat, but they were also still stuck in their formations, which didn't allow them to fight back immediately.

Meanwhile, Alice stayed low to the ground, usually even moving on all fours, and raced through the three groups like a raging… well, wolverine.

Blood splattered as she focused her attacks on legs, crotches, and bellies. Before any of them could react, ten of the thirty people were already down for the count.

After that, they started to fight back, but Alice proved to be an elusive target. It was still extremely dangerous for her, but that was also the best moment to learn, especially while Erik was close by to bail her out if necessary.

Although, despite his close proximity, Erik watched the young Alice with a hint of anxiety.