A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Back at the battle site, Erik frowned as Astrid dodged his claw at the last moment.

He naturally wasn't going to hurt her; he just needed to make prolonged physical contact so that Elora could wipe out the sigil controlling her. Since the girl was just standing there, even after he finished the rank-one ghouls, he figured something was going on with her controller and hoped to make use of it.

Unfortunately, his actions had unknowingly harmed the girl's mother in some way, which would surely come back to bite him in the future.

For now, though, he had no idea about any of this.

He refocused on Astrid and thought, 'I suppose whoever is behind her controls has finally woken up. I guess I'll have a fight on my hands after all.'

Astrid now stood in a battle-ready stance, with her claws out, ready to receive him. Erik naturally obliged, and they quickly began trading blows.

Behind them, Emily and the unknown vampire leader also continued their fight. Or perhaps fight was a strong word. In gaming terms, it resembled a duel between a tank and a ranged character.

However, in this case, the tank moved faster than her opponent, putting serious physical and mental pressure on Emily. She constantly had to devise new ideas for using her dark orbs to slow the vampire down while she attempted to wear down her opponent's energy and armour.

The only upside for Emily was that she actually had some experience fighting against Runebound from back in London, while this vampire had never actually encountered a second-rank Arcanist since all humans in this region were either dead or enslaved in blood farms.

Eventually, she felt the need to say something, as things were becoming more and more dangerous for her. "Hey, Boss!" she yelled while barely dodging the vampire's rock drill arms once again, "Can you help me out already?! I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up!"

As he kicked Astrid in the stomach to provide some room, he yelled back, "Just bring her to me. I'll make sure she leaves you alone!"

Meanwhile, he spoke to Elora inside his mind. "We need to create some sigils for mental communication later, we can't just be yelling our plans across the battlefield. Emily only speaks English, and we can't exactly assume our enemy doesn't. Especially not when the Dominion leadership is listening."

He received a mental nod in return. "You're right, but let's finish this first."

Emily didn't question his orders, nor if he was actually able to hold both Astrid and the vampire together. She needed to do what he said, or she'd soon be dead.

Naturally, the vampire heard everything they said, but she could do nothing about it. Emily tempted fate one last time by slipping past her opponent and sprinting towards Erik while her orbs of darkness floated behind her to slow down the vampire.

The woman cursed her lack of ranged skills as she attempted to catch Emily before reaching her fighting partner. "Come back here, you human stain! Learn your place and become a blood bag like a good girl!"

But in the end, Emily's tactics in using her dark orbs proved superior when Emily finally stood next to Erik, panting heavily but alive and unharmed.

The vampire closed in and tried to continue attacking Emily, but Erik was a whirl of claws and lightning, forcing the vampire and Astrid to engage with him or suffer the consequences.

He continued using his claws rather than his hammer, as he needed the speed his claws provided to keep both his opponents engaged.

His body surged with lightning, increasing his agility, speed and reflexes while it was covered in a thin layer of ice. He didn't use any Arcanist abilities for two reasons.

He didn't want to give the person controlling Astrid any more clues to his dual nature, and those spells were also a little too destructive when his goal was to keep Astrid alive.

He could only hope the other side had not yet caught on to his peculiarity, as he didn't need another third-rank character's attention when he already had Katya after him.

Using the opportunity, Emily disengaged from the melee combat and created some distance.

Finally in her element and able to let loose, corrupted red flickered through her eyes, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on her face as she focussed her gaze on the vampire patrol leader. "Time for payback, bitch." she mumbled as all five dark orbs floated around her again.

For the next few minutes, lightning crackled, ice sparkled, darkness consumed, and stone endured as this four-person battlefield raged on, disturbing the ordinarily peaceful taiga.

Unfortunately, despite his generally higher battle power, Erik had one disadvantage: he wanted to keep Astrid alive while his opponents constantly went for the kill.

Taking care of the patrol leader turned out to be pretty straightforward, however, especially with Emily's help. It wasn't long before the patrol leader had no more energy to keep her rock armour up, as she had to constantly dispel and recreate it when it came into contact with Emily's darkness.

When he noticed this, Erik sent Astrid stumbling backwards with a right hook, careful to avoid cutting her with his claws, before turning around, burying his hand in the exhausted vampire's chest and ripping out her heart.

Seeing that woman finally go down, Emily released a sigh of relief and sank to the ground as she used the newly gained control over herself to stamp down on her instincts and corruption.

She was exhausted, and her magic was far too destructive to help against the ghoul since Erik wanted her alive for some reason. So, she saw no point in continuing and preferred to rest and ensure her mind stayed on the sane side of the mental scale.

Finally wholly free to focus on Astrid, Erik had to pant as he observed her for a moment. He was actually bleeding from various wounds, as he had been unable to completely avoid Astrid's claws, which were able to just barely cut through his armour.

Luckily, his armour could repair itself if he provided some raw materials through the engraved runes, even though it would take at least a few days.

Elora could heal him, but for now, she decided to save their shared energy storage just in case something happened.

After that, it took mere moments before the already exhausted and wounded Astrid was taken in a chokehold by Erik, completely immobilising her. At the same time, Elora quickly went to work on erasing the sigil controlling the girl.

*******

Meanwhile, in the bunker under Alta, Liv kneeled inside the glass prison with an exposed back while Sigurd stood behind her as he drew a sigil. Liv's eyes were firmly cast on Kira and the screen she was standing next to.

She had demanded the screen remain in sight so that she could be sure they wouldn't pull any tricks.

But when Liv saw what happened on the screen, quickly followed by the screen going black, signifying a loss of connection, she went berserk. She rushed to her feet, tossing Sigurd on his ass, and screamed in despair. "No! Astrid!"

Immediately, bright orange runes appeared on her skin, and the prison's insides began to heat up.

Lost in her rage, she turned around, intending to kill Sigurd, but, unfortunately, the man knew when to cut his losses. He had used Liv's brief moment of despair to relocate himself outside the prison and close the door.

Rage filled the man's face as he turned to Kira, "What the hell happened?! You and that incompetent patrol leader were facing him together, yet you couldn't take him down?! Useless!"

Kira had already sunk to her knees and was shaking in terror. "I'm sorry, my lord! I'm sorry! I don't know what happened with that werewolf, but he wasn't normal! His armour was ridiculously tough; his speed was off the charts, and his stamina seemed inexhaustible!"

But Sigurd wouldn't be placated. "Excuses! Pay for your sins!" he growled in fury before ripping off the mere rank-one vampire's head in one swift motion.

Meanwhile, Liv continued to rage behind him in an emotional cocktail of rage and despair. "I'll kill you, Sigurd Blackthorn. One day, I will kill you!" She screamed as tears flowed down her face, and her body continued to shine brighter and brighter as if she was about to blow up.

Still furious but having regained his calm, he glanced at Liv with annoyance before quickly making his way out. He didn't doubt the prison would hold, but that light pricked even his third-rank Runebound skin, and he didn't care for it.

Once outside, Lars silently walked behind his lord until he couldn't stop speaking up anymore. He was Sigurd's most trusted man and doubted he would be killed so easily. "My lord…"

But Sigurd interrupted him, knowing what he would ask. "I didn't manage to finish. It is partially complete, but exactly how much control I'll have over her when she finally becomes a complete ghoul is uncertain."