The Devil's Son and His Fated Bride
Chapter 232: Piles of corpses.

Chapter 232: Piles of corpses.

"Kill me!" Blood spurted from the giant’s mouth in thick, steaming jets. This heat was painful, he was burning from inside.

Kai clenched his jaw. The urge to end this abomination was nearly at its edge, but he held it back. This vampire had drained a hundred serpent and bear shifters, maimed the feline shifters and wolf packs, and beheaded countless Bird shifters. He didn’t deserve mercy.

"You’ll die from that wound," Kai said coldly, his voice like ice over steel. "But before that happens, carry this message to your sorcerers and comrades."

He paused, glancing up at the sky where his wife still hovered, the Griffin’s wings spread wide, watching.

"Tell them to come and meet us, if they wish to live. Tell them that I’ve returned to be their ending. You saw it yourself. Killing you, lords, means nothing to me."

Inwardly, he chuckled. All I need is to gather you in one place.

"Why?" the giant rasped.

"I’m tired of bloodshed," Kai claimed harshly. "Tell them to come to the Crystal Mountain in Qowen State on the full moon. That’s where it ends. Go now, before the poison finishes you."

With brutal finality, Kai twisted his sword into the stump of the giant’s severed arm. The vampire shrieked a guttural roar ripped from his chest as the blade slid free, trailing blackened blood.

Blood, and the hostile poison brewed by his wife and Agara dripped from the sword’s soft edges, sizzling as it kissed the snow.

The giant gasped, his breath hitching in broken wheezes. Trembling fingers reached up to the black crystal embedded between his brows. The moment he touched it, his body shimmered, then vanished in a blur of shadow and light.

So that was it. The gem had transported him.

Kai narrowed his eyes. Phoria couldn’t make something like that. Only Saints, or the Fallens, knew how to forge such arcane artifacts. He guessed right. Nimoieth had been linking her mind with Phoria and Luther. She had taught them how to craft these powerful tools.

He looked up. Rain fell steadily now, each drop washing the vampire’s blood from his face, down his neck, cooling the fire in his veins.

"Go back to the camp, wife," he murmured toward the clouds, his voice low, breathless.

He was drained. Shadow, the beast within him, was feeding too greedily, lashing out at the giants with relentless fury. That rage exhausted Kai too. These things were already dead, there was nothing left in them for him to consume but lust. And this lust would have an impact.

He descended the blood-slick hill in long, rapid strides, heading for the battlefield where King Benkin fought in the heart of chaos while Gloria and Sunkiath burned the running vampires.

"The Lords are dead!" Kai shouted over the clash of steel and storm. "They’re running back to their holes!"

Benkin turned, armor slick with blood, and raised his sword high. His voice was a roar over thunder.

"Leave none alive!"

His army regained spirit and surged.

...

Elaika and Arkilla spotted a giant crashing toward the tents, using the heavy armor on his forearm to shield his grotesque head as he charged.

"His head, go for it!" Arkilla shouted.

Elaika gave a sharp nod, wiping streaks of blood from her face with the back of her hand. Together, they bolted toward the monster.

As the vampire lifted one massive foot to crush them, Arkilla lunged and slashed clean across the sole. The beast shrieked in agony, the venom on her blade already seeping into his blood.

He tried again, raising his other foot in rage, but Arkilla was faster. She swept beneath him and carved through the second foot, and the giant stumbled, collapsing with a thunderous crash.

Elaika seized the moment. Using the falling motion to her advantage, she leaped into the air and drove her sword straight into the creature’s skull.

"You piece of shit, die!" she snarled, twisting the blade deep before yanking it free.

She landed in a crouch just as the vampire’s body hit the earth with a thunderous, shaking thud.

But something was wrong. The skin around the giant’s head began to swell, blistering grotesquely, pulsing with unnatural heat.

Arkilla’s voice ripped through the storm. "Elaika...run!"

Elaika obeyed on instinct, sprinting blindly. She didn’t know why until the world behind her erupted.

The giant exploded.

The shockwave punched through her back. Her guts twisted. Heat and gore sprayed the battlefield.

On the far side of the camp, the elite warriors of Qowen uncorked their elixirs and drank deeply. Within seconds, their eyes turned a glassy, unnatural green, power surging through their limbs like wildfire.

With inhuman speed, they surged forward, cleaving through the vampires with brutal precision.

Along the ridge, archers lined up in perfect formation. They dipped their arrows into black poison, and at their commander’s signal, unleashed hell upon those vampires.

A rain of arrows hissed through the stormy air, striking the fleeing vampires with deadly accuracy.

Without their lords, the bloodsuckers scattered like insects, mindless and broken.

They shrieked as the venom took hold, bodies convulsing, bursting apart in sprays of blood and shredded flesh. Snow turned crimson beneath them.

Ahead, two dragon guardians stood like the end of the world. Sunkiath and Shadow blocked their path to the holes.

Shadow’s blue flame ignited the final few giants, engulfing them in sapphire infernos. Sunkiath’s molten orange fire roared across the battlefield, reducing the mutated vampires to ash.

With every escape route sealed by fire and steel, the remaining vampires turned, cornered and desperate.

Orgeve and Rail seized from the west, not allowing them to run to the forest.

And then, the vampires fought like beasts, wild and frenzied, with nothing left to lose.

...

The next day, the sky hung heavy, calm, yet overcast, as if mourning the bloodshed. Kai and King Benkin moved slowly through the remains of the battlefield, stepping over charred cloth and collapsed tents. Smoke still curled from blackened wood.

"The shifters couldn’t sense them coming," King Benkin muttered, voice low with frustration.

Kai raised his hand and revealed a small glass vial, the liquid inside a dull, oily gray.

"Because of this," he said. "Elaika told me Phoria gave it to Zaira."

Benkin took the vial and uncorked it. A strange, pungent aroma wafted out. His brows furrowed.

"They masked their scent!" he growled.

Kai nodded grimly. "My men are searching the tunnels now. But you need to merge your armies with mine. The other kings may protest later, but your supply lines are gone. Your stores were burned to weaken you, let them complain if they dare."

Benkin’s gaze shifted toward the ministers standing nearby, the so-called representatives of the realms. Not one of their kings had come in person.

He scoffed, bitter and loud. "I’m the only human king here. The rest of them, cowards! They never step onto the battlefield to see how many lives are lost keeping their reigns intact. Bastards."

Kai felt Shadow stir within him, a deep growl rumbling in his chest.

’These vampires leave behind sick emotions. It reeks of foul blood, I’m filled with so much lust...’ the beast snarled in his mind. ’Tell the king to move. He should take his army to that village...now so I can rest.’

"Now what? Are you coming with us? Look at the number of casualties!" Kai clenched his jawn, he was barely standing on his feet.

King Benkin gestured toward the towering pile of corpses, a graveyard of broken limbs and severed heads. It was impossible to tell which leg belonged to which soldier, whether shifters or men.

He exhaled through gritted teeth. "Alright. We merge the armies." His voice had lost its fire, replaced by bitter resolve. "That vampire giant was watching this camp for a long time. Had time to dig tunnels beneath our feet. The cold and snow cloaked every sign of their arrival."

Later, he summoned his commanders and issued his orders, swift, sharp, and unbending. Each legion was to follow without hesitation. It was a royal decree, and to defy it would be considered treason.

Despite old rivalries, the human soldiers found more comfort beside the shifter beasts than alone in the dark, where vampires might slit their throats as they slept.

But without food, shelter, or heat, the cold would finish what the enemy had started. They had no choice but to move, closer to the forest line where they could build fires.

More importantly, Oak Village lay at the foot of the mountain. From there, the dragon could watch the horizon like a sentinel, and warn them if anything stirred in the snow or shadows.

The ministers found no argument left to make. One by one, they mounted their horses and led their battered troopers toward Oak Village. The war council had collapsed into necessity, there was no room for pride when survival was at stake.

On the far end of the camp, Arkilla finished binding Elaika’s wounded arm and scanned the area, tension still clinging to her shoulders.

"Have you seen Org and Rail?" she asked quickly.

Elaika shook her head, her face pale. "No... but if I don’t get the cure soon, I’ll fall into a fever."

Everyone else had already taken the antidote Reneira had crafted against the vampire’s infection. Everyone except her.

"Come on. We’ve got remedies in the supply tents."

Arkilla helped her to her feet, but Elaika stumbled. Before she could fall, a firm hand caught her by the waist.

"I’ll take her back," said a deep voice behind them. "I saw Rail and Orgeve with our Alpha King. Go to them."

Arkilla bowed her head and stepped back without a word, leaving Elaika in the arms of her mate.

Alpha Xander lifted her effortlessly, holding her against his chest. His warmth made her cheeks flush, despite the cold.

"You don’t have to help me," Elaika muttered. "I’m here to die."

"Who said I’d let you die? You are shaking." His tone was flat, his expression unreadable, but the words struck her harder than any wound.

Elaika looked away, biting the inside of her cheek. This was the day she’d never imagined, finding her mate, only to feel like a burden. A fallen warrior. A criminal in his arms. She was the one who brought disgrace upon herself. And now, she truly lamented for it, internally.

~*~

My lovely readers, there will be only one Chapter daily for a week, but they will be longer than usual updates. I feel a little bit under the weather (PMS).

~Win.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel