Chapter 15
As the creatures closed the distance between us, I took in every square inch of the threat. I needed to know their strengths, weaknesses, and which angle to attack them from first.
The biggest creatures ran on all fours, and their red eyes and white fangs broke through the darkness that formed around us. Their scaled tails whipped through the air, and forked tongues snaked past their teeth. The large, lizard-like beasts were called lacetos, but they were the size of huge wolves, and I could just imagine the strength they held in their muscled legs.
There were at least fifteen of the lizard monsters, but I also noticed the tiny, imp-sized beings who screamed like banshees. There were hundreds of the tiny bastards, and as they scurried through the legs of the lacetos, I saw the look of greed and hunger that glistened in their large, oval, blue eyes. A pair of large, leaf-like ears flopped back and forth in front of their faces, and I knew from the ears and the noises they made that those creatures were powries. They wore nothing but loin cloths, and it looked like they were nothing but bags of bones, but the powrie used that to trick their prey. They made their opponents believe they were weak, when in fact it was the complete opposite.
Both monsters were known for both their ferocity and their resistance to magical attacks, so the warlocks must have thought they were clever.
But just because the creatures were resistant didn’t mean they were impervious to magic, and my army of witches was the strongest in all the realms.
My brief observation had given me the information I needed, and although the creatures were powerful, I knew exactly how to handle them, and I knew what needed to be done in order to defeat the final threat.
I took a small step forward and then held out my hands in front of me.
“Crepitus!” I shouted.
A bright orange light shot free from both of my palms, and the lights combined together and created a wall of defense in the air in front of me. I held the orange wall in place for a second, and once the creatures were close enough, I used all my strength to shove the defensive wall forward. I directed the spell with my open hands, and I watched in delight as the orange wall smashed into the lacetos and powrie with all the force of an avalanche.
The tiny, imp-like beings let out another shrill cry as they were thrown to the ground, but the giant lizards smashed through the wall and continued to stampede toward me. I knew the explosive spell wasn’t going to be enough to completely defeat the creatures, but it gave me a few extra seconds to prepare, and sometimes that was all I needed.
“Go!” I ordered. “Attack them with everything you have! Weaken their minds, then take their lives!”
The army of witches behind me let out an angered, pent-up, unified scream as they ran forward and shot spell after spell at our enemies. The lacetos swiped their tails and slashed through the air with thick, spiked claws, but my witches were quick and nimble enough to dodge the threatening hits. I then noticed the warlocks had joined in with the fight, but they didn’t last too long. Bolts of green light shot through the air, and the rebels died the second the spells hit them.
I didn’t have to see where the shots came from, because I instantly knew Lilith had put her talents to good use.
Suddenly, something smashed into the back of my knees, and I landed with a thud on the ground. I felt a slight sting from where I’d been hit, and as I turned to look, I noticed the menacing face of a lacetos as he waddled toward me.
The creature had seized the opportunity when my mind was elsewhere, but he’d picked the wrong person to fuck with.
I grabbed my wand from where it laid on the ground, and then I jumped to my feet to face my opponent. Tiny black spikes ran up and down his scaly green tail, so that was where the sting came from, but I barely registered the pain anymore.
The lacetos came to a halt, and he opened his mouth to bare his sharp teeth as he used his front left paw to scratch away at the ground. It looked like he was preparing to charge, but I simply stood there and awaited his next movement. I already knew of the spell I was going to use, so I saw no reason to run or flee from the situation.
Then the lacetos lunged forward, and I aimed my wand in his direction.
“Intus sunt,” I whispered.
The lacetos skidded to a stop, and his scaled back arched as his beady eyes widened in pain. Then I heard the satisfying sound of ripping as his spine tore through his back, and his scaled skin began to peel away from his body. The lacetos made a noise that sounded like a mix between a growl and a shriek, and the entire scene reminded me of a spider when it molts its exoskeleton.
The thick, red, meaty flesh of the lacetos’ torso was on display, and the only skin left was that of his face and paws. But the best bit about the entire spell was the lacetos felt every ounce of pain. The spell wasn’t going to kill him, it simply weakened him enough for me to take the final shot.
“Lacero,” I said with a wicked grin.
The white light from my wand hit the lacetos in the neck and instantly beheaded him, and just to really show him who was in charge, I repeated the spell a number of times until he was completely dismembered.
The grass beneath the lacetos was coated in his blood and skin, and the gore and viscera squelched under my feet as I wandered away from the murder scene.
I’d intended on staying outside and killing off as many powries as I could, but then I spotted a large group of the imp-sized creatures scurrying into the school. No one else had seemed to notice the powries head inside, so I headed in that direction without a second thought.
I killed a few powries as I strode across the courtyard, but my army had things under control as they sliced, decapitated, and exploded the tiny fuckers left, right, and center.
I heard the familiar, high-pitched cry of the powries as I entered the academy building, so it took no time at all to track them down in a nearby classroom.
The majority of the powries scurried around the center of the room, and they took great pleasure in tearing through furniture and pulling at drapes and pictures.
But the tiny beings were too busy destroying the room to notice my presence.
With a twist of my wrist, the group in the center of the room was instantly lifted off the floor. Their strange noises echoed from wall to wall, and they all wiggled and squirmed in the air as they tried to free themselves, but I wasn’t going to let that happen. Then I twisted my wrist again, and I heard the pleasurable crunch as their necks snapped.
The powries died instantly.
When I removed the hold on them, the powries dropped to the floor with a thud, and I abandoned the corpses there as I searched for my next victim.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find the final two.
The two powries had climbed up a tall bookcase, and they perched on the edge of the wood and peered down at me as I wandered toward them. I spotted mischievous grins on their faces and an evil glint in their eyes, and as I stood in front of the bookcase, I noticed just how ugly the powries were up close.
Not only did they look like nothing but skin and bones, but their small, wrinkled faces looked like they belonged to an old man. The wrinkles created a constant frown between their eyes, and the small rolls of skin continued down their bodies. They had four fat, clubbed fingers on each hand, and sharp, pointed claws curled out of the ends of each finger. Their feet were much the same, and the powries smelled like rotten vegetables that had been left out in the sun for too long.
The powries hissed and screamed as I came closer, and I could tell from the way they hunched their backs that the little bastards were about to jump, but I held up my dagger and my wand and prepared myself.
The powrie on the left jumped first, followed instantly by the one on the right, but my movements were quicker than theirs. I sliced my dagger through the head of the first powrie, and as the second came closer, I aimed my dagger directly for him. The tip of the blade pierced him straight through the chest, and the tiny, dead creature hung off my weapon as his blood rained down to the ground.
But then, just as I removed the powrie from my dagger, a purple mist formed in the air. The cloud grew thicker until it obscured my vision, and when the mist began to dissolve, I noticed the students who had appeared on the ground. It was the group of witches I’d sent to help protect other realms, and despite how tired they looked, and how shaken up they were from shadow-porting, the witches instantly jumped to their feet and prepared themselves for another battle.
Luna, Morgana, Vesta, Penelope, and Cleo were part of that group, and all five of them ran over to me with looks of shock and surprise in their eyes, almost as if they hadn’t expected the battle to still be in full flow.
“How is Gassotara?” I asked.
“Better,” Luna snorted. “At first I thought we’d arrived too late, and it pained me to think that the realm wasn’t going to survive. But thankfully we worked as a team, and now the kingdom is safe again.”
“And the Elder Lord?” I asked. “Were there any signs of him?”
“No, master.” Vesta shook her head. “The only sign of him was the wreckage he’d created, but we didn’t even have any of his followers to slaughter. It was simply a case of saving Gassotara and getting it under control again.”
A shrill cry broke into my surroundings before I had the chance to respond, and just as I caught sight of the powrie on a nearby window sill, the bastard leaped into the air and landed firmly on my head. Then his sharp nails dug into my scalp, and his piercing noise rattled my brain. I felt around blindly for his oversized ears and tried to pull the shrieking creature from my head, but he had a mighty grip, and the more I pulled, the tighter he held on.
“My lord!” Penelope said with a panicked voice.
“It’s okay,” I grunted as the powrie ripped through my scalp. “I’ve got this.”
I knew the little fucker had razor-sharp teeth, which could cut through bone like it was butter, so I needed to get him off my head before he began to eat through my skull. The powrie only had one main weakness, and that was the inability to handle heat, so I grabbed the wriggling powrie by the ankle with one hand, kept the bastard still, and then held my wand up against him with my other hand.
“Calidum,” I snarled.
The ear-bleeding shriek he gave before was nothing in comparison to the noise he made when the tip of my wand grew hotter and hotter. It wasn’t hot enough to cause a fire, but it was still enough to create painful burns across his thin skin.
The moment I felt the powrie let go of my head, I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and held him up in front of me. Streams of blood poured down my face, but the wound would quickly heal, and the blood in my eyes made me look even more menacing in front of the screaming creature.
The powrie tried to wriggle free again, but I held my wand against his throat before he could slip free from my hand.
“Ignis,” I said with a smirk.
Puffs of smoke billowed from the tip of my wand as small black burn marks were created in the powrie’s skin. I held my wand against his throat until the sparks of a fire were seen, and then I dropped the loud bastard to the ground as a mighty fire washed over his body.
The women around me had stood watch the entire time, and Cleo covered her nose and mouth with one hand like she wanted to block out the harsh scent of burning flesh, but it was so potent that nothing truly kept the smell away.
“Come on,” I said as I began to run. “There are many more where that came from, and I want to see you kill as many of them as possible.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice, my lord,” Luna giggled.
“I didn’t think I had to.” I smirked. “Now, the majority of the fight is outside, but as you saw, some of the powrie have entered the school. I don’t mind where you go, or what you do, just be sure to kill them as quickly as you can.”
“We won’t let you down, master,” Morgana said in response.
The group then split off and ran in separate directions, but I stood where I was and evaluated the scene before I made my next move. I had the perfect view of the outside courtyard from where I stood, and I managed to see the total carnage that ensued. The powries scurried along the ground, over the broken walls, and some climbed students like a tree, but the witches held their own.
Bright shots of light exploded in all directions, and I watched as one of the powries aimed for a witch’s head, but seconds before he could sink his claws into her flesh, a green bolt of light hit him straight in the back from another student. A large number of the powries were already dead, and their beaten bodies littered the ground, but I was more interested in the lacetos.
The giant, lizard-like beings were much harder to kill due to their size and strength, but I noticed a number of witches working together in order to overpower the rest of the beings. It appeared as if all the warlocks, rebels, and non-believers had died, so we just needed to focus on the creatures, and then we could celebrate our victory.
With that in mind, I sprinted from the building and joined the rest of the students outside. A few powries tried to launch themselves at me as I ran into the courtyard, but I killed them the same way I’d killed the others.
“Ignis,” I commanded as I held my wand against the powries.
Each one of the imps shrieked and screamed as the burning hot wand hit their skin, but that didn’t stop some of the powries from attacking me again. It was futile, though, and I repeated the ignis spell over and over again until the powries laid in a mound on the ground.
“Flatus,” I said in a firm tone.
A fire quickly formed underneath the mound, and I wandered away as the powries burned to death while their dying screams became weaker and weaker.
I noticed that a few of the witches had picked up on the powries’ weakness, and they all used different forms of heat and fire to either keep the imps away, or to end their lives instantly.
Then I spotted a few more members of my coven in the distance as they fought against the lacetos, and I was surprised to see Circe, Beatrix, Marina, Tally, Samara, and Faye were part of the crowd. Those women had been sent to The Night Province, and I hadn’t been made aware of their return, so they must have shadow-ported to the grounds of the school instead of inside the building.
I ran over to the group and watched in delight as they took down one of the lacetos. Beatrix and Tally grabbed the beast by the tail, Faye and Marina pinned the head, and it was all down to Samara to take the final shot.
The former goddess let out a roar as she launched herself on top of the lacetos, and she drove her dagger straight into the base of the creature’s neck. The lacetos’ forked tongue vibrated between his teeth as the monster let out a pained cry, but Faye and Marina used all their strength to keep the lacetos still and his jaw closed.
Samara repeatedly stabbed the beast a fair few times, and once the lacetos had lost a significant amount of blood, Samara used her wand to finally kill the beast. His red eyes widened as his knees gave way, and he suddenly collapsed to the ground with Samara still holding onto his back.
“That’s right, you motherfucker!” Samara cheered as she hauled herself off the lizard. “Not so powerful now!”
“That was impressive,” I said proudly as I walked over to join them. “I just hope you have the energy to do that to the rest of them.”
“Thank you, my lord.” Samara bowed her head. “I’ll be happy to finish off every last of them, but part of me feels like I might not need to.”
We peered around the open area, and I noticed that lacetos had been completely surrounded by witches, and even the number of powries were perpetually dwindling.
“How was The Night Province?” I asked as I turned to look back at my women.
“It was… a mess,” Faye sighed. “The entire realm looked demolished, buildings had been knocked down, fires had been started, and a large number of people had already died before we got there.”
“Did you see the Elder Lord?” I asked. “Or anyone on his side?”
“Nope.” Faye shook her head. “The only people we saw were the ones who lived there, so all we needed to do was help repair the kingdom and heal the wounded.”
“It was the same in Gassotara,” I said with a frown. “It almost feels like the Elder Lord arrived, demolished the realm, and left before I caught onto his movements.”
Had he somehow delayed my premonition powers? Was that possible?
If it was, it meant the Elder Lord was truly getting desperate.
“So, where do you think he is now?” Morgana asked.
“I don’t know yet, but I will soon,” I promised in a dark tone.
“Don’t worry, my lord,” Samara said as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “He can’t hide forever, and we’ll be sure to put a stop to all his antics.”
“I know, we will,” I said firmly. “But for now we need to put a stop to these antics, and then we can focus on the Elder Lord.”
The next hour was spent killing the lacetos and powries in any way we could. Lilith happily used the killing curse on two of the lacetos and a large number of powries, which made our job much easier, but nothing excited me more than when I cornered a group of powries against a wall and then produced a ball of fire with a click of my fingers. Their shrieks caused a smile to curl across my lips, and I never thought I’d welcome the scent of burning flesh and rotten vegetables, but if it meant the powries ended up dead, then I’d happily walk around with that foul stench in the air.
It felt as though the entire school had congregated outside as I went to kill the final lacetos. His body and mind were already weak from the constant shots aimed at him, but I was going to use all my power to kill him, regardless of his inner strength.
I grasped the lacetos under his scaled mouth, and then I placed my spare hand flat between his beady eyes. His breaths were deep and labored, and he continued to taste the air with his tongue, but he’d lost the ability to fight back. I heard the low grumble that came from his throat, which told me he was angry, but that was about as much as he could do.
I quickly decided on which way to kill him before I removed the hand that sat between his eyes, grabbed my wand, and then aimed it in the center of his forehead.
“Ab intus arderent igni,” I said as I tightened my grip on the wand.
A crimson light illuminated against the lacetos’ green scales, and I sensed the creature strain as the incantation began to take effect. His grumbles became louder, but his red eyes winced shut, and I could just imagine the pain he was experiencing. The spell had caused his blood to boil, and soon his brain was going to explode as the pressure became too much.
I then moved my hands away as the lacetos collapsed to the ground. He’d stopped breathing, and the light was gone from his eyes, so I knew his heart had given out, but the blood continued to boil.
I took a few steps back to give the body some space to explode, and then I heard a small popping sound, followed by an almighty bang as the lacetos was thrown into the air. He landed with a loud splat, in a pool of his own blood and body parts, and the moment the beast settled, a loud cheer came from my audience.
It was an incredible sight, and an incredible feeling to know the threat was over for now, and my army and I could focus on repairing the school before we were needed again.
I turned to look at the large crowd of students and noticed all of them had the same smile on their faces, and they hugged and cheered along with each other.
“I need everyone to gather in the banquet hall immediately,” I called out to the crowd. “Professors, please ensure the hall is in a safe condition for everyone to gather.”
I scanned the crowd to find the professors, and they all nodded their heads when they caught my eye. I wasn’t sure what the banquet hall looked like after the fight, so there could have been a wall missing, or all the furniture could have been demolished.
I followed the sea of students as they piled into the school, but before I made my way to the banquet hall, I noticed Headmistress Quinn scurry off in an opposite direction. I hadn’t had the opportunity to thank her for lending a hand, and although we would have survived without Vipera’s help, it was only right to show my appreciation.
“Quinn,” I said as I caught the headmistress’ attention.
The bird-like woman turned on her heels, and her face lit up in a smile as she spotted me standing behind her.
“Sorry, my lord, I didn’t realize you were there,” she said with one hand over her chest.
“I just wanted to thank you for your assistance this evening.” I smiled. “I’m incredibly grateful you offered yourself to help us, and please pass that on to your students.”
“Of course.” She nodded. “Like I said, we have a lot to thank you for, and it was only right to accept Theodora’s call when she asked for help.”
“Well, either way, I’ll be sure to remember how you helped today,” I said as I patted her small shoulder with one hand. “Now, you may feel free to head back to Vipera if you wish, or you’re more than welcome to stay for the festivities.”
“Thank you, my lord,” Quinn replied. “I’ll run it past my students and see what they’d prefer to do.”
Then I left Quinn to continue with whatever she’d been up to, and I headed for the banquet hall where I’d asked everyone to meet. But as I rounded the corner, I spotted Winnie leaning up against a wall. She had one hand over her face, and her posture told me how tired the little witch was.
“Winnie,” I said as I closed the distance between us.
The young student jumped away from the wall in shock, but she visibly relaxed as she calmed herself down.
“Sorry, my lord,” Winnie said as she took a deep breath.
“I appear to be scaring everyone at the moment,” I laughed.
“I was in my own little world,” she said as she toed the ground with her foot.
“I believe we’re all in the same position,” I replied. “But how are you feeling after the fight? I bet it felt much different than the one in Vipera?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Winnie agreed. “It felt good to take part in the action, and not just hide in a wardrobe, but it was still terrifying.”
“Hopefully, you won’t need to get used to them, but the more fights you take part in, the easier they become.” I shrugged.
“Yeah, I guess so.” She nodded.
“Cole, you should have seen her!” Morgana suddenly announced as she came up from behind me with Akira in tow. “I watched Winnie take on a lacetos all by herself!”
“Yeah!” Akira added. “She blew that motherfucker into a thousand different pieces!”
I heard more footsteps as they came down the hall, and I peered over my shoulder to see the rest of my coven with their arms all linked together.
“I mean… I didn’t really do it by myself.” Winnie smiled nervously.
“Alright, fine, I held the bastard still.” Akira rolled her eyes playfully. “But the fact Winnie could power a spell as strong as that, and she held it there until the ground had been decorated with chunks of scaled flesh, tells you how fucking incredible it was.”
“I don’t doubt that it was,” I replied. “Winnie is an incredibly talented witch, she just needed the motivation to prove it.”
“Well, she doesn’t need to prove it anymore.” Nyx smirked as she linked arms with the anxious witch. “Any fuckers who cannot see her powers clearly need their eyes tested.”
“Yes, clearly.” I nodded. “Now, we must get everyone together in the banquet hall. Winnie, I’ve just spoken to your headmistress, so it’s probably best you go and find her to see what she’d like you to do now.”
“Sure,” Winnie said with a smile. “Um… thank you.”
My coven gave Winnie smiles and waves as the young witch ran down the hall, and nobody moved until Winnie was completely out of sight.
“Damn, she’s so cute,” Beatrix said with one hand over her heart.
“I know,” Nyx said with the same expression. “I wonder how much we’d need to give Quinn in order for her to let us take Winnie under our wings?”
“Something could probably be arranged.” I let out a laugh as I opened the double-doors and led my coven into the hall. I knew of Winnie’s connection to Vipera, and how it was incredibly important for her family, but if Winnie would rather attend Scholomance, then I wasn’t going to complain about it.
My coven took their usual seats at the front of the crowd, and I sat at the front of the hall with Lilith, Theodora, and the rest of the professors. There were still a few empty seats, but the majority of the students had arrived, so I patiently waited for the last few to trickle in.
Ten minutes passed before the final few students took their seats, and then seconds after that, the doors opened again as Quinn led her Vipera witches into the hall. They snuck down the side of the crowd and took the empty seats against the wall, so they clearly all wished to stay for the celebrations, and I was more than okay about that.
Once everyone was settled, I stood from my seat, stretched out my muscles, and looked out at the sea of heads before me.
I could have sliced through the atmosphere in the banquet hall with a blade, and my audience slumped in their seats as the aftermath of the fight took over their bodies. It clearly wasn’t just Winnie who felt tired, and it even looked like some of the students had fallen asleep as they used the shoulders of the witches beside them as a pillow. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed since the battle began, but I knew it was the longest fight some of them had ever been a part of. The moon was still high in the sky, so I would have said that five or six hours had passed since the fight took place. So the students’ exhaustion was valid, and I understood it was often hard to stay awake after something like that.
But despite how much they all needed their sleep, Scholomance sat in ruins, and I needed all the hands I could get to make the school look presentable again.
“Attention,” I called out to the hall. “I understand it’s been a long night, and I know you all wish to rest, but that will come in time.”
I paused for a second as I waited for the sleeping witches to wake up, and I didn’t speak another word until I was sure all eyes were on me.
“You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves for what you have done today, and I’ll be sure to reward each and every one of you,” I said with a grin. “However, we cannot forget about the real issue at hand. The Elder Lord is still out there somewhere, and we cannot rest until he is dead at my feet”
My exuberance helped to clear the tense and sleepy atmosphere, and my audience cheered and clapped as they absorbed my confidence. I needed them to feel excited and ready to take on the Elder Lord, and my assertive words appeared to do the trick.
But the Elder Lord’s work still confused me, and I couldn’t wrap my head around what had happened. I was almost certain the attacks on Gassotara and The Night Province were to distract me, but it made no sense as to why the elders disappeared straight after. And the warlocks who attacked Scholomance were just an army of angry non-believers, not elders themselves, but the Elder Lord could have used the opportunity to rain his destruction down on the school, too, but he didn’t.
Why?
I didn’t know what he was up to, or what he planned to do next, but I wasn’t going to back down. I wouldn’t stop until the Elder Lord begged for my mercy, and then I’d take his life.
But I knew exactly how to pass the time until that moment came.
“To celebrate our victory, and as a reward for everything you have done, there will be a feast once the school has been restored,” I announced, to which my audience cheered some more. “The sooner the cleanup starts, the sooner the celebration will begin, so I ask you all to work as a team to make Scholomance look as grand as it did before!”
There was a flurry of activity as students from all around the hall stood from their seats, but they didn’t move another muscle until I gave them the all clear.
“Go!” I said. “And make sure you all return here once the restoration is complete. This is a celebration you’ll not want to miss out on.”
I heard the excited squeals as the witches formed and ran from the room, and they were right to be excited. I knew what the celebrations were going to involve, and I couldn’t wait to get started, either.