CHAPTER 198: FINAL KILL

[ Back to the battle scene... Greater woods ]

"Drive it into the ground... now!" Autumn’s voice cut through the clash of steel like a blade of its own.

Velor’s body obeyed...His sword came down in a vicious, almost feral arc, missing the creature’s head by a hair but tearing through its shoulder with a wet, cracking sound.

Autumn felt the jolt all the way up her spine. Her own hands twitched as though she, herself, had swung the blade.

"Yes... again! Don’t let the fucker breathe!" she growled, teeth bared.

But something shifted.

Velor’s pace... it wasn’t hers anymore.

The strikes were sharper, as if matching her rhythm. Faster, but it somehow didn’t feel right. The rhythm she had been setting...steady, tactical...was gone.

"Wait..." she hissed, trying to slow him, but the connection bucked under her like a wild untamed beast. His blade swung again, narrowly missing Thorgar’s side this time.

"Velor! Fucking hold your ground!" Autumn snapped.

The mist around them recoiled with every blow, as if the very air didn’t know which way the madness would turn.

Thorgar’s axe locked with the creature’s claws, his teeth gritted as he shoved it back. "The hell’s gotten into him again?! The mutt was going to gut me...I will have to put him down if he keeps swinging like that! Wake up ,you bloody fool!"

Autumn’s heart pounded harder. Her breaths came quicker... shallower, as if Velor’s lungs were pulling at hers. " Ahh! Sorry, Father! Sorry! I think I am doing something wrong...it’s not his fault... I am trying to rein him in, Father..."

That was when Thorgar’s gaze caught hers.

His eyes narrowed, sharp as an arrowhead and in that split second, she knew he had figured it out.

"You are steering the bastard?" He asked flatly.

She didn’t answer. Their heads snapped back... focus sharp on the battle ground.

The connection between Autumn and Velor was thrumming at this point like it had a will of its own, and she was clutching it like a fraying rope.

But Thorgar didn’t scold, didn’t question. He just gave one short nod, sweat dripping down his temple. "Then steer him into the kill. We are ending this,sweetpea.Time to go home."

The mist was thinning now. Patches of black soil and twisted roots showed through.

The creature stumbled back, growling low, its hollow void darting between Thorgar and Velor as if unsure which predator was more dangerous.

Autumn pushed harder, ignoring the ache in her chest. "Hit from the left, now!"

Velor lunged. His body blurred, blade cutting a deep gouge into the thing’s ribs. Black ichor sprayed across the forest floor, sizzling against the roots... hissing, rising up like acid...

Thorgar came from the front, his axe cleaving down with a roar that shook the branches overhead.

The creature reeled, a distorted snarl ripping from its throat.

"Come on, you ugly piece of shit!" Thorgar spat, swinging again. "I have eaten things tougher than you!"

Velor’s attacks grew wild again...too wild and unrestrained.

Autumn’s jaw locked as she fought to keep the tether. "Stay with me! You are not running this, I am!"

But deep down... she wasn’t sure anymore.

Even then, being in action was fun. It was dangerous and that was fun. She had missed this fun for too long... this rush... she was actually enjoying the moment despite the gravity of everything around her...

The energy in her was burning hotter than before, almost too hot to hold. It wasn’t just hers, or the babies’...it felt alive. Even her wolf stirred!

Her hands shook. Her voice strained. "Final push... now! Tear it apart!"

Thorgar roared in sync with her words, the two forces striking together...axe to chest, blade to spine....driving the creature to its knees.

The mist convulsed like a dying animal.

"Don’t stop," Autumn hissed, stepping forward. Her eyes were fixed, unblinking, on the staggering mass of shadow.

Velor’s blade lifted for one last swing.

Thorgar glanced at Autumn again, his voice low but fierce. "On my mark... we finish it. Together."

The mist curled tighter around their legs, as if making one last desperate attempt to hold the battlefield in its grasp.

Autumn tightened her grip on the connection...and for a heartbeat, she wasn’t sure if she was holding Velor... or if Velor was holding her.

"Ready?" Thorgar’s voice was like gravel grinding on steel.

Autumn nodded once, her chest heaving. The tether burned through her veins, her heartbeat and Velor’s in perfect, violent sync.

The creature staggered between them, its form flickering now...one moment solid shadow, the next a jagged smear of smoke.

Black ichor dripped into the dirt, hissing where it touched.

"Left flank’s open..." Thorgar muttered, almost to himself.

"I see it," Autumn answered through clenched teeth.

Velor’s muscles coiled under her will. She could feel the tension...every twitch, every shift of weight in his stance...as if she were standing in his body.

"Now," she whispered.

Velor sprang. His blade came in from the side, too fast, aiming for the creature’s hip joint.

At the same instant, Thorgar swung downward in a massive overhead arc, his axe howling through the air.

The shadow let out a scream that scraped along the inside of Autumn’s skull, making her vision swim.

"Push harder!" Thorgar barked.

Autumn fed every drop of the burning energy into Velor, forcing his strike deeper. She could feel the blade bite through unnatural flesh, the resistance, then the give...the hot splash of ichor that wasn’t hers but felt like it was.

"Finish. This. Now!" she shouted.

Velor jerked his blade free, spinning it for the killing blow. Thorgar mirrored him...father and daughter moving as one.

The mist thrashed like a living sea, the edges tearing apart. Roots snapped under their boots. The air went sharp and thin, like it was holding its last breath.

They both reared back for the strike...axe and blade poised for the same fatal target.

But then... the light bled from the world.

Not like sunset...no, this was instant, smothering, like an instant eclipse.

One moment, fractured ,dim light pierced the mist. The next, the sky overhead was a void.

A sound rolled over them, not thunder, not wind...but echoes of cawing...

Millions of crows.

Their cries filled the forest, drowning out the sound of breath, of heartbeat, of thought.

Black wings churned above the treetops, blotting out the last shred of light. Feathers fell like ash.

Autumn’s grip faltered for the first time. Velor’s blade froze mid swing.

Thorgar’s head tilted up, his face carved into a frown.

" Selene? "

But the creature... was laughing.