CHAPTER 90: CHAPTER NINETY: ONLY THE VIOLENT TAKETH IT BY FORCE.

The courtyard trembled when the figure landed powerfully on the ground.

A fierce wind howled through the ruins of the once-glorious palace, scattering ashes and broken stones across the yard. The clouds above twisted into violent spirals as lightning and fire cracked like whips across the sky.

At the center of it all stood Damien.

His dark and magnificent wings arched wide behind him, glowing faintly with a violet hue. Flames licked at the edges of his feathers, dancing like restless spirits. His eyes, pure black and glimmering with an unholy light, locked on the man standing several feet away.

Cassian..his own blood brother.His murderer. His curse.

Cassian stood in awe at his brother who had totally transformed into something else.

His expression soon turned unreadable and his grip tightened on the hilt of his sword. The pendant buried in his chest pulsed like a heartbeat, red light flashing across his veins as his army of hybrid creatures crept forward behind him.

"You’ve finally come back," Cassian said coldly, a smile tugging at his lips. "Although you look uglier than you did before."

Damien said nothing. His gaze flickered briefly to Lucian, who stood a few paces behind Cassian, smirking faintly though his eyes betrayed unease. The air around Damien pulsed again, warping with raw power.

Cassian and Lucian felt the massive wave of energy coming directly from him.

What was this? How had he gotten so much powerful?

Cassian chuckled darkly, not wanting to falter even a bit before his enemy or show his anxiety.

"Still can’t speak? Or have the gods taken your tongue along with your sanity?"

Damien’s wings twitched angrily behind his back.

"No," he said quietly. His voice was deeper now, burning with restrained fury. "They only took my mercy."

Cassian’s smirk faltered.

And then, everything exploded.

The ground erupted beneath Damien’s feet as he lunged forward, leaving a crater in his wake. His fist, engulfed in swirling red flame, met Cassian’s sword mid-air. The impact sent a shockwave across the courtyard, toppling statues, shattering walls, and flinging several hybrids into the air like rag dolls.

They too got angry and entered battle mode.

Cassian spun backward, his sword vibrating violently from the force. He barely had a second to recover before Damien appeared again, faster than lightning. His outgrown claws, black and sharp as blades, slashed across Cassian’s chest, leaving three deep gashes that sizzled with smoke.

Cassian roared and retaliated.

With a wave of his hand, his hybrid army surged forward in unison, shrieking and howling. Their bodies twisted grotesquely, limbs expanding, jaws splitting open to reveal rows of serrated teeth. The ground shook beneath their stampede as they charged.

As they charged at him, Elyria and Lio descended right in front of them, taking them on in a single swish.

Damien turned his gaze toward them, his face a mask of calm destruction.

"We got you." Lio said smirking.

"Be careful." he said then turned his gaze to Cassian who was at the back of the hybrids approaching them.

He turned back to Lio and Elyria. "Take the rogues, I’ll take on the other bastard."

Before they could reply, Damien leapt from the ground, using his wings to fly over the hybrid monsters.

Flames erupted from his palm, swirling outward in the shape of a dragon’s head. It opened its mouth and roared a roar that shook heaven and earth. The infernal blast consumed the first wave of hybrids in his way, disintegrating them into ash before they could even scream.

Lucian shielded his eyes, his heart thundering. The moment Damien had lunged at Cassian, he had hidden himself behind the palace.

Lucian knew his limits. He wasn’t a werewolf like his younger brother. Barely even half a werewolf.

"What is he?!" he whispered harshly under his breath.

There was no way he was taking him on. "That’s right. Damien has no problem with me after all." he said with a shrug as his eyes darkened.

"That idiot started this whole mess. It’s only right that he sees it to the end."

Lucian straightened himself and ran to the front of the palace where the fight was taking place. Lio’s gaze landed on Lucian and was shocked to find him on the other side of the battlefield.

"Lucian!" he called out but got no answer. His next action made him turn his attention away.

I must save my own head first, Lucian said.

He pulled out his twin daggers and jumped into the fight, smiling devilishly as he stabbed the rogues. Cassian, who was too busy to even notice the inevitable betrayal, was fighting back with all his might.

Cassian sneered, blood dripping from his wounds. "He’s what I made him," he spat. "And I’ll be the one to end him!"

He leapt into the air, his pendant glowing brighter. The light spread across his body, covering him in black scales that hardened into armor. His eyes burned red. Two enormous horns burst from his skull. He had become something between man and beast, a twisted imitation of what Damien truly was. Channeling his devilish energy together with the one from the pendant, Cassian rose into the air,

Damien’s eyes narrowed. "You went as far as becoming a devil? Just what are you after?"

"Call it evolution," Cassian growled, summoning two large blades of brass from his palms. "You’ve been gone too long and I’ve come too far to give up, brother. The world doesn’t need you anymore."

Damien spread his wings, channeling his energy into another fireball.

"We’ll see about that."

They flew at each other and clashed again this time in the sky.

Meanwhile Elyria and Lio were busy with the demons below the two warring brothers. They had taken Elena to a cave which just unknowingly happened to be the one where she had met Seraphine.

Elena was left there, protected by an ancient dragon spell.

Lio’s daggers tore through the chests of the beasts, digging into them before dragging it through their bodies. But that wasn’t enough to extinct them because they kept rising.

"It’s not working! They’re coming back up!" Elyria shouted from the other end of the courtyard. Her massive blade struck, slashed and even stabbed them multiple times but it was like she had just scratched them.

They mantis arms and hinds stuck out completely unarmed. When a body part was cutoff, it grew back almost immediately.

"What do we do?!" she shouted from where she stood as more and more just kept coming.

Lio who was already surrounded by hundreds of mantis-like attackers, struggled to think of what could be going on.

Elyria spun from the ground and up in the air with her arms stretched beside her. She made a hand sign that summoned her dragon fire, hurling it at the abominations in front of her. The fire seeped through their rough skins instantly, burning them from the inside out.

Loud, terrifying screams erupted violently into the air before they burst. In place of the horrible monsters were dried up planks merged with a burnt human body!

Elyria almost threw up at the sight, staring at it in terror.

"Well this will give me nightmares for a while." she said, unable to take her eyes off it no matter how much the sight got under her skin. The pieces of wood stuck out of them in circles of varying, sizes and shapes etched into their skins.

It was a draining, itching sight.

"Lio! Use your dragon fire but don’t look at the—"

Elyria shot her gaze down to find that the bodies had turned to ash.

Good riddance! It was unnerving to look at anyways.

"Dragon fire?!" Lio yelled, pulling her attention back to him.

"Yes!"

Lio spun around, taking himself up the ground before spraying the devils with his fire. They fell to the ground in the same form before bombing themselves to ash.

"Nice!"

Meanwhile~~~~

Damien’s wings tore through the clouds as fire and darkness collided. He had been waiting for this time all along.

To get back at that bastard for making his life so miserable right from his later childhood.

Cassian swung his twin blades with deadly precision, each strike sparking against Damien’s claws. Damien countered with bursts of dragonfire which Cassian smoothly evaded. The misfired balls landed all over the palace, entering the royal forest that laid below them.

But Damien didn’t know Elena was there.

Each collision lit the heavens with thunderous flashes as if the heavens itself was at war with the kingdom of darkness.

Lucian remained on the ground, destroying the hybrids with frantic gestures. Although his efforts were in vain, he and Lio formed a team: he’d trick the creatures to his reach while Lio rained down fire on them.

Dozens more of the monstrous creatures leapt into the air, clawing and screeching.

Lio spun mid-flight, his daggers slicing through the air with precision as they leapt on their hinds with their mantis arms trying to get a hold of him. With a single beat, a shockwave burst outward, sending the creatures spiraling away.

Those who managed to cling onto him found themselves crushed under invisible pressure as one of Damien’s fireballs hit them forcefully.

Damien’s veins glowed red-hot beneath his skin. The sheer force of his aura burned holes into his fireballs.

Cassian dove at him again, this time with a roar that split the clouds apart. He slammed both blades into Damien’s chest, pushing him down far away from the palace ruins.

The ground split open as they crashed head first into the forest grounds, creating a massive crater.

Dust and fire erupted everywhere even reaching the main palace which was hundreds of miles away from where they landed.

Lucian shielded his face as fragments of dust and leaves flew past him.

When the smoke cleared, Cassian was standing over Damien’s body, panting heavily, blood dripping from his jaw. "It’s over," he hissed. "You’re nothing but a damned monster."

But before he could strike again, Damien’s hand shot up—gripping his brother’s wrist with crushing strength. Cassian’s eyes widened.

"You always did talk too much."

The ground beneath them began to glow, symbols of shadows spread out in a wide circle. A low rumble echoed across the land. Cassian tried to break free, but Damien’s grip tightened like iron. The fire ignited, bathing them both in red light.

Then

A burst of energy shot upward, enveloping the forest in a blazing inferno. The fire shot up from Damien’s hand into Cassian’s wrist that flared his whole body while still on him.

Cassian screamed out, fighting to get himself away but that only made Damien grip him harder. The flames burned his whole body in maximum folds like he was being bathed in it.

When the fire ceased, Cassian staggered back, half his armor had melted away. His face was smeared with ash and his horns were cracked. "Just what the heck are you, you demon?!" he screamed out. He had lost half his face and a side of his body was paralysed by the degree of the fire.

Damien rose slowly from the crater, his wings unfurling to their full span. His full figure stood bigger now as his eyes swirled with a mixture of black and gold.

"You awakened me," he said softly. "Now suffer the consequence."

He took his hand out and placed it on his chest, inhaled deeply and exhaled fire.

All Cassian could do was stand there, helplessly. His body looked far from scorched.

The dragonfire was nothing like before. It was divine, powerful, supernatural almost to the point of supreme magic.

It consumed everything in its path—stone, trees, flesh, adding to the ongoing fire in the forest.

The fire moved faster than light to the palace courtyard where the battle was still going on in full force.

Elyria, who was in the air, screamed out at Lio.

"Take cover!"

Lio looked back only to find a rushing storm of fire angrily making its way towards them. He instantly shot up from the ground. If he had been a second late, the fire would have mercilessly devoured him despite being a dragon himself.

The hybrid army screamed terrifyingly as they burned, their bodies disintegrating into wood-covered humans before turning to ash.

Lucian tried to flee, but the heat was unbearable. The very air was aflame and he couldn’t escape it.

Cassian screamed in rage and fury as the fire engulfed him. "NO!"

With a final surge, too fast for even Damien to notice, he drove his sword through Damien’s abdomen. The blade burned with corrupted energy, tearing through the scales and into his flesh. Damien staggered back, coughing blood.

For a brief second, Cassian grinned maniacally. "I’ll destroy you!" he shrieked out, raising the sword for a final strike when he stopped mid air.

His mouth hung wide open, making even more grotesque his horrifying burnt, half face.

Damien gripped his abdomen. He had felt the pain all right. That sword had been charged with magic directly from the relic. And then relic was primarily designed to keep dragons out. Even with a wrong ruler, the power just shuts down and doesn’t fade away... unless compelled.

"You pathetic traitor," Damien whispered hoarsely, rising from the ground like a strengthened hero after a massive blow had hit him.

"The gods took my mercy...but not my strength."

He grabbed Cassian’s sword with both hands, snapping it in two. Then he lunged, ramming his clawed hand straight through Cassian’s chest, gripping the glowing pendant embedded there.

Cassian’s eyes widened in horror. "Don’t—!"

Too late. Damien ripped it out.

The pendant shattered, releasing a burst of dark energy that ripped through the sky.

Fire erupted angrily from below the palace grounds.

The millions of remaining rogues were blowing up one after the other!

It was chaos.

The fire shot up from the ground, hotter and fiercer than molten lava. So high did it go up that Elyria and Lio were forced to fjy higher and higher to avoid it.

"The fire is going into the town! We have to stop it!"

Elyria and Lio flew tiredlessly, heading straight to the village. They landed in front of the palace walls where the people were already ignorantly gathered in front of.

"What are you doing here?!" Elyria screamed at them.

The people, mostly women and children, shrieked in horror at the flying creatures.

"Listen up! The town is about to be engulfed in fire. We must leave for the mountains this instant!"

Before he even finished, they were already running. No one thought of taking anything and just fled from the village helter skelter.

"The fire is almost here everyone run faster!"

Zerathane was too wide and too big for them to cover in such little time. It took at least three hours for a horse going at full speed to leave the country.

"I’ll hold off the fire to buy you some time, you summon the other dragons for help." Lio said breathless.

"Are you crazy?! You can’t hold it back, this isn’t regular dragonfire! You could—"

"Go Elyria! Do you want these people to die instead?!"

Elyria bit her lip. "Just be careful you fool!" she screamed out, dashing into the clouds to call to dragons.

The people continued to run wildly, everyone in a hurry to get out as soon as possible.

The fire got closer, getting more colossal and indestructible as the seconds ticked by.

"I love you..."

The fire burst through the gates.

"Ely."