The Blood King's Bride
Chapter Eighty Four

Weeks had passed, and the battle across the kingdoms had become heated and much worse. Famine and drought had shown their ragged faces across the three outer kingdoms, and even the great kingdom of Neba wasn't exempted from it. Though their situation was much better than that of the other kingdoms. The blood kingdom didn't suffer the fate of the other kingdoms, but they were covered with a shroud of melancholy. There was no grief but no joy either. They all prayed heavily to their Ancestors that their loved ones come back from the war and that if they don't, let the death of the ones lost in the war not be in vain.

The warriors of the blood kingdom had been engaged in a deadly war with the elites of Allika. These were more powerful than those sent earlier to lay havoc on the other kingdoms, so the warriors found it harder to defeat them. They fought with everything they had got, losing some of their men. For the ones who could be saved, Elion turned them to a Balaksa. Those who were destroyed beyond any point of recognition were noted down so that a passing rite could be performed for them. The changing of warriors to the superior beings of Elion's race played a vital part in the Blood kingdom. Due to converting these warriors, Elion had fainted several times, and her strength had depleted; hence she had to be protected. The new Balaksa warriors ran into the Warfield in a loud cry of war, destroying every enemy in their path. Thanks to them, a large number of the Allikan warriors were killed.

The wasteland sky had turned crimson and the bloody sun black. The earth was scorched

with the blood of fallen warriors, and the ones yet alive fought atop it, not stopping in their battle despite their weariness, until they dropped dead.

The power of the Allikans was never supposed to drain out since it was their supreme

being who had blessed them with that power. Yet weeks after, they find their powers draining out and fast. Perhaps it was because they had used it for weeks, never stopping to rest or even breathe. They had thought that they could take on the army of the Blood kingdom, but oh, how wrong they were.

They found out why the warriors of the blood kingdom were the most feared. Even

without their powers, they could still decapitate a handful of them. Also, with the help they had from the Balaksa, their fighting prowess increased a lot, and it seemed that the beings fighting with them kept on growing. They were more powerful, faster, and stronger than both the Allikans and the Blood warriors combined. Any wound to their skin was instantly healed. It was almost impossible to defeat them.

Elena and her husband Calhoun scoured through the fields in an angry wave. Never has

Elena faced so much blood before, but there was no time for her to sit and think about it. She killed her enemies with a silent heart, yet her heart broke each time she saw one of her men fall.

For weeks she had been fighting. She knew she was still able to fight thanks to the power she now shared with her husband. The more he killed, the more he became stronger, making her strong by default. Her husband came upon their enemies like a crazed beast, and he derived pleasure from each kill. The Allikans should have known at first sight that the war wasn't going to be easy, yet instead, they looked at the blood warriors with smug smiles on their faces, like they could already tell the end. Now, it doesn't seem that way anymore. Calhoun was currently facing one of the stronger leaders who came with their enemies. Like them all, he wore white garb, but after weeks of fighting, it had turned brown due to the dust of the sand, and it was soaked in blood. Several areas of his attire had been slashed off. Calhoun didn't study his face, or perhaps it was more like he couldn't because the blood haze had taken over him. His whole attention was centred on defeating the man right in front of him. He hadn't activated his full powers yet; instead, he kept it for the last battle. He swung, dodged, and slashed at the man he was fighting. His opponent didn't know if he should fight with his powers or sword. But whatever area he chose to fight, it was still impossible to defeat Calhoun. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Calhoun removed his opponent's head and moved into the next one.

The fight continued relentlessly, everyone having a part to play. Elion remained back at the tent with Aaron. She had woken up after another fainting episode.

"I need to go out there," she said to Aaron, trying to get out of her bed. Aaron quickly stopped her action.

"You already know my answer to that," Aaron said. He understood that he was now under Elion, but that automatically made her well-being one he should be looking after. "You can't tell me what to do," Elion said, pissed.

"You fainted yesterday. You can't expect to be allowed so soon inside the battlefield. You need to be strong when fighting. How do you think we all would feel should something bad happen to you out there because you were too weak to fight?"

Elion pouted because he was right. "But I just can't stay here and do nothing."

"Says who?" Aaron said, smiling a bit. He brought out a map and sat next to her on the

bed, placing the map between them. She had one look at it and saw that it was a map of the wasteland. She quickly looked up at him.

"What is this?" she asked.

"We are going to leave the Allikans with some gifts." He said, smiling mischievously. He pointed at some dots that had been earlier circled.

"Here, here and here are our opponent's weak points. The strongest of our warriors have taken up the strong points of our opponents which are here, here and also." Aaron said, pointing to other areas of the map. "The rest of our warriors are fighting the weak points. Though they are weak, they should not be taken for granted as it had taken weeks to be able to defeat them." He paused, looking intently at Elion.

"Some of the new warriors you have created have been sent to fight alongside our strongest warriors. That was our original plan, but you have made more. Send some of them to fight the weak points, thereby drastically reducing the number of people we fight. We send them to these points," he said, pointing at the weak areas, "and we reduce their fighting power by half."

Elion looked at the map and the plan he had painted. It was a perfect plan. She could see

it playing out like it had been thought off.

"It's a nice plan. But I thought you had a trap in mind when you brought this up."

"I do." Aaron said, folding up the map. "Before I became a warrior for the blood king, I

learned some tricks that I had thought might be useful. But apparently, our leaders do not condone such schemes, so I had to hide it from them.

Curious, Elion leaned a bit forward. "And what is that?" she asked.

"I can create a small diversion. It's small, but it can cause huge damage when used right."

He brought out a small vial from the pouch hung around his chest.

"This is small, but it is capable of causing great chaos. It causes the opponents to think of

anybody close to them as their enemy. They do not know who is on their side, nor do they want

to know. Their whole focus is on killing those close to them." He gently gave Elion the vial, and she slowly took it a studied it slowly.

"When we throw this on their eyes, they immediately become under the effect of this potion. Once that happens, we all have to leave the arena and let them fight each other." "This is a dirty move. I understand why your leaders wouldn't appreciate it." She looked

at him, smiling mischievously. "Wow. It turns out there is more to you than your usual stuck up behavior. I'm impressed."

Aaron blushed and quickly removed his face from another side of the room, avoiding her gaze.

"This is no time for joking. Our men are tired. Let's give them a little break."

"Oh, okay then." Elion leaned back on the bed, closed her eyes, and then tried to find the link that connected her to the other Balaksa. They were of her blood. She had shared her blood

with them, so it was an easy thing to communicate with them. She found the connecting link with them, then called out some to go to the places Aaron had pointed out. Calhoun had just finished vanquishing his latest opponent when he noticed some of the Balaksa starting to spread out. Some fought right beside him, while others went to the other areas of the war ground. He knew that Elion had something to do with it, so he hoped she had a well- thought-out plan that would work in their favour.

In a few minutes, they began to see the results. The number of Allikans who died was twice the ones they had been able to vanquish. In just half an hour, almost all of their men were gone. The other Allikans saw that they were about to be defeated, yet surprisingly, none of them ran away. They fought back harder. Calhoun immediately saw through their plot. While some fought at the front line, the ones behind them stood back and drew blood from themselves, muttering incantations. Calhoun didn't know what to expect, but he knew he had to quickly shut it down.

Fortunately, The Balaksa were already on it. They quickly moved out like wind, the dust

of the earth following them in their wake, and poured some substances into the eyes of the remaining men. They did all these very quickly; only those with extra-sharp sight would be able to get hold of it.

Once they did that, they quickly and quietly signalled everyone to leave the field. Everyone was confused, yet no one questioned their request. Slowly, everyone moved back, abandoning their opponents. That was when the massacre began.

Their opponents all stumbled back, trying to clear their eyes and, quite possibly, their heads. They had a glazed look to them when they opened their eyes, one filled with grave fear. Immediately they started attacking all and everyone in their path, killing themselves. It was brutal and bloody. To witness men who once stood side by side together kill themselves out of imaginary fear. This war move was nothing an honourable warrior would carry out, but the Balaksa were not known for being moral. Brothers fought each other, falling on their swords. Those who were in the middle of calling out an incantation exploded, their gory parts flying and spreading towards different areas of the field. The ones who didn't kill each other with their own hands, while the warriors of the blood kingdom stood silently behind, panting, as they watched their opponents fight themselves to their death. It was not a sight they would wish for anyone, but the situation called for it at that moment. The earth and sky thrummed with ecstasy at the new blood being spilled, and one could swear the wind hummed in satisfaction. Finally, the last of their enemies went down, stabbing his brother in the chest before he was decapitated. All these happened in a few minutes. Their opponents died with a look of abject horror on their faces and, at last, became silent.