Chapter 137: The First Battle
ARIA POV
The Shadow Lord fortress exploded as my earth magic tore through its base, but something was wrong.
There were no screams. No sounds of Shadow Lords dying. Just silence.
"It’s too easy," I called out to Queen Seraphina, who was floating above me with her vampire speed. "This should be harder."
"I know," she answered, landing beside me with worry in her ancient eyes. "My scouts said this place was filled with Shadow Lords yesterday. Where are they?"
Around us, our supernatural union was doing exactly what we’d planned. Dragon-bonded Jaxon was breathing fire at the remaining walls. Lucien was leading a group of werewolves through the rubble, looking for survivors. Even some fae fighters had joined us, using their magic to bind any Shadow Lords we might find.
But we weren’t finding any.
"Aria!" Lucien’s voice was sharp with concern. "Over here!"
I ran toward him, my heart already sinking. When I saw what he’d found, I understood why the castle had been so easy to destroy.
Bodies. Dozens of them. But not Shadow Lord forms.
Human bodies. Werewolf forms. Even some vampire bodies.