Chapter 41: War Part 32 - Rage
"What the hell is going on!?" Llarm's thoughts screamed louder than the war horns. "One moment I was watching Lucy get his ass kicked, and now I'm fighting for my damn life!"
He twisted midair as a crackling spear of lightning sliced past his cheek, close enough to singe his skin. The surge of wind he'd conjured at the last second had barely shifted the spear's trajectory. His long blonde hair whipped around violently, caught in the turbulence of his magic and the chaos engulfing the cliff.
Around him, the world had fractured into madness.
Once firm underfoot, the rocky cliff now trembled beneath the weight of violence. Colossal bodies of giants tumbled over the edge like broken statues, their massive torsos crashing into the battlefield below with bone-shattering thuds. Their heads—cleanly severed—remained on the cliff's edge, expressions frozen in shock and fury.
The coppery tang of blood saturated the air. Llarm's lungs burned as he breathed in smoke and iron. The once-clear sky above was now clouded with plumes of elemental mist—cinders from fire spells, gusts of dust, shattered ice crystals—all choking the battlefield in a swirling storm of war.
And now, through the haze, more shapes emerged.
Ogres—hulking, musclebound brutes clad in patchwork armor of bone or steel—charged into the fray from both sides, turning the already nightmarish battle into utter bedlam.
Some bore Ithriel's colors, roaring as they swung massive iron clubs and jagged axes that tore through Seraphine's ranks like reaping blades. One picked up a screaming beastkin and hurled him into a cluster of silver-armored elves, scattering them like rag dolls. In retaliation, Seraphine's ogres answered with equal fury—one of her titanic warriors snatched a frost-marked elf mid-spell and crushed him in a single fist, then waded forward, body slick with blood, to meet a rival brute head-on.
"They brought ogres up here, too?!" Llarm's eyes bulged.
The cliff shook under their stomping charge, and every impact sent cracks splintering through the ground.
Armored bodies surged in every direction. Silver-clad elves and beastkin clashed with icy-blue counterparts, their weapons ringing with each desperate strike. Dragonkin roared, their armored tails and claws rending the cliff as they fought. Screams of rage and pain layered over one another like a symphony of death.