Chapter 130: Beast Horde Night One

"Wake up kid, it's time for your night shift." The same soldier that brought him to the broom closet woke up Ciaran.

The boy could barely open his eyes, and he sure as hell didn't know where he was, but he could feel the tension in the air. He walked out of his room and saw the battle formations.

The soldiers were perfectly aligned and were ready for the horrors the night would bring them, but the hunters were a mess. Those that still had fight left in them were in the back, but the ones who had already given up on life were left at the front. Even if they couldn't fight, they would serve as meat shields.

The Mages had lost their egos and were lined up and listening to orders. Reinforcements were coming from within the Empire, but they would only come for the second day.

"We need to hold the line. Listen to me, if we fall, everyone in the Empire will be in danger. Your family, your friends, everyone, and everything you ever loved is behind us, so remember, DO NOT BREAK, DO NOT BEND." The General said, and the soldiers gave him a salute.

The hunters did not salute, but they quite liked the song from earlier, so their best bards created their own:

In the dead of night, they come,

creatures lurking, on the run,

bats and owls, skunks and mice,

they're on a mission, and it's not nice.

Do not break, do not bend,

we must stand until the end,

with our strength, and our might,

we'll defend, with all our sight.

Raccoons and possums, they're on the prowl,

fireflies and moths, won't howl,

but make no mistake, they're a force,

coming in the millions, with no remorse.

Do not break, do not bend,

we must stand until the end,

with our strength, and our might,

we'll defend, with all our sight.

Hedgehogs and skunks, they won't relent,

coyotes and badgers, they won't repent,

cats and foxes, they're on the run,

beetles and kangaroos, they'll never be done.

Do not break, do not bend,

we must stand until the end,

with our strength, and our might,

we'll defend, with all our sight.

The stronghold stands, unbroken and strong,

we'll fight till the end, and prove them wrong,

we'll hold the line, with all our might,

and send these creatures, into the night.

Do not break, do not bend,

we must stand until the end,

with our strength, and our might,

we'll defend, with all our sight.

The beasts may come, in the dead of night,

but we'll stand tall, and we'll win the fight,

with our courage and our strength,

we'll never break, we'll never bend.

The singing was truly terrible, but it brought new life into the hunters, and the soldiers joined in. They would fight and die in this frozen hell, but they would not let the beasts in their homes. They would not let their families suffer, and they would prevail.

Every single human, and even Ciaran to an extent got fired up. As the singing intensified, the nightmare began.

The sky was full of bats and owls, and on the ground, all kinds of creatures began their invasion. The skies were no problem, as the powerhouses flew up and slathered anything that so much as came near the border.

The Earth element powerhouses were busy keeping the underground safe. All the residents of the stronghold had to think about was what was in front of them.

The worst by far was the cats. From simple wild cats to enormous saber tooth tigers, they advanced on the stronghold without holding anything back.

They were able to nimbly avoid the hunters, and some even got past the soldiers.

The Mages were helpless as they focused all their energy on channeling spells. When the cats got them, casualties were high. More than fifty Mages died instantly before the Warriors were able to save them.

Thanks to the kindness of the soldiers, Ciaran had been placed in the back and was able to avoid the calamity. He was only able to conjure nine of the original eighteen tornados, but after seeing what had just happened, he lowered them to eight.

He wanted to have some power reserved if he ever needed to protect himself. The soldiers disliked that, but it was understandable. Most of the other Mages had lowered their output to half, and some even went lower.

The nocturnal creatures were ambush predators and as such were far weaker in a straight fight compared to their daylight counterparts. Even when exhausted the humans were able to push them back reliably, but then it happened again, the weakest had died off and the Rank Fours had mixed into the tidal wave of beasts.

All kinds of light and sounds emerged on the battlefield, and unlike in the day, it had a major effect in the night. The humans were blinded, and that led to many mistakes.

Ciaran didn't need his vision to hit his enemies tho, and neither did the other Mages. The beasts were many, and any spell hurled in their direction was enough to kill a few of them.

The problems came when a mob of kangaroos made their way to the Mages. All of them were Rank Four, and they were more than looking for a fight,

Ciaran had many questions. Why were these animals so far north, why weren't the soldiers doing anything, and would kangaroo meat be tasty.

He wanted the last question answered first, so he focused his fire on them, and the other Mages followed.

It turned out that all nine of the animals were of the Ice type. They created a giant Ice shield around them and advanced toward the weakened casters.

The beast could recognize Ciaran as a threat so three of them jumped him. With their speed advantage, the boy could barely keep up with one of them on a good day, let alone three now. He got pummeled to the ground but managed to block all the crippling blows with his Storm.

The soldiers were too far away to help, and the other Mages were dying to the rest of the kangaroos. The boy was beginning to lose consciousness when he grabbed one by the neck in desperation and told the Storm to suck out everything it could using his body as a catalyst.

The creature could guess what the boy was attempting and was about to break his arm, but then it screamed. Thanks to the noise of the ongoing carnage almost no one hear it but its scream came right out of its soul.

As it had allowed itself to be caught, the Storm was directly sucking away its soul. Theoretically what Ciaran was doing right now was impossible, because he was eating another being's very soul. Before the others could react it was dead, and the Storm exploded with intensity.

It had tasted a soul for the first time, and it shared its taste with Ciaran. Both master and element were plagued by gluttony as they made a mad dash for the next one.

Taking an Ice punch to the face, Ciaran grabbed it by the throat and sucked out another soul. This time, he also devoured the carcass whole using his winds and injected all the nutrients right into his bloodstream.

There were still seven animals left, but the boy had lost all reason, and sense of fear as he dashed for the next.

The other six left the Mages and regrouped with the seven. Then they froze the Storm all around the boy, by mixing it up with their Ice.

Then they broke it apart and sent the boy flying. They had come to the conclusion that the boy should die first, so all seven of them grouped up brought him to the ground, and started kicking.

Ciaran sent out wind blades, icicles, and even bombs, but in the end, he was helpless at the speed of kicks. He was beaten black and bloody, but he never gave up. The other Mages couldn't help him as other creatures had reached them, but he never counted on them, to begin with.

He couldn't get out of this on his own, but he didn't have to. He felt it, deep inside his soul, and on his arm. The moon was rising high in the sky, and with it, his partner was on her way.

Just before he was about to pass out, four of the beast exploded, as a crimson night had landed on them, reducing them to mush.

She felt Ciaran dying under their feet, and just like her armor, her eyes were covered in red.

She was about to kill them all when she heard the voice she had been craving for two whole months now.

'Leave two of them alive, and bring them to me.'

Whit ease she killed the damn kangaroos and did as the boy asked of her. Then she witnessed the horrifying sight of him eating their souls. Any normal person would be startled, and those that saw him were, but Diana was over the moon that her partner had found a way to heal himself more efficiently.

"Yeah, this whole separation thing is over Rony. You would literally die without me." She said as she gave him a hug, careful not to crack his bones.

Ciaran hugged her back and whispered in her ear.

"Welcome back honey." In the cringiest voice, he could.