[21] Battle of Cron, Part 1

The silver light of the moon guided the creature beneath the sky. Though Asta didn't need light to see. His arms, now small wings of ice, flapped as his almost-hollow body soared through the air. In this form, this minuscule bird Claire had crafted, he could deliver a message or survey an area before returning to her. Right now, he was doing the latter.

His wings did not catch the full extent of the nightly wind properly, yet he flew over the forest nonetheless. That was Asta's inherent characteristic. As long as it was crafted with mana lines embedded, he could move any body of ice given to him as if it were as alive as the thing it was molded to resemble.

"Wha—" He barked as he spotted flames and smoke rising miles from the mountainous region ahead. His figure dived, wings folding while he sliced through the air.

He flapped once more and stopped his descent, overlooking a chaotic situation of yelling, shouting, and anger melded with rage.

A town stood, crumbling, barely ten buildings left. Half of it was aflame and the other half was defended by a makeshift wall of wooden logs and pikes.

Yet, the roars and growls of beasts filled the night more soundly than any gallery cries. Creatures of all shapes and sizes and colors. Wolves. Moles. Goblins. Imps. Orcs, even. They streamed out of the den of the shaking mountains and rushed towards the town half-destroyed.

The creatures fought less against one another and—after passing through the burning remains, uncaring—more against the men and women defending the still-standing half of Cron. They met the blades and pitchforks of angry individuals protecting their families, their homes. Three or four men teaming upon one beast was the norm, though there existed several people who were dressed as adventurers helping the town as well, these were the only ones making any sort of dent in the ocean of creatures.

Asta had never seen anything like it. He was baffled, really. He flapped his wings and flew back up, a few seconds later of trekking backward and he perched upon the roof of a carriage.

"So, what did you see?" Claire asked, standing upon a platform of ice moving through the air as the wind flapped her white hair about. Her arms were crossed before her and she stared down below the forest.

By her side, Alicia was sitting, feet dangling about and Via stood. Mr. Melt, on the other hand, clung to the carriage for dear life, his stomach churning. It seemed he was afraid of heights—airsick, maybe—and struggled not to barf.

The air rushed around them as their 'vehicle' traveled. The carriage? Frozen into the furnace of ice. The horses? Neigh as they might, they couldn't move with hooves embedded in ice. Essentially, as always, this was the fastest mode of transport for Claire. There were no winding roads in the air and she sliced towards the location of Cron with but a thought.

"Via's right," Asta chirped out, shuddering slightly, "I think we'll reach it soon."

And they did.

Above that battlefield, their shadow cast over the forefront of humans against beasts. Adventures that had came to Cron, mostly, fighting with teeth gritted. Most already had injuries from a previous battle but there they stood, swords slashing against wolves and goblins and, oh, Claire saw an orc for the first time in this world, towering over the people as brutish as it ought to be.

The beasts were in a frenzy and the humans were in a frenzy to not let them pass through. Behind them were cowering individuals that couldn't fight, after all. They couldn't escape either as the town had been built next to a river; a wide swat of rushing water would sooner kill them than the monsters. There was a small bridge but it looked like it had crumbled from the shaking of the grounds.

"We've sent another message to Aclair! We have to hold out and not let them through!" A voice boomed, likely the captain of the town's guards.

There was a feverish roaring from both sides as they clashed. The beasts from the shaking mountains wanted out and the humans wanted their homes.

Claire narrowed her eyes. "Alice."

"Mhmm mhmm."

The vampire leaped off of the platform and plummeted down from the air. The wind whistled and she landed upon a beast, killing it on impact as the ground shattered beneath her feet.

She turned her glance to the army of creatures as the gem upon her mask shined red and they stopped in their tracks, momentarily.

"Charge!" A male yelled with rage and blades struck beasts. He didn't know what had just happened but no one wanted the chance to go away.

Alicia kicked off from the ground, wings flapped behind. She appeared before an orc which still struggled to make headway of what occurred, its body towering over her, and she punched.

Its chest became a hole and it dropped to the floor. She spun and stamped against the ground, the shockwave cracking the earth and dust abolishing creatures.

Her nails grew and she took a step forward.

A swipe of her hands and she ripped apart heads from bodies. She kicked and a drought was made within the sea as an explosion of blood made meat of beasts. Alicia grinned amidst the chaos of the battlefield, the scents, the flames, the energy, and the roars and growls—she pounced into the ocean of creatures, only seeing prey in her crimson eyes.

As a wall of ice surrounded the half of the town which still stood without harm—protecting those within—a chain of gold shook and dual-broadswords spun about, slicing bodies. Via leaped into the air and slashed with a hand. Her chain extended and a goblin found its end along with a skinny imp. Though there were a lot of monsters, most were weak. She danced at the forefront with far more elegance than Alicia, though still leaving blood in her wake.

"Is that the Killer Bunny?!" Someone yelled in surprise.

"Defend! Defend! Defend!" Asta's voice echoed Claire's orders amidst the battlefield. His bird form replaced by his usual shining frame moved about while <Loki> sliced. Though still an amateur, beasts were no match for his blurring figure.

Much less attack him, having taken Via's advice, they found themselves dead before they could even see him.

". . .a vampire and a golem?!" The defenders of the town were somewhat speechless at the forms of their saviors. Then, a spear pierced through heads around them.

"Huh?" They chanced to look up and widened their eyes, noticing the platform of ice for the first time. "An. . .Ice Queen?"

Claire's fighting style was brazen. She sat upon a chair of ice within the air, legs crossed, as her index finger traced the battlefield. A single ice-spear passed through a head, then another, it turned and spun before drilling forward and leaping into the mouth of a roaring orc—coming out of the other side as the creature fell down. Then it broke into three, then six, then twelve as they moved about the skirmish, killing any in their wake.

For a moment, those below thought she might have been a goddess, eyes wide with disbelief, and Mr. Melt felt as if he would agree if they claimed her so, though he was busy trying not to vomit. They cheered what they thought to be their reinforcements on.

A ball of blood floated above Alicia's palms as she ascended into the air, bat wings flapping. Bloodied, she tossed it down below her.

An explosion ripped the ground and lifted limbs and dead beasts into the air. A large hole was made in the ever-coming sea of creatures.

"Fine," Via said, two blades becoming one long-sword in her grasp and her chain wrapping around her waist, "I guess this is important enough."

She took a step back from being mawed by jagged teeth as her foot stomped down upon a wolf's head.

She took a breath.

Then slashed.

"<Sever>"

There was a horizontal line.

The world sliced in half.

It cracked.

The shattering of the atmosphere occurred as beasts bisected into two, dropping dead with a rain of blood.

"Oh oh, are we doing final attacks?!"

<Loki> melded back into Asta's figure and he took <Kura> to hand. He stood before the defenders and stared at the rushing tide.

"Let's. . ."

He pulled the bow back, a single arrow of ice summoned as blue wrapped and spun about it.

"Go!"

He released the attack.

The air shattered and the weapon drilled forward.

Frost covered the ground and snow spun about it until it had grown into a precise storm of a blizzard. It pierced through beasts and froze all in its path until it passed through an orc and exploded into a spew of spikes which laid waste to some more.

The remainder of the beasts advanced. As Via said, it was less a horde and more an ocean.

Claire stood from what was akin to her throne as her white hair flapped along with her skirt. Those below looked at her and she stared ahead at the distanced half of the ocean that still remained as the blue light of mana whipped about her.

She snapped her finger.

A rush of water spawned within the air and fell, quaking the ground like a tsunami as it spat forward before rising and devouring the remaining creatures within its mass and mellowing.

"Freeze," She muttered.

And they did.

She folded her fist and the creatures were crushed by the ice which surrounded them as blood sprayed to the shock of those below. What they had been fighting for half a day had taken her a mere moment's work.

Yet, just as she moved to finally descend upon the town, the ground rumbled.

The mountains shook as a creature ran out of it, crushing a side of the rang in its wake as rocks fell. A single step of it buried the dead deeper into the ground. Naked and the color of dirt, it stood tall enough for its single, large, eye to glance at Claire within the air. It roared and one of its arms was already missing, sliced off. Tall. Large. And somewhat chubby.

"Oh what the fu—" Shocked voices raised, "Wasn't it supposed to be slumbering?!"

Claire narrowed her frigid eyes.

". . .a cyclops?"