Chapter 497 - Battle Of Alfheim Arc: Peace Was Never An Option (2)

Even in midst of a battle, Alfheim looked as peaceful as ever... but only from a distance. As we drew closer and closer to the actual battlefield, nothing but screams of pain and agony could be heard. Arnold's forces were outnumbered almost fifty thousand to one, yet they were the ones winning.

Hercules was swinging his fists left and right while Heimdall was more focused on disarming his opponents rather than killing them as per Arnold's orders. Alice was continuously giving them BFFs while defending herself as well. Ogur on the other hand was not interested in taking prisoners either, just like Hercules. The fireball the elves had fired at him was more than enough to make him go berserk. 

"This is your last chance to surrender!" Heimdall's voice roared over the chaos of the battlefield that was littered with corpses, "No matter how many of you are there, we will inevitably victorious. I suggest you drop your weapons and surrender while you have the time." 

However, it looked like Heimdall was the only one interested in stopping the fight as all of them were busy destroying the elves. As for the elves, they looked like they have been possessed. Their eyes were red as all of the blood in their bodies had been pushed to the eyes. 

They had gone berserk. They couldn't see sense in anything anymore. All they wanted to do was to die fighting, nothing else. This erratic behaviour caught Heimdall's eye. Elves weren't a race to lose all of their senses over some meagre battles. They often took the road of dialogue over violence and did not promote bloodshed under any circumstance. 

That was why Heimdall was sure to get them to Arnold's side if he were to take to them. However, everything Heimdall knew about them was no longer true. Something or someone had forced the elves to change. They had been consumed with rage and anger like never before. It was almost as if they had turned into mindless zombies altogether. 

"Something is wrong..." Heimdall mumbled as he and Hercules got back to back while fending off the elves, "The Elves, they are unlike anything I have ever seen before." 

"Who cares? Just keep swatting them down and soon enough they will give up. See the frosty over there, he doesn't care whether there's something wrong with them or not. He just wants to kill them all. That's it."

Heimdall shook his head in dismay. What else could he expect a warmonger would reply to him in the middle of a battle? But there was someone who could hear him. Heimdall quickly made his way towards Alice and pulled kicked the elf she was fighting with. 

"Do you know any dispel magic?" He asked her while defending her.

"I do. What do you want me to do with it? Is there a curse on you or something?" Alice asked the former god while giving strengthening buff to Ogur.

"Not me, but for them." Heimdall pointed towards the elf he had pinned down, "Just use any dispelling ability you have on them. I just want to confirm something quickly."

"Alright..." Alice found Heimdall request to be quite absurd but went with it anyways and used the required spell. 

As soon as the spell made contact with the elf, he started screaming like a banshee, struggling to free itself from Heimdall's firm grasp. But no matter how much he struggled, Heimdall's grip didn't get any loose. After a couple of seconds, the elf stopped thrashing around like before and fainted. 

Heimdall let go of the elf and forced his eyelids open and what he saw next, confirmed his suspicions. The elf's eyes turned back to their normal bluish-green shade. Not a tinge of redness was visible in the elf's eyes anymore.

"By the All-father... how far have you fallen, elven witch." Heimdall mumbled in rage, "Elves were one of the only pure races left under Asgards protection and you did something like this just to defeat one man?"

Alice was confused as to what was Heimdall mumbling about when he turned to face her. But this time, his eyes weren't as calm as before. In fact, she could only see pain and rage within them. Just like that of Arnold's. 

"Can you cast the same spell over large range?" His voice sounded frighteningly calm.

Alice shook he head. The spell wasn't something she could either use continuously or over a large range. And she didn't know any other powerful dispelling spells either.

Heimdall nodded and unsheathed his sword, "If we can't dispel the curse off of them, then there is only one thing left to do... Put them out of their misery."

Saying so, he charged towards the elves as if he had been possessed. Alice had no clue what prompted this behaviour, but she knew it couldn't have been anything good. Even Hercules felt the change in Heimdall and for the first time since the battle started, he was actually concerned about someone. 

Hercules rarely lost control over himself, but when he did, it was always for the sake of the others and not for himself. This instance was just like one of those times. However, Hercules also knew it wasn't the best time to question Heimdall. 

'Something must really be wrong with the elves. That's the only reason why he would go berserk all of a sudden.' Hercules thought to himself as he smashed yet another Elf's head into their body. 

But as he did that, he too got a look into the eyes of the elves and realised exactly what drove Heimdall so mad. 

"No way...  this can't be happening." Hercule was so shocked with the realisation that he put his arms down, "Never in my wildest dream I would have thought the gods will fall to this..."

"What's going on?" Alice finally couldn't keep herself from asking what the hell was happening there, "What happened for the two of you to change your expressions all of a sudden?"

"The elves..." Hercules tuned to face Alice, "They gods forced them to indulge in... cannibalism.... a sin that pure races like elves should never commit."