"Time to end you, lady,"
Before Aria could react, he vanished from her sight. Her breath caught in her throat, confusion flickering across her features. Her heart raced as she spun around, searching for him, but it was too late. A sharp, searing pain exploded through her body as something cold and hard pierced her from behind.
Her golden eyes widened in shock. Blood sprayed from her mouth in a crimson arc, her body trembling as the pain overwhelmed her senses. She gasped, her breath ragged, her hands instinctively reaching toward the gaping wound in her abdomen. Her mind raced, disoriented, as the excruciating pain ripped through her being.
"MOTHER!!!"
The desperate cry shattered the chaos of the battlefield. Lovigary, Lokk, and Arianna screamed in unison, their voices filled with raw terror and disbelief. Even the children—the orphans Aria had taken in—wailed, their faces contorted in horror as they witnessed the horrifying sight. The weight of their collective fear hung thick in the air.
Lovigary's eyes were wide with shock, his sword faltering mid-swing as he saw the blood pouring from his mother's body. His heart lurched in his chest, panic gripping him like a vice. He was frozen for a moment, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing. His hands shook, and a primal fury began to rise within him, but the sheer disbelief kept him rooted in place.
Lokk, his blonde hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His green eyes, the same shade as his father's, were wild with rage and fear. Every fiber of his being wanted to charge forward, to attack the monstrous figure that had dared harm his mother, but his body wouldn't move.
It was as if the world had slowed, trapping him in a moment of helplessness.
Arianna's two-toned eyes—one green, one gold—filled with tears. She stood rigid, her half-blonde, half-black hair whipping in the wind. Her lips quivered, and her whole body trembled, a scream of anguish lodged in her throat. She reached out, as if she could somehow pull her mother back to safety, but the distance between them was far too great.
Laden's eyes scanned the battlefield, taking in the scene in an instant—the fallen monsters, the blood-soaked ground, and most of all, Aria, his beloved wife, impaled and bleeding before him. His heart clenched painfully in his chest, but his expression didn't falter. A wave of rage surged through him, but he forced it down, his focus shifting to the man responsible.
Adams, however, said nothing. His gaze locked onto the four-armed creature, and for a brief second, the entire battlefield seemed to hold its breath. The calm before the storm.
The horned man, still grinning wickedly, turned his attention toward the newcomers. His arrogance hadn't diminished. "Ah, more lambs to the slaughter," he sneered, yanking his blade from Aria's body with a sickening squelch. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, but her golden eyes remained locked on her family.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze. And then, Adams moved.
It was so fast, no one saw him—one moment, he was standing next to Laden, and the next, he was right in front of the four-armed man. The monster barely had time to react before a fist, glowing with blinding golden light, crashed into his chest.
The force of the blow sent shockwaves rippling through the battlefield, and the monster's grin twisted into an expression of shock and terror as he was launched backward, crashing into the ground with enough force to shatter the earth beneath him.
Laden, meanwhile, knelt beside Aria, his expression softening as he gently lifted her into his arms. His green eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he held her close, his heart breaking at the sight of her bloodied form. But there was no time for grief now. He would heal her. He had to.
"We're here," he whispered, his voice a mixture of love and anguish. "We're here, Aria."
The tide had turned. The monsters had no idea what was coming next.