Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

The Blood Bow

When Evian first ripped the bow from the clutches of the dead Goblin Representative, he immediately felt the power it held and he also had to resist the weapon's temptation to bond with him.

This was not the first weapon to require a bond with its wielder, in fact, the Spear Evian wielded was bonded with him, however, the Blood Bow was peculiar- Ominous. It was an occult-like weapon that although, promised successful attacks and potentially never running out of arrows (depending on the wielder's constitution), was very demanding in terms of requirements.

Even though Ember had been temporarily boosted to the Wraith Lord level of Decadence courtesy of Evian, she was still one level short of being able to truly handle the Weapon's might and utilize its unique skill sets and even then, depending on her willpower, it might be a dangerous stretch.

All of this information Evian had relayed to Ember and whatever he had left out by simply not knowing, the Blood Bow filled her in but even then, Ember did not falter. In fact, she felt emboldened. She was bonded to a powerful weapon and was clearly very much on the path of gaining the power she desired and would not turn that down due to possible future complications.

Her arrow, red like her blood, tore through the air and struck the body of the Knight who stood at the forefront of the attack coming at her, Evian, and Carleine.

The Arrow's deadly tip tore right through whatever defenses the Knight had on or around his body and struck his heart, ending his life in seconds.

Ember split her finger on the string and two arrows formed as she raised her bow slightly because the Troll she aimed at was far taller than her and then she let it go.

One arrow hit the Monster's forehead and the other struck the center of its chest, working together to reap its life.

With Ember to provide support from a slight distance, Evian had a lot more freedom in going after targets.

Carleine was by his side and it was as though the dagger Evian gifted her gave her a new edge. Her sclera colored over into the greyness of the Eldritch energy that currently powered her body and with the smile on her face, as her weapon tore through enemy flesh, spilling their blood and spilling their guts, she almost crackled with sadistic joy.

If Evian was a heavy hitter, and Ember was a stationary ranger, Carleine was all about speed. She seemed to glide with the Eldritch energy she oozed and as long as a target was at the first step of the Fifth Order or below, they froze and lost their lives before they could be in awe of their attacker's grace.

At this point, the forces of Verlice and Arkadae had clashed in an epic Collison that raised the sounds of battle and caused the ground to shake by the sheer magnitude of feet stamping around.

Unlike the Arkadaes who had lost Lieutenants/Monster Representatives, the Verliceans were complete and boasted an even greater number. At least in regard to the Lieutenants. The only predicament was that they only had one Seventh Order knight on their side and she was already in an intense battle in the sky above them.

When Lieutenant Vernon of the Arkadaes made his move, the Verlicean Lieutenants needed to have an understanding that required four of them to band together and hold him down while the others faced the other Lieutenants.

Although Vernon indeed had flight, as a Knight and not an Arcanist, his ranged move-sets were limited to the occasional burst of Spiritual energy in powerful arcs.

There was a reason the arc blast of Spiritual energy was a go-to move for Knights and not Arcanists and this was because Knights had no choice in the matter. They had no variety.

The Spiritual energy blast was ineffective because of how wasteful it was on his reserves and how tasking it was on physical energy and so it was unspammable. Sure, it was effective if it made a direct hit but that was an unignorable 'If'.

Vernon had to pace himself with such a move so he reduced his flying height from seven feet to one, retrieved his weapon from his Spatial Ring, and attacked.

Thanks to flight, he had the advantage in maneuverability and also had better speed and strength than each of his Four Opponents so thar certainly boosted his confidence, hence the mocking gloat,

"You can't beat me! To think you'd even be foolish enough to try— Huh?"

Vernon's gloat was cut short when Enchanted bounds wrapped around his feet and forcefully pulled him down. His feet were inches from touching the ground when he broke free but the plan was already a success.

*BAM!*

The First blow was made with a War hammer whose etched symbols glowed as it activated its <stunning> effect. Vernon stumbled, stars dancing in his vision before four attacks struck him from behind and sent his face smacking into the ground.

There was no need for conversation among the Lieutenants. Their unity remained and they struck as one to bring a permanent end to Vernon only to get blasted away by an intense explosion of Spiritual energy.

Vernon stood up after, closed in on the First Lieutenant he could reach, lifted him by the neck off the ground, and stabbed his weapon through his midsection, twisting and pulling until he ripped open a line his victim did not have a chance to survive.

The other three watched the death, mouths open in stunned silence that isolated them from sounds of battle all around. When the sounds returned, they all gripped their weapons, filled with a zeal for vengeance.

Alas, any objective eye that fell upon would see the possibility to be quite unlikely.

A powerful zeal could do very little against overwhelming strength and although, comparisingly, Vernon did not have that, he was pretty darn close. Any knight, or Arcanist even, knew the threshold of the Seventh Order/Circle was not to be taken lightly. It granted too much of an increase in overall prowess to be taken trivially.

Anyway,

After the clash of the two battling forces, Zayda still called out orders whenever necessary but also realized this was a moment for personal responsibility so it was every man or woman for themselves.

She looked around and saw Evian, Ember, and Carleine taking down a squad of enemies with minimal interference and then she saw Evian lead the way to other parts of the Battlefield and by some compulsion, she did not really understand, she decided to follow only to have her path blocked by enemies.

All enemies who approached her, she cut down but was soon faced with an opponent who gave off the pressure of the Sixth order and by default should be taken seriously.

Zayda and her opponent fought for three minutes in a slight stalemate when, all over the battlefield, everyone paused when an impact from above created such massive shockwaves and rebound pressure that those at the Second Step of the Sixth Order and below found themselves forcefully bowed over while those of weaker constitutions were unable to stop themselves from coughing up blood.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!*

Everyone raised their heads when they could and there was a sphere that shrouded the flying combatants. Zayda recognized that Sphere. Everyone who had been at the battlements the day Zayda and the others arrived at the Western Fort should recognize that sphere.

It was the one she had used to isolate Evian and herself from those on the outside.

As he eyed the Spear as it was getting overloaded by violent energy Evian remembered how secure it had felt so if an attack from within such a secure space could have such a massive impact on them on the outside, what would have been their fate had the sphere not been there.

The first explosion they all heard had been caused by an explosion from within the space. The next was caused by the implosion of the Space itself.

*Whuuuuuummmmm!!!*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!*

The entire sky became covered by the violent flash of light that burned the eyes of all who saw it. It looked like a nuclear cloud and out of it, fell a figure no one recognized at first glance…

… A smoking figure whose entire body had been charred beyond recognition.