My breaths came out in harsh beats each time my boots hit the ashen stone floor, clouds of ash billowed upwards in my wake—Creating a dense, black cloud where I ran. The soft flaps of Tulip’s clothes bustling through the wind barely hit my ears over the distant sounds of fighting growing louder by the second.

“Hurry up!” Tulip shouted over the rushing wind, the clashing echoes of battle now grown far more distinct.

I took in a deep breath, feeling my electricity finally listening to my demands as it surged through my body. I felt the powerful mana etch itself into my muscles, my speed doubling in an instant as it did.

I sped around a corner—Rounding it I saw the main street fill my view, and the fight that had already begun filled it moments later.

Dozens of Ghouls were breaking through thick walls of ice near the town square, bashing their hands, legs and even their heads against the frigid surface to break through. Others were even beginning to climb over one another, digging their hands into the ice to scale the vertical walls while blasts of fire launched out from gaps in the defences.

“Tulip!” I called as I slid to a stop, holding my blade at the ready. “Do you have any sort of plan?” I asked rapidly, glancing back at her.

“I… I don’t right now—We need to find Sanders! There’s too many here for us to handle!” Tulip answered anxiously.

“Go find him.” I answered quickly, readying my blade.

“What?!” Tulip shouted in bewilderment. “What do you mean go find him?!” She continued with a more annoyed tone.

“You’re faster than me, you can fly, and you can avoid other Ghouls easier than me. I can at least try and fight against the Ghouls and help the others.” I clarified, leaving Tulip to quickly fall silent. I could see her face contort as she thought over her options before she finally relented.

“I hate that you’re right,” Tulip groaned out. “I’ll be as fast as I can.” Tulip turned in the air, causing Topaz to flutter in panic before she launched upwards—She nearly took the Owl out of the sky before he flapped rapidly to catch up to her.

Shifting my gaze forwards again, I settled my eyes upon the horde of Ghouls. None of them noticed me yet—Which I was rather thankful for as it gave me a moment to try and settle my racing heart, but the moment I saw the first Ghoul nearly reach the peak of the ice wall I knew I had to act.

“Ready, Akemi?” I asked the Kitsune while I shifted my blade to a lowered angle. She gave a soft yip as she jumped off of my shoulder, landing deftly upon the ground, her trio of tails wagging with excitement.

“Let’s go then.” I exhaled, passing my blade from my right hand to my left as I began forwards. Mana channeled into my right palm while my feet started moving, falling into an almost rhythmic beat against the stone underfoot. Akemi kept pace beside me, electricity crackling across her fur as she ran.

But the both of us paused—A burst of mana raced through the town with intoxicating power. The surge of energy was quickly followed by a series of screams from every single Ghoul crawling across the icy landscape.

It was like they all went feral in an instant.

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“Lucia get down!” Erick shouted as a blast of fire was let out of Lucia’s head. She snapped her gaze to the side, seeing a Ghoul get blasted back into the icy perimeter with immense force.

“Keep them back!” Lucia shouted in return, she desperately scrambled to her feet, casting her eyes around to try and take stock of the situation around her.

Anestesia remained near the back, trying her best to cast shadows around in order to impede the advance of the hordes.

Hendrick Flanders and Justin stood at the far side of her protective region, the trio were surprisingly adept at watching each other's backs. One wielded life magic, growing whipping vines of plant life to keep the Ghouls back while the other two combined their fire magic to scorch them down.

The center of their defensive line was already starting to break however—A growing mass of Ghouls kept crawling in, breaking through the ice wall while others fell in from the top of the walls. She clenched her teeth down tight, casting her gaze around to desperately look for her only support.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Glacia!” Lucia called, raising her less frost-covered hand to the air, beckoning the hawk to land on her palm. There was a squawk of recognition as she arched through the air, landing swiftly before wrapping around Lucia’s arm. “I’m going to blast a wave through the center, freeze any stragglers that you can, got it?” Lucia quickly asked her newfound Avian friend, trusting in it to help her.

With a squawk of approval the Avian spread its wings, taking back off into the air while Lucia brought her hands together. Icy mana pulled itself from her stomach, spiraling together into a tight cone between her fingers. Over a dozen Ghouls were already approaching her, some shambling while others were entirely sprinting at her.

“Just a little longer…” She whispered under her breath, feeling the mana grow more intense the closer her fingers came together.

“A little more…” She winced from the pain flashing through her hands, ice crawled across her skin and ate away at her flesh. But she could see how many Ghouls approached her, how many that she could get with one strike.

“Now!” She shouted, unleashing the spiraling wave of ice into the oncoming masses of ghouls. The panicked and even pained groans of the reanimated corpses reached her ears like music, a melody that was only added to thanks to Glacia. She flew across the lane of ice, casting her frigid breath upon the Ghouls that were trying to escape the ice still.

“Nice one Lucia!” Anestesia whooped from behind her. Lucia could hear the exhaustion in the girl's voice, mostly thanks to the heavy panting from her. “That should hold them!”

“Yea… Let’s break through the back and get out of here while we can.” Erick supplied. burns covered his forearms and face in a few locations, but he was otherwise unscathed.

“You did awesome ice girl!” Flanders, the youngest of the trio and the one with Life magic called as he walked over. The canid beast beside him gave a high pitched bark in a satisfied response.

“Thanks… but Erick’s right, we need to go now. I swear I felt something stronger getting closer.” Lucia spoke quickly, turning her gaze to the back wall—The part of her hasty defenses that would be the easiest for them to break through. But they all paused when the same sound reached their ears.

A horrid, high-pitched scream blasted across the village alongside a surge of mana that sent a wave of nausea through Lucia’s body. By the time it was done she was on the ground, desperately holding an arm over her stomach.

She heard the hard thumps of some of the others hitting the ground, the panicked screams of Glacia in the air—And she couldn’t do anything. Her vision was blurred, her ears were ringing and her mind was racing.

The hate-filled screams of the Ghouls grew louder, and Lucia’s blood began running even colder.

“We’re dead…” She whimpered out.

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“What was that?!” I asked quickly, glancing towards Akemi as if she’d have an answer for me. She just met me with an equally confused gaze, bringing a sigh to my lips.

“Not the time, got it.” I shook the thoughts out of my head, leaning forwards to continue my sprint. The feral Ghouls kept trying to climb, bashing their limbs into the ice with renewed and far more aggressive force after the scream.

“Hey!” I shouted out as loudly as I could. Raising my right arm I felt the mana surging into my palm, rushing out of my chest to greet the growing tempest in my grasp. “Look over here you feral idiots!”

Waving my free hand through the air while I shouted, I managed to grab the attention of some of the Ghouls bashing themselves into the barrier—They turned their heads, letting out a series of enraged shrieks before rushing towards me.

“Here we go…” I spoke under my breath, turning my body to press my right hand forwards as my palm opened up wide. A bright flash of light surged out from my hand, blasting forwards into the surging horde of Ghouls that rushed towards me. I didn’t try to compress the mana like I normally did, barely holding it together into a cohesive beam. Instead I let it expand outwards, washing the destructive mana over a wider area.

I felt my mana expand as it blasted forwards—I felt the Ghouls that it washed over, I felt their skin burn and sear while others outright collapsed from the blast. They varied in durability drastically, some of them were so durable that the blast didn’t even harm them while a few at the front were nearly entirely vaporized by the mana.

It took only a few heartbeats for the burst of mana to fade away, leaving a numb feeling in my hand as I lowered it to my side.

What had been a horde of over twenty ghouls now consisted of only eight—The twelve that were handled by the burst of mana fell to the ground in pieces, they were little more than bones barely held together by flesh in the first place.

“Alright…” I swapped my sword back to my right hand, tightening my grip on it. I cast an anxious glance over to the barrier of Ice—And it looked like any of the Ghouls my shouts hadn’t gotten the attention of were now looking my way thanks to the burst of mana.

“At least you all seem weaker than the first one.” I let an anxious smile cross my lips, gripping my scimitar with both hands. I nodded. “Let’s do this, Akemi.”

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“Oh?...” She paused in her steps, turning her curious gaze back to the village they had burnt only days prior.

“Is there something wrong ma’am?…” One of the many men around her inquired, fear palpable in his voice.

“Mmmno, nothing is wrong. Just something interesting is happening!” She let out a heavy sigh, flicking her hair back behind her shoulders. “But—We don’t have time for that. Keep moving, they won’t survive much longer anyways, not with that there.”

She turned on the spot, continuing forwards with a bit less of a pep to her step—But she certainly was in a better mood now. After all, how couldn’t she be?

When was the last time an Unspeakable beckoned its call in this nation?