Kazius enjoyed the scene a little longer. To say they demoralized the Frost Giants was the understatement of the century. Some of the Frost Giants that ‘survived’ were partially charred or missing limbs altogether. Even from where they were, Kazius could hear their cries of agony and terror.
Some of the ones that survived in one piece did not seem to survive with their minds intact. One of them was just screaming, his eyes wide as he stared at the carnage, unable to stop until his voice grew hoarse.
What seemed to be their leader was struggling to process the situation. He was staring at his army, or probably the lack thereof, in pure horror. He seemed to have not yet thought of confronting Luna, who led them here. To some extent, The Frost Giants were collateral damage. They were led here to die in a similar fashion to how Luna manipulated Vargstam.
Still, they would have killed all of Vargstam, mercy was not a luxury that Kazius had to give.
Of course, that did not mean they were not in a pitiful situation… Kazius understood that perfectly well… And yet he felt nothing. In fact, he was proud of himself. He kept Vargstam safe, that was all he cared about. He didn’t care about the method… No matter how enjoyable it was. He even got to undermine Vind with his method, there was not anything about it he did not love.
Kazius’ grin would widen maliciously at the thought.
With that in his mind, he would manage to look away only to catch a quick glimpse of Azanor out of the corner of his eye. It was a sight most would find disturbing. Azanor’s jaw had unhinged partially, revealing jagged and sharp teeth. His tongue had grown long as Azanor was unable to hold himself back from licking his lips at the scene he was witnessing.
His tongue dripped quite the amount of drool, which seemed to make him realize what he was doing. So just as quickly as it happened, Azanor seemed to quickly return to his usual appearance. He seemed to shake his head, frustrated with himself.
It was clear Azanor was gripping onto his self-control like his life depended on it. As to why he found the need to do such a thing, he had yet to say. It was clear he wanted to be more than just a Demon, but it was not easy for him. He doesn’t lie, he doesn’t eat souls… He was even faithful and stayed by the side of a wife who no longer remembered him. It was honestly something admirable.
Azanor did not want to be seen as a Demon. Thankfully for Azanor’s own sake, it seemed the others were too occupied with their handiwork to notice his brief loss of self-control.
After seeing Azanor’s show of self-restraint, Kazius managed to snap out of his own darker thoughts, his twisted grin fading. He was beginning to realize how Azanor felt… How easy and natural it felt to give into their nature.
The power they just released, the strength of their attack… The cowering of these proud and pathetic Giants that were now on their knees… It was more intoxicating than any drink.
The Shadows did not help either…
‘Make them beg…. Make them regret ever daring to pick a fight with us…’ Kazius could hear the distinct voice say.
Thankfully, Kazius managed to ignore it.
‘No, I am better than that…’ He assured himself.
“We have to be careful.” Kazius said, his words directed at Azanor regarding their… Slip. His response from the Demon was a nod, but it was misunderstood by the others who also seemed to nod in agreement. They probably thought he was talking about the remaining Frost Giants.
“We can’t afford for them to reach Vargstam… As terrible as this is.” Alice agreed, seeming conflicted at what they had done. She did not enjoy the suffering of the Frost Giants. She clearly pitied them but managed to harden and steady her heart. Their actions were necessary to protect their home.
“The poor fools.” Eve stated with surprising lucidity in her words. Her tone was something Kazius was entirely unfamiliar with for the Elf… Even her expression was serious for a moment before the blankness in her goofy stare seemed to return… Perhaps Azanor’s situation was not entirely hopeless?
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“They were going to be mean to us though.” Eve added with a determined look as Azanor studied her for a second before returning to the task at hand.
“I will handle Luna.” Damon stated with surprising determination.
“You don’t have to, Damon…” Alice followed up in concern.
“I could take care of it myself. It was my intention from the beginning when I found out about this…” Kazius followed up, agreeing with Alice.
“No… I… I have to do this myself.” Damon insisted, sounding a mix between determined and frightened.
“Well, regardless, we are coming with you. Let’s go before they try to run.” Kazius stated. Then again, if they spared one of them… He would go back and warn the other Frost Giants not to come… Which would help buy them time.
After all, anyone who heard of what happened today would think twice before messing with them… But at the same time, that no longer mattered. The Frost Giants today proved to him that they could not be left alone. They were a loose end Kazius intended to take care of at some point.
As they approached, the Frost Giant leader could be seen realizing that there was someone to blame for the situation they were in. Aside from the nicer armor and the added height, their leader had eyes that were an ice blue just like the other Frost Giants. Something that was more visible the closer they got. Unlike the others though, the leader had not only a longer white beard but also a helmet adorned with horns, a set of 4 at that, two pointed up, two down. It seemed to be a show of status considering most of the Giants had no horns on theirs and one other Giant had a set of 2 horns.
The closer they got, the more the remaining Frost Giants seemed to cower. Perhaps there would not be a fight after all… Then again, nothing changed the fact that they were out for blood. Kazius planned to leave with Luna’s head, preferably with it not attached to her shoulders.
Eventually, they were close enough to hear him.
“YOU! This is not what you promised, Witch! You said it would be easy… That winning against them would truly rid the lands of their curse… You are working with them, aren’t you? I should have known, this was an ambush!” He practically roared with rage.
“That sounds very similar to our language.” Damon rather quietly, after all, he was not eager about confronting his sister… But they were not rushing to get over, there was not much reason to.
Damon’s words did confirm to Kazius though that they were speaking a different tongue, something that he still struggled with telling the difference with considering it all sounded about the same to him.
“I didn’t realize your kind would be so incompetent… I would apologize, but I don’t feel sorry for you. I feel worse for your people… You are their next King yet you are here crying like some child… How pathetic… You should feel terrible… How will you explain these deaths to their loved ones? How sad for you… Your whole army is gone… How will you tell your father? He will disown you for sure… Yes, I underestimated them a little… But you are the one that loudly marched to their door without a plan… This was all you, not me, Isolf. You can die knowing you are scum that was used, nothing more.” Luna questioned mockingly. Honestly, she directed her venom even towards someone several times her size.
“You…. YOU MANIPULATIVE-” The Frost Giant, apparently named Isolf, began to try and grab Luna… But just as quickly as he did, she had a protective spell up. No matter the amount of hitting and pounding Isolf did, there was not a single dent on the shield.
“You… You surprised me, you know? You are a bug that just refuses to die… If you had any shame you would not continue living, yet here you are… You piece of shit… I will win next time.” Luna informed Damon, her expression revealing her pure unhinged hatred for him.
“There… There won’t be a next time, Luna. I-I… I can’t let you go.” Damon stated, looking determined, but there was so much pain in his eyes. His voice shook as he spoke, he was struggling.
Kazius wanted to say something, but decided not to… He would only be in the way…. But if Damon hesitated, he would step in.
“There will be… You can do all the flashy tricks you like… But even now… You are scum… Nothing but scum… You will never be anything more than shit I stepped on… None of you can hope to even touch me… You are weak.” Luna giggled out smugly, Damon beginning to shake at her words. He truly could not handle her.
By now Isolf stopped trying to hit Luna… He had sat down, gripping his head. Hopelessness seemed to fill him. It seemed Luna’s words and his inability to hurt her combined with the state of his soldiers had him feeling entirely defeated. Then again he was… And struggling would not do him any good.
At her words, Damon would surprise her, an impact and wind on his fist landed on her protection spell shield… And it cracked.
Luna froze, horrified at first only to glare at him in rage.
“You refuse to know your place!” Luna snapped only for Damon to say nothing, his expression darkening as he went and hit the shield again.
The crack got bigger. Kazius knew Damon packed an absurd amount of strength, but he was honestly shocked to see he could manage this with his bare fist without even transforming.
“You…” Luna hissed out, growing even more angry.
It was then Kazius heard The Shadows warn him.
‘Leaving… Escape…’
At this Kazius froze.
“Fuck… Grab her!” Kazius began, attempting to use Luna’s Shadow to get past the shield to get her. While it was a good idea, his connection to The Shadows was too weak to have them act fast enough. Before he could manage anything… A magic circle appeared above her and she was gone. That was the last thing Kazius thought she was capable of.
“A transportation spell?! That is high-tier magic that even Zelphar couldn’t pull off!” Azanor admitted in shock.
It seemed as badly as they wanted to get her, they would not manage it. At least not today.