There were no clashing sounds, no shouts one would hear from a battlefield. Lucian's horse stopped further away from the area. The two armies were facing each other, but none of them were attacking, they were looking around, waiting.
Lucian spotted Celine in the middle of the battlefield. Her horse stood idle, her dark armor and helmet fit her perfectly, giving her a menacing air that would make anyone rethink their life choices before crossing her.
King Eon was not on his horse, standing close to her instead. They were talking in a low voice, irking Lucian's nerves with every second they spent together.
Jax stopped his horse next to Lucian's, and climbed up a tree to get a better view. "Looks like a standstill. Why is nobody fighting?"
Celine turned her horse around with an announcement, "The Rocheforts have agreed to King Eon's terms. Let the peace treaty be witnessed by both sides. I will follow King Eon back to his kingdom, with my entourage of knights. May our union bring prosperity to our people."
A collective gasp came from both armies, followed by whispers of disbelief. Thousands of soldiers looked at each other, confused about what was happening.
King Eon stepped forward, raising his hand to silence the crowd, "I, King Eon from the Southern Alliance, accept Lady Rochefort's union proposal. Let this be the beginning of a new era."
The soldiers were still too stunned to react, they remained quiet. The silence grew into a low grumble, then a loud one.
The ground shook as if a meteor hit the earth. Jax was thrown off the tree he was leaning on, catching a branch to break his fall, as more tremors followed the first one.
"Roaaaaaaar!"
Hundreds, no, thousands of roars echoed through the forest. Monstrous apes with fur as dark as the night tore through the trees. They landed with a mighty crash, making the ground crack under their weight.
The two armies scrambled to form a defensive line, their weapons drawn, facing the new threat.
The generals on both sides shouted orders to their men, "Archers! Loose your arrows!"
Celine also raised her bow, aiming at the closest beast, and fired. The arrow pierced the beast's golden eye.
It roared, leaping high into the air, and landed in the midst of the battlefield, shaking the soldiers off their feet. Its large fist swung at the nearest soldier, smashing him like a bug.
"Fall back!" Celine ordered her men when the wave of monsters advanced toward them, "Observe the enemy and report their weaknesses! Don't engage!"
Lucian jumped off his horse and ran behind the swarm of beasts.
"Hey!" Jax shouted after him, "Are you insane?!"
Lucian weaved through the treeline. They were too focused on reaching the armies to notice him. Their black fur was shining with an oily substance, like lead.
'They are using the lead to hide themselves and negate the astral attacks,' he figured out the shackled beast's strategy, 'This is why the scouts couldn't detect them.'
But that was not the most important matter right now. Something else was bothering him more.
'Is Celine trying to go against the prophecy?'
Shackled attacks were frequent but never on such a large scale. The large kraken came to Lucian's mind, and he guessed that these apes were summoned to keep the prophecy in line.
'They've been lowering people's guards over the years, to lull us into a false sense of security.'
Celine must have realized that as well, and was risking her people's lives in order to find out more about the threat she was facing.
Lucian pulled out the dagger from his belt, and with a burst of speed, jumped at the nearest beast's head, stabbing it in the eye. His body twisted in the air, dodging the beast's hand, before landing on its shoulder. His knee crushed into its skull, his daggers tearing through its flesh.
He jumped off its body before it could grab him, leaving a small hole in its head. The force of its fist cracked a tree. It rose on its hind legs, roaring at Lucian.
The beast lunged at him again. Lucian slid under its legs, cutting through them, and rolled to the side. This speed was not good enough to keep up with these beasts. He had to be faster.
Lucian heated his fist, his skin turning red like molten lava. He ran towards the beast, his astral energy mimicking the force of his punch. His fist collided with its fur, and it caught on fire. He shook his hands, his fingers smoking, and dashed away from the burning monster, getting closer to Celine.
The soldiers didn't engage, but they were not idle either. They surveyed the beasts, noting their numbers, patterns, and weaknesses. Attacks were tested on them to see how effective they were.
The trees obscured some of Lucian's vision, but the number of beasts and soldiers was over a thousand on both sides, making the battlefield a chaotic mess.
Celine's face twisted in anger, kicking her horse on the side, shw rode toward the north.
King Eon followed her, blocking a beast with his sword raised, "Did you steal their cubs or something?" he yelled at Celine.
"To the north! Go!" She ignored his question, and ordered her knights. They all scattered, choosing their own paths to run.
The beasts roared and chased after her, breaking through the soldiers who tried to stop them. Even the enemy's soldiers watched in shock as the shackled beasts ignored them when they didn't engage in a fight and went after a single woman.
"Return to the south and make sure you never forget what happened, King Eon!" she shouted, her voice carried by the wind, "Don't you dare forget!"
King Eon didn't run in the opposite direction like she told him to. He sliced through the beast that came after her, his sword coated in its blood, "Wait! I'm not leaving you to sacrifice yourself!"
King Eon tried to reach Celine's side, but a beast grabbed him by the leg. He cut its arm off, freeing himself, and rolled on the ground to avoid another attack.
Celine shot an arrow at the beast's head, making it recoil, and gave King Eon an opening to run, "Do what I say! This is what awaits us if we refuse to join forces! A war of attrition we cannot win!"
She fired another arrow. This time, it glowed with blue light before piercing through the beast's chest. The beast staggered back, clutching its chest, the effect slowing it down.
"Follow her!" King Eon shouted at his men, getting up from the ground, "Protect her at all cos─" He was cut off by a hit to his head.
Lucian held the blunt side of a spear, which he had picked up from the northern soldiers. He used it to stop King Eon from going after his wife.
Celine turned around, catching Lucian's eyes. Blood ran down his body, his face was smeared with blood. For a split second, he saw her shock at his appearance, before her sight moved to the fallen King Eon.