The arrow struck the knight in the neck.
His body jerked violently from the impact before collapsing behind the boulder. The bow slipped from his fingers and landed beside him, while the arrow remained buried in his throat. For several seconds, nobody moved. The battlefield, which had been filled with the clash of weapons only moments before, seemed to lose all of its sound at once.
Kieran and Ragnar had both stopped in the middle of their duel. The wolves stared at the fallen knight with stunned expressions, while Ragnar's soldiers looked from the corpse toward the direction the arrow had come from. Even the warriors who had been fighting around them seemed to have forgotten their own battles. The sudden death had interrupted everything.
Then a voice tore through the silence.
"CHARGE!"
One of Ragnar's knights roared the command, and whatever hesitation had seized the battlefield disappeared.
Weapons were raised almost instantly. The knights surged forward, their formation breaking into a powerful advance as they rushed toward the Wolf Clan. The sound of their footsteps thundered across the ground.
Almost at the same moment, a howl rose from the opposite side.
"CHARGE!"
The Wolf Clan answered.
The two forces crashed together.
Steel struck steel. Claws tore against armour. Aura flashed between warriors as the battlefield erupted into violence once again. The carefully contained confrontation between Kieran and Ragnar had vanished completely. There was no longer a duel taking place in the middle of the battlefield.
It was a war.
Kieran's eyes widened as he looked around. Warriors were fighting in every direction, and the space between him and the rest of the Wolf Clan had quickly filled with bodies. The sudden chaos made it difficult to tell who was attacking whom. A knight swung a sword at a wolf warrior only for another wolf to intercept him from the side. A spear flew through the air before disappearing into the crowd. Aura burst against the earth, throwing dust into the air and obscuring the battlefield.
Kieran barely had time to process what had happened before Ragnar's greataxe came toward him again.
CLANG!
Kieran raised his fractured Aura blade just in time. The collision sent sparks scattering between them.
Ragnar's expression was hard and irritated. The battle around them clearly meant nothing to him. His attention remained fixed entirely on Kieran.
Kieran pushed against the greataxe before twisting his weapon away and stepping back. His eyes briefly moved across the battlefield again.
The duel was over.
The war had begun.
Several metres away, Sasha slowly turned toward Leo.
He was still standing near the boulder where he had taken the shot, bow in hand. His posture remained calm despite the chaos spreading around them. Warriors were already rushing past in both directions, yet Leo seemed more interested in watching the battlefield than reacting to the danger around him.
Sasha's expression hardened.
"Why did you do that, you idiot?"
Leo glanced at her, then toward the fallen knight.
"If I didn't..." He gestured toward the corpse. "...he would've shot Kieran."
Sasha's eyes narrowed.
"You don't know that."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
"Don't I?"
He looked across the battlefield. The knight had been hidden behind the boulder with his bow already drawn. From Leo's position, the intention had been obvious. The man's arrow had been aimed toward the centre of the battlefield, where Kieran had been fighting Ragnar.
Leo's gaze returned to Sasha.
"Do you really think this was ever going to be a fair fight?"
Sasha didn't immediately answer. Her eyes moved toward Kieran.
He was already surrounded by the chaos of the battlefield, his duel with Ragnar continuing while warriors fought only metres away from them.
Leo's expression became more serious.
"Unlike humans, they're not here to capture anyone. They came here to kill."
His voice was calm, but his eyes remained sharp.
"It was only a matter of who made the first move."
He looked toward Kieran again.
"And if Kieran falls..."
Leo paused briefly.
"...your entire clan is finished."
Sasha's expression tightened.
Leo lowered the bow slightly.
"So I took the shot."
A faint smirk appeared on his face.
"You're welcome."
Sasha opened her mouth to argue, but no words came. She looked once more toward the battlefield, then toward the dead knight. She hated the way Leo had acted, but she couldn't deny the logic behind it. If the knight had released that arrow while Kieran was distracted by Ragnar, even a single moment could have changed the entire battle.
Before she could respond, Leo's eyes shifted.
"Enough chatting. They're coming."
Two knights had broken away from the advancing formation and were heading directly toward them. Their weapons were already drawn, their eyes locked onto Sasha and Leo.
Sasha took a slow breath. Her attention settled on the approaching enemies as she gradually rose from her position.
"I hate the way you do things..."
She flexed her fingers.
"...but just this once."
Her hands twitched, and sharp claws slowly extended from her fingertips.
The two knights were almost upon them.
Sasha lowered her stance.
Leo remained beside her, still holding the bow.
The first knight reached them and swung before Sasha had even fully straightened. She moved instantly, her claws rising to intercept the sword.
CLANG!
Sparks scattered from the impact.
Sasha twisted around the blade, using the knight's momentum against him before driving her other claw toward his chest. The knight barely managed to retreat, his boots scraping against the ground as he avoided the strike.
The second knight was already moving.
He came from the side, sword raised.
Sasha turned toward him, but Leo had already stepped away from the immediate clash. He knew better than to stand between two trained fighters when he had a bow in his hands and no reason to pretend he was a close-range fighter.
Instead, his eyes moved across the battlefield.
The situation was becoming worse.
The Wolf Clan and Ragnar's forces had completely lost their original formations. Warriors were being dragged into individual battles across the clearing, while more continued to join the fighting from behind. The valley that had once been a place for a single confrontation had become a sea of moving bodies.
Steel rang through the air.
Claws tore into armour.
Aura flashed in bursts between the warriors.
Leo's gaze moved toward the centre.
Kieran and Ragnar were still fighting.
Their weapons collided again.
CLANG!
Kieran's fractured violet Aura blade slid against Ragnar's greataxe as he twisted away from another heavy strike. Ragnar immediately followed with another swing, forcing Kieran to move backward.
The greataxe struck the earth where Kieran had been standing.
BOOM!
The impact shattered the ground and sent fragments of stone flying.
Kieran stepped around the attack and thrust his spear forward.
Ragnar caught the strike with the shaft of his greataxe.
Their weapons locked.
Neither moved.
For a brief moment, the chaos surrounding them seemed distant.
Then Ragnar forced Kieran backward.
Kieran gritted his teeth and regained his footing.
Leo watched carefully.
Neither of them was giving in.
But the battlefield around them was changing.
Behind Leo, Sasha was still fighting.
She ducked beneath the knight's sword and swept her claws upward. The knight pulled his weapon back just in time, but Sasha had already shifted her weight and struck again. Her claws scraped across his armour, leaving four deep marks in the metal.
The knight staggered.
Sasha pressed forward.
"You're getting slower."
The knight's expression twisted with anger.
He lunged.
Sasha met him head-on.
Her claws collided with his sword, and the force pushed both of them apart. The second knight suddenly moved toward Leo, seeing an opening while Sasha was occupied.
Leo noticed him approaching.
He turned just in time.
The sword came toward his shoulder.
Leo stepped aside.
The blade passed inches from him.
The knight immediately turned and swung again.
Leo ducked.
The blade passed over his head.
He moved backward, keeping his distance as his fingers tightened around the bow.
The knight raised his sword for another attack.
Before he could swing, Sasha's claw shot between them.
CLANG!
The sword was knocked aside.
"Keep your eyes on me."
The knight turned toward Sasha.
That was enough.
Leo stepped farther back and drew another arrow, but he didn't release it. He simply watched the fight, waiting for an opening.
Sasha rushed forward.
The knight raised his sword.
She dropped low, swept his legs and forced him off balance. Before he could recover, she drove her claw toward his side.
He twisted.
Too slow.
Sasha's claws tore through the leather covering his ribs.
The knight stumbled backward, clutching his side.
Leo lowered his bow slightly.
"You're welcome."
Sasha glanced at him.
"Don't start."
Despite everything happening around them, a faint smile appeared on Leo's face.
It disappeared almost immediately.
His attention returned to the battlefield.
More knights were breaking through the Wolf Clan's line.
More wolves were rushing to stop them.
The fighting was spreading farther and farther across the valley.
Leo's expression gradually became more serious.
This wasn't going to end quickly.
That was the problem.
The Wolf Clan could fight, but they were now being forced to fight on multiple fronts. Every time one group managed to push Ragnar's soldiers back, another group of knights appeared somewhere else. The longer the battle lasted, the more opportunities there would be for someone to make a mistake.
And Kieran couldn't afford one.
Leo's gaze returned to him.
Another clash shook the battlefield.
Kieran blocked Ragnar's greataxe, but the force still drove him backward several steps. His fractured Aura blade flickered in his hand.
Ragnar advanced immediately.
Kieran raised his weapon again.
Leo's eyes narrowed.
If Kieran fell, the Wolf Clan's entire formation could collapse.
Leo slowly looked toward the surrounding mountains.
Then toward the arrows in his quiver.
He had already made his decision.
His hand moved toward another arrow.
The arrow itself was ordinary.
For now.
Leo pulled a small piece of cloth from his pocket and wrapped it tightly around the tip. He then crouched beside a small flame left behind by one of the earlier campfires.
The battle continued around him.
Nobody paid attention.
The cloth caught fire almost immediately.
Leo held the arrowhead near the flame for another moment, making sure it was burning properly before standing again.
Sasha noticed.
"What are you doing?"
Leo didn't answer.
He raised the bow.
The burning arrow rested against the string.
Sasha stared at him.
"Leo?"
Leo looked toward the sky.
His expression was calm.
There was no hesitation in his movements.
He pulled the string back.
For a brief moment, everything seemed to narrow around him—the noise of the battlefield, the shouting warriors, the clash of weapons—all of it fading behind the simple motion of drawing the bow.
Then—
TWANG!
The arrow shot upward.
It climbed rapidly through the smoke-filled sky, the burning tip leaving a thin trail of flame behind it.
Higher.
Higher.
Until it disappeared above the battlefield.
Sasha watched it vanish.
"What was that supposed to do?"
Leo slowly lowered his bow.
"Nothing you need to worry about."
Sasha frowned.
"You're unbelievable."
Leo said nothing.
His gaze remained fixed on the sky.
Below them, the battle continued to rage. A wolf warrior was forced backward by three knights before another group rushed to his aid. A spear struck the ground beside Leo and was immediately pulled free by its owner. Somewhere farther away, a burst of Aura shook the valley.
Kieran and Ragnar collided again.
CLANG!
The shockwave pushed nearby warriors away from them.
Leo didn't look.
He was waiting.
The signal had been sent.
Now he only needed to know whether it had been seen.
Several seconds passed.
Nothing.
Leo's expression remained unchanged, but his fingers tightened slightly around the bow.
Another few moments passed, but still nothing happened. The battle only grew more violent around him. Kieran was still standing, Sasha was still fighting, and the Wolf Clan continued struggling to hold their ground, but Leo knew they couldn't keep this up forever.
His gaze returned to the mountain ridge.
This time, something moved.
Leo's eyes narrowed as two figures appeared in the distance, their silhouettes barely visible against the dark mountains. They began descending toward the battlefield, slowly becoming clearer with every step.
The first had white hair that moved gently in the wind.
Rowan.
Behind him came another familiar figure.
Adrian.
Leo's gaze remained fixed on them. The signal had worked. He had calculated that they would arrive, and now they were finally here.
A faint smile touched his lips as he lowered his bow.
"Right on time."
Neither Rowan nor Adrian had reached the battlefield yet, but their arrival was no longer a question. They were coming, and when they reached the valley, the battle would no longer be the same.