"FALL BACK!"
The Kraken shrieked, lashing its tentacles across the ice.
Lucien raised shields, but the blow flung him backward. He slammed into the ground, barriers shattering like glass. A metallic taste flooded his mouth as he tumbled, pain flaring with each impact. The world spun uncontrollably.
Dazed and trembling, his vision flickered. Pain tore through him despite the aura reinforcing his body. It seemed he broke a rib or two.
Arms seized and pulled him upright. "Luce! Are you alright?! Physician! I need a physician here!"
"Father?" Lucien forced his eyes to focus. His father's worried face swam into view, rimed with frost and blood. "I'm all—"
Cyrus swung his sword; sparks burst as he deflected a mangled piece of metal.
Ahead, soldiers were thrown skyward in a spray of crimson. Siege engines splintered, raining debris and limbs across the field. The ground quaked under the beast's fury.
"I'm getting you to the rear," Cyrus hauled him to his feet. "We need to find a physician."
In the distance, Valdr barked orders—mages rushing to the wounded, soldiers scrambling to assemble new siege engines.
Lucien gripped his father's cloak. "No. Father... please. Just cover me."
His gaze snapped to him. "You can still fight?"
Lucien nodded, though his knees trembled. "If we don't push it back now, we won't have another chance."
He didn't have enough Mana left to create another ice isle.
A roar split the battlefield. A tentacle slammed down, carving a fissure through the ice.
"Alright," Cyrus stepped in front of him, blade raised. "Stay close. I'll run interference."
"Thank you."
Lucien steadied himself and began chanting. A magic circle flared beneath the Kraken. Frost climbed up its limbs, freezing them mid-strike. The beast howled, struggling to break free, but to no avail.
The second circle bloomed above it. Massive, gleaming spears of ice protruded from the glowing rings, then lanced downward.
A thunderous crash shook the battlefield. Green blood and dark ichor geysered in a cloud of frost-mist as the Kraken shrieked and convulsed.
A blinding crescent arc slammed its back, cutting off its wail. More green blood burst forth as the monster reeled, before vanishing beneath the wave with a guttural scream.
Though drifting haze, Lucien spotted figures sprinting across the ice—Tristan at the lead, swordsmasters flanking him.
The corner of Lucien's lips twitched. 'Bastard… I thought you were dead.'
Pressure surged up Lucien's throat. He doubled over, blood jumped out of his mouth as his chest seized. "Cough!"
"Luce!" Cyrus caught and eased him gently to the ground. "Physician! Get a physician over here!"
"I found one!" Valdr arrived at a run, an elder physician in stained robes close at his heels.
The physician dropped to his knees, hands glowing as he pressed them to Lucien's heaving chest.
Valdr turned, yelling, "Mend the cracks! Knights, brace yourselves!"
Mages scrambled, weaving urgent spells to reinforce the splintering ice. The knights tightened their grip on the siege engines. Every eye fixed on the dark sea surrounding them.
Tristan skidded to a stop and knelt beside Cyrus, breathless and dusted with rime. "What happened?!"
"He was struck by one of the Kraken's tentacles," Cyrus said grimly.
"What?!" Tristan's eyes widened.
"I'm all right," Lucien rasped, trying to ease them.
Yet, he was answered by sharp glares. "No, you're not!"
Lucien clamped his mouth. 'Why are they so emotional?'
The light faded from the physician's hands. He exhaled slowly. "Several of His Highness's ribs were fractured, and there was internal bleeding, but I've stabilized it. However…" The old man looked pointedly at Valdr and Cyrus. "His Highness must refrain from using large-scale magic—"
A deafening roar swallowed the rest of his words.
The sea erupted.
Far off, the Kraken surged upward again. Two colossal tentacles swept the ocean, hurling walls of water skyward. A fifty-foot tsunami rolled toward the isle.
Three times larger than the last.
Valdr clenched his fist before turning toward the soldiers, "Mages—"
"I'll stop it," Lucien forced himself upright, a luminous Mana Stone forming in his grasp.
"You can't!" Tristan grabbed his shoulders, pinning him in place. "The physician said—"
"Do you have any better plan?" Lucien shot back.
Tristan's grip tightened, despair clouding his eyes. Silence was his answer. They both knew the truth—no one else on the field could draw the full output of a highest-grade stone into a single spell.
He gently pried Tristan's hands away, the corner of his mouth lifting. "Just make sure you kill it before it kills me."
The mana stone in his grasp shone and shivered, a massive magic circle unfurling beneath their feet.
Tristan held his gaze, vowing. "I will."
A chilling wind ripped across the battlefield. Jagged ice raced over the frozen surface toward the open sea, slamming into the wave and freezing it solid mid-crash. Shards crackled outward, glinting in the sun.
Pain detonated in Lucien's chest. Blood spilled hot across his fingers as he folded.
"Luce—!" Tristan and Cyrus caught him before he fell.
His chest hurt so much.
The Kraken bellowed, snapping every gaze upward. Through Lucien's swimming vision, tentacles smashed into the frozen wall. Ice erupted, hurling frost and shards in all directions.
From the roiling mist, chunks of ice—carriages-sized—lofted toward them.
"Mages—first line, shield!" Valdr shouted.
Barriers formed overhead. Ice shattered against them in blinding, relentless bursts.
As the barrage waned and the mist thinned, the Kraken surged through the breach, gliding across the jagged ice bridge toward them; its tentacles thrashing wildly.
Valdr sprinted back to his post. "Second line, fire at will! Knights, restrain the Kraken! Mages—first line, support the engines!"
Magic circles ignited, unleashing a storm of elements upon the beast. Explosions thundered across the ice, yet the Kraken's scream cut through the din. Harpoons struck home; chains screamed taut as knights fought to anchor the tentacles in place, siege engines pulsing with mana.
Tristan shifted Lucien into the physician's arms. "Get him to the rear."
"Yes, Sir!"
Tristan met Lucien's gaze. "I'll finish it. Don't you dare die on me."
Lucien managed a weak laugh. "I won't."
Tristan then faced Cyrus. "Father, please cover us."
Cyrus gave a single nod. "Understood."
Tristan and the swordmasters surged forward.