The three of them stood together, across the field from an angry beast. The creature blew a puff of smoke from its nose as its arm regrew slowly, it watched them with pure bloodlust.
"This should be easy enough." Alaric said with bravado, smirking as he tightened his grip on his great sword, during his younger days, he was known for his proficiency with many a weapon, something that Jacob also had.
"Yeah Yeah, just hope I don't kill it before you do," Rhoarin joked, causing the old man to chuckle.
Elena rolled her eyes as she was forced to listen to both men subtly competing for who gets the prize of the Beast king's head, she raised her hands in surrender and stepped back, her hair and eyes returning to their original color.
"You Ironfell men turn everything into a competition." She confessed.
"We do not!" They both yelled in unison, looking back at her.
She blinked slowly, sighing and stepping back even further, warranting a confused look on their faces, "Well, I'm sitting this one out, you boys can have your fun, whoever wins gets to keep the skull of the beast king." She announced.
"Sweet, I'll add it to my collection." Alaric grinned.
"I will not lose!" Rhoarin roared, his eye glowed again, flickers of lightning forming around his palms. The Millennial was done regrowing its limbs now, with a gurgled roar, it charged at the two men.
Its sheer size caused tremors in the ground as it ran towards them, its claws dripped venom and saliva ran easily down its jaw.
Rhoarin attacked first, he was fast. In a flash of lightning, he vanished from the spot, he appeared behind the beast, charging up a swing that crashed down with the force of a small hill.
"Lightning fist!" He yelled as he swung a fist full of lightning at the creature, but it was smart. It immediately turned and swung a venomous arm at Rhoarin, who halted his attack midair and pushed back with his lightning to evade the attack.
"Whoa! That was close boy, how many times have I told you not to announce your attacks like that? Makes them predictable."
Elena let out a sigh of relief, she clutched at her chest upon realizing the creature was going to counter Rhoarin's attack.
"Let me show you how it's done." Alaric gripped his weapon even harder, the blade humming faintly in his grasp; a wave of energy suddenly enveloped the great sword, turning it an aesthetically pleasing cerulean blue.
He didn't instantly blitz or vanish into thin air like his son. Confident as he was, he only ran in a straight line, eyes locked on his target, blade whining in his hand, he swung upwards.
Then downwards.
Sideways.
Diagonally.
From an outside perspective, it seemed like one movement. This was an ancient sword art called the
He had spent decades cultivating and mastering it; underneath that shell of amusement and unseriousness, lay a seasoned and dedicated warrior, something he truly hoped Jacob would be.
All that the creature saw, was afterimages, it struggled to keep up; parrying some of the attacks but at the end it was overwhelming, one slash took out its right arm again.
Another took off its left leg. Another heavy slash left a diagonal gaping hole in its belly.
The beast roared, another skill called
But before the roar even escaped its throat fully, another slash across the neck, damaging its vocal cord instantly. Rhoarin, still in a competitive mood, scoffed.
He wasn't going to let the cheeky old bastard take all the credit, he zapped across the battlefield and held the beast by the head, sending unlimited jolts of energy through the creature's skull.
POP!
The head exploded, right at the same moment that Alaric stabbed his great sword through the beast's core.
The body of the creature turned into dust and withered away instantly.
"Now, that's how you do it, my boy. Although you destroyed my prize, I forgive you..." Alaric started, his great sword back on his shoulder, covered in crimson now.
"Wait, don't tell me you actually think you won." Rhoarin interrupted, wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead.
Elena looked at them both as they flew into an argument. She shook her head, neither of them was going to get the skull, and she had a feeling Rhoarin did that move on purpose, but she didn't particularly care.
___
Meanwhile...
On the other end of the battlefield, taking care of the Centennial beasts was pretty easy considering Ralph had the entirety of the army and Karron surrounding them.
They formed a huge circle around the creatures, pinpointing them. Shields thrown up as a barricade to block all attacks emerging from within the circle.
Just as the beasts were about to create
The rest of the low-level dragon-snakes snapped back into their senses and scrambled all over the place, the Beast king no longer had any control over them, so they retreated to their natural habitat.
"So it was a hive mind," Elena pondered out loud.
"I believe it was mind control." Rhoarin responded.
"Glad we got rid of that nonsense, we still need to compensate the villages that suffered heavily and the families of the deceased. And let others know that the threat has been dealt with." Alaric spoke authoritatively.
___
Jacob had waited all day in solitude waiting for Savant to leave his office, he considered storming in there many times, but he was afraid he would cause a ruckus, so he bided his time, until...
Finally, the office door creaked open, Jacob sat upright, he noticed a tall, muscular, middle-aged man, walking out of the small building.
He followed silently up the hill, staying in the blind spot at all times until finally the man reached a small but comfortable looking house.
'That's where he stays? Pretty small for a so-called sect leader,' Jacob thought.
'Let's pay him a visit, shall we?'