Romulus attempted to run down Cassandra on horseback, and the fires of revenge swallowed him whole. The [Demigod]’s steed let out a warcry as the Fork of Nemesis bathed it in a sea of flames. Yet it continued its charge even as the flesh melted off its bones.

Cassandra had seen mounts show impressive bravery while under a rider’s command, with Kairos and Rook coming to mind; but when Romulus’ warhorse emerged from the flames, she could see no courage in the beast’s eyes. A magical glow brightened its gaze, a reflection of Romulus’ influence. The [Demigod] had enslaved his mount with magic, driving it to its death for a tactical advantage.

Romulus raised his sword to cut down Cassandra, but she swiftly turned her weapon to the ground. Unleashing a blast, she propelled herself in the air above her foe. They locked eyes for a moment as Cassandra dodged the strike, the [Demigod]’s gaze turning into two blazing abysses of anger and fury.

But even this monster’s murderous fury couldn’t compare with Cassandra’s own righteous anger as she noticed her husband’s skull in Romulus’ hand.

“Give it back!” She ordered as she unleashed another blast in midair, incinerating Romulus from above. Though he said no word nor made a sound, his armor heated up from the attack.

Your [Ghostfire] inflicted supereffective damage!

It only did so against the undead.

Cassandra landed on the ground a few meters away while Romulus’ mount continued its charge. The flames had turned the beast into a skinless abomination, a husk pushed forward by the will of its rider.

Chaos reigned everywhere around the duelists. The thunderous assault raised dust in all directions, while mechanical birds rained fire on the battlefield. In this fog of war and smoke, Cassandra could barely see anything or distinguish friend from foe; at least until two forms emerged from the dust.

Two automatons charged at her without warning nor a sound, both of them wielding sharp swords. Cassandra hastily deflected a blow with her fork, but the second robot’s blade would have beheaded her had she not stopped the strike with her shield. The [Hero] quickly stepped back as the two machines relentlessly attacked her from the left and the right, forcing her to stay on the move to survive.

Cassandra tried to respond with thrusts of her own to keep her foes at bay, but the automatons fought without care for self-preservation. They felt no fear, no hesitation, maintaining the pressure without respite. She unleashed a mighty fireball at one of them, her flames blasting the creature to pieces while its kindred swung its sword with mechanical frenzy.

“Expect no chivalry here, woman!” Romulus warned as he had his horse turn around to flank her. His warhorse seemed ready to collapse anytime under its own weight as flames devoured its flesh.

Realizing that she needed to act quickly, Cassandra leveraged her greater reach to thrust her fork at the remaining automaton, the two pointy ends of her weapon surrounding the neck. She then used the shaft to lift the machine and toss it at Romulus’ steed.

Too close to dodge, the [Demigod] leaped off his horse with his sword raised. The flying automaton crashed against the dying horse with a mighty impact, both collapsing into the dirt and the grass.

Meanwhile, Romulus fell upon Cassandra with inhuman agility. The [Hero] managed to leap to the side to avoid the [Demigod]’s sword, the heavy blade hitting the ground. But before Cassandra could counterattack, Romulus tossed Tiberius’ flaming skull at her face.

Acting entirely on reflex, she swung her fork to stop the projectile. Her weapon’s pointed ends shattered her husband’s skull to pieces, melting brain matter falling onto the grass. Cassandra’s heart skipped a beat in shock.

Romulus immediately used her distraction to lunge at her again with a quick thrust. Cassandra hastily raised her shield, but her foe’s blade cut through it like butter. The sword grazed her left shoulder, drawing blood and barely missing the neck.

Damn it! Cassandra cursed as she used a thrust of her fork to force Romulus to back off. The [Demigod] did so, removing his blade from her shield but immediately following with a swing. Tossing her broken shield to the side, Cassandra managed to raise her fork horizontally. Romulus’ blade fell upon her weapon’s shaft with all of its weight, but failed to cut the legendary [Fork of Nemesis] as it did with the shield.

Cassandra gritted her teeth as she felt pain in her knees, struggling to hold back Romulus’ awesome might. Even with a temporary stat buff, her feet were pushed backward. He’s stronger than I am, she thought. Much stronger.

“It is useless to resist,” Romulus said with chilling calm as he pressed on with both hands, Cassandra feeling her knees giving in. “The general’s cavalry is smashing into your army’s rear as we speak. None shall escape.”

Cassandra responded by unleashing her fork’s ghostfire in close quarters, as she was immune to it. Romulus grunted as the flames blasted his funeral mask, before raising his left hand while using the right to keep her pinned down with his sword. Cassandra’s vision briefly turned white as her foe’s armored fist hit her in the face, bending her helmet’s steel and breaking her nose in a sickening crack. If Cassandra hadn’t heavily invested in her [Vitality], the blow might have cracked her very skull.

The [Hero] tasted her own blood falling into her mouth, but she didn’t release the pressure, “My flames burn the undead like candles!” Cassandra hissed as her fire burned Romulus’ tattered cape to ashes and left only his armor behind. “Return to death, ghost!”

The [Demigod] attempted to punch Cassandra again, but blinded by the fire, he missed and slightly lost his balance. Gathering all her strength and vengeful anger, Cassandra forced him back with a sudden push. She then immediately struck at Romulus’ helmet while his defense was down.

Her fork pierced the funeral mask’s eyes.

Romulus’ grunt turned to a roar of fury, and he attempted to grab the shaft of Cassandra’s weapon with his free hand. Unwilling to risk her foe disarming her, the [Hero] pulled back her fork and retreated. Romulus dispelled the flames consuming him with a wave of his hand, his cursed magic exhausting the fire.

That was a [Prayer] he just used, Cassandra thought as she identified his spell. Few [Fighter] subclasses could use this kind of magic usually exclusive to [Priests]. He truly is Lycaon’s chosen.

Her strike had cracked the [Demigod]’s funeral mask, and through them, Cassandra could see hints of a human skull and wolfish fangs. Romulus let out a growl as he adopted a more defensive stance.

“You’re just a puppet,” Cassandra whispered while glancing at Romulus’ horse. Queen Persephone had seen fit to end his agony, the beast lying dead on the ground next to the remains of broken automatons. “No freer than your horse.”

“The Wolf-God won’t let me die.” Romulus observed Cassandra the same way a wolf stared at a doe, waiting for an opening to rush and tear out her throat. “The banquet of blood shall continue until I have purged the lines of the Senex from this world.”

Cassandra’s eyes turned to what little remained of her husband’s shattered skull. “I will slay you for this,” she promised with venomous anger, moving to the left to circle Romulus and flank him. “I swear it on the goddess.”

“You wanted the head back, no? Must you blame me for fulfilling your poorly-worded wish?” Romulus grabbed his sword’s pommel with both hands and raised it. The blade seemed to cut his visage in half, each burning eye closely following Cassandra’s movements. “I remember a time when we fought… my sword against your spear.”

That stance… this feeling of wary calculation, of an impenetrable defense that could swiftly pivot into a lightning-fast offense… Cassandra had seen it before. She had helped polish it through training, the countless times she had visited the Marius family.

“Taulas?” Cassandra asked with a frown. The idea of Kairos’ elder brother hiding behind that mask had been evoked in the past, and his movements were troublingly familiar. Still, it could be a trick and so she didn’t lower her guard.

“You could never defeat me…” Romulus let out a growl, the fire in his eyes vacillating. “When was that… since I spoke with that vile woman, my mind is crying out…”

Wait, is he under mental influence? Or suffering from amnesia? Cassandra wondered, though she often glanced at the dust pervading the battlefield. She noticed a movement towards the center of the Lycean formation, probably the Valians moving to smash against the Lycean rear. Saving Ultor and Dispater was now beyond her power. If so…

Cassandra almost struck Romulus while he seemed confused, but reconsidered. An attack would shake him out of his doubt. She had to break whatever mental influence seemed to control his mind, to reach out for the person buried inside the steel.

This is not a holy site to my goddess and I have no animal to sacrifice, Cassandra thought as she brushed her fingers against her broken nose, drenching her fingers in blood. But if Queen Persephone accepts my blood offering… Maybe she will grant me my wish.

After all, she hated Lycaon passionately.

“No matter,” Romulus said as he regained his focus, this time taking a step towards Cassandra. “I will drown these haunting thoughts with your blood!”

“Suit yourself,” Cassandra said as she waved a hand at her foe, drops of her blood flying towards the [Demigod]. “Goddess! I call upon thee!”

Romulus let out a roar as he charged at her as swiftly as a horse, Cassandra’s blood impacting on his helmet. The [Hero] immediately struck the ground with her fork while her foe raised his sword.

“[Nekyia]!”

And Queen Persephone answered.

Cassandra’s shadow lengthened to cover Romulus, and his confidence turned to agony as he stopped in the middle of his swing. The [Demigod] roared as he held his head with his free hand while waving his sword indiscriminately. Cassandra remained at a safe distance as she continued her incantation, the clash of steel growing louder and closer…

“I ask of thee, Great Queen of the Underworld!” Cassandra chanted. “Compel the shades of the dead to appear before me!”

Her shadow, now unnaturally dark, changed shape. Cassandra’s warrior’s figure transformed into the regal shape of Queen Persephone, two whirlpools of cosmic dust forming where the eyes should have been.

“You tormented spirit, thrall to Lycaon,” Queen Persephone’s voice echoed across the land, brimming with power. Time itself seemed to freeze as the world fell silent, the noise overwhelmed by the goddess’ grace. “Reveal yourself.”

Romulus roared, and Cassandra saw the soul within the steel.

Or rather, the souls.

The spectral apparition that answered her summon was a monstrous chimera, the soul of a true werewolf. A wolf’s snarling jaws growing out of the back of a naked man’s head, both raging in their maddened embrace. Both halves were one, but always at war and never in balance; trapped in an unnatural union, fused into a shared existence of pain and torment.

To Cassandra’s horror, she immediately recognized the human half as Taulas. The young man, who had once been a source of hope and pride for the Foresight’s crew, had degenerated into a berserk warrior. His calm face had degenerated into the frothing madness of a berserker.

As for the wolf half…

“In my husband’s name, for the sake of my murdered son,” Queen Persephone said with a hint of pity, her shadowy hand moving to take Taulas’ tormented soul. “I shall free you from this curse and welcome you to your final rest.”

Crimson jaws snapped at the goddess and she swiftly pulled back.

“Not even death can break my pack, woman.”

A cold wave of pure malevolence erupted from Romulus, chilling Cassandra to the bone. She felt her breath die in her throat, her skin shivering as a power rivaling her goddess pushed back against her magic.

The wolf-half of Taulas’ soul had grown into a terrible spirit, whose malicious eyes glared at the goddess with an unmatched lust for death. “You…” Queen Persephone whispered, half out of shock and half out of hate. “You dare…”

“A swift death awaits you, Travian woman, and an eternity in my stomach,” the terrible voice of a mighty wolf said, filled with savage cruelty. “As for you, deplorable queen of the Underworld, you shall weep as I break my bonds to come for you. Your husband will scream within me, as I seed your womb until you bear me a son to replace the one I ate. Then I shall tear out your throat and empty the Underworld! I shall feast on the dead as my children devour the living!”

A crimson light erupted around Romulus as his tattered cloak was replaced with a twisted aura. Hundred, if not thousands of human faces formed a tapestry of bloody souls bound together in pain and anguish. The countless victims of Romulus, from Senex patriarchs to brave soldiers, had been united in bondage.

Cassandra saw a brief glimpse of her husband’s weeping face among them. Terror overcame her heart where once there was only fury.

“Kill them all, my mortal half, my precious pup!” Lycaon’s spirit roared through his undead avatar, his howl shaking the earth and the skies. “Pile bodies upon bodies! Let the blood run through the hills! War on the strong and the meek, war on all that lives! Meat for my jaw, souls for my gullet! None is safe from my hunger for human flesh!”

His roar banished Queen Persephone’s shadow, forcing her back to the Underworld.

Romulus is filled with savage fury! Romulus activated [Cloak of Anguished Souls]!

Cassandra’s ritual ended abruptly, her goddess’ power shaken by a dark might that rivaled her own. The images of Taulas and Lycaon’s terrible fusion vanished as the soul returned to the safety of Romulus’ armor, but his vile cloak of stolen spirits remained. The [Demigod]’s mask started to break as the trapped souls flew out of him, rising into the skies before falling down to earth.

And Cassandra ran.

She turned her back on the maddened [Demigod] before the spirits could claim her, trying to run for the hill. But stolen souls soon fell upon the area, exploding into blinding explosions of dark energy upon hitting the ground. Gritting her teeth, Cassandra raised her fork and used her ghostfire to detonate the spirit projectiles in the air. But there were too many, and she had to run closer to the armies’ melee to escape the bombardment.

I can’t beat him, Cassandra realized as Romulus’ voice turned into a maddened wolf’s howl, his body obscured by his cloak of murdered victims. This is beyond my goddess’ power… and mine.

But what she had seen… What she had just seen…

This could be the key to destroying Lycaon for good.

Cassandra wanted nothing more than to stand up and fight to avenge her husband, but if her own goddess’ power couldn’t shake the evil power sustaining Romulus’ undeath, she had no hope of doing any better. Even her ghostfire barely inflicted lasting damage; and if Romulus killed her, she would join those maddened souls.

Even killing Romulus might not free her husband’s soul from the Wolf-God’s jaws.

I’m sorry, Tiberius, Cassandra apologized sorrowfully as she ran as fast as she could to avoid the bombardment. I have to give this information to Kairos. This is the only way to save you.

If she lived that long.

Running through the dust, Cassandra walked straight into the killing zone. Tightly-packed formations of Valian and Thessalan soldiers kept their backs turned on her, pushing their spears and shields towards a foe Cassandra couldn’t see. However, as she witnessed soldiers sent flying into the air, she immediately guessed who Zama’s army was so desperately trying to contain.

Ultor was breaking out of the Valian encirclement.

Perhaps helped by their buffs, soldiers sensed Cassandra's approach and turned to face her. However, they also identified a much more dangerous threat.

“Missile wall!” Someone shouted among the Valian formation, soldiers raising their shields to protect themselves from the spirit bombardment. But no mortal protection could resist the power of a [Demigod]. The projectiles rained death and destruction upon hitting the ground, rusting the steel and vaporizing the flesh. Soldiers died all around Cassandra, who had to dive down head-first into the grass to survive.

The friendly fire weakened the Valian formation and the shadow of Ultor became visible through the dust cloud. But no sooner did the bombardment calm down that Romulus came roaring after Cassandra.

Gone was the skillful warrior with whom she traded blows. Romulus charged on all fours like an animal, his cloak of tattered souls trailing behind him and barely holding his sword in his right hand. His mask had fallen, revealing the terrible face underneath.

Romulus’ visage was a skeletal mosaic of death; a mishmash of fragmented parts assembled together in the vague shape of a monstrous skull without skin nor flesh. The frontal bone differed in age and coloration from the nasal and zygomatic ones, to the point that Cassandra wondered if they had been harvested from different corpses. And though the jaws had belonged to a human, the teeth had been replaced with rows of wolfish fangs. Much like his very soul, Romulus’ body was a monstrous chimera held together by the terrible power of undeath.

How many of these bones belonged to Taulas?

The beast had fully taken over the [Demigod]. He didn’t even care anymore about friends and foes; the Valian soldiers unlucky enough to stumble in Romulus’ way were shredded to ribbons and trampled to death. Their souls joined his previous victims, never to be freed.

Cassandra immediately rose to her feet and unleashed a torrent of flames, but the spirit cloak of Romulus swirled around him as protection. Even the power of the [Fork of Nemesis] couldn’t pierce it.

However, the distraction allowed Ultor to break through the Valian encirclement. To Cassandra’s surprise, Dispater followed after his bodyguard alongside the tattered remnants of his personal guard. Most had heavy wounds, Dispater himself bleeding from an arrow to the shoulder.

“Cassandra?” Dispater asked upon seeing her, too confused and shaken to notice Romulus. “Where is my son? Where is Tiberius? Is he safe?”

Romulus answered with a maddened roar.

“Come join your son, Dispater!” he snarled. “The Wolf-God will eat your soul!”

Tiberius’ face appeared at the forefront of the cloak of soul, visible to his father. The fight went out of Dispater immediately, his skin turning as white as milk, his legs freezing in place. His personal guard immediately turned to raise their shields, stopping Valian spears trying to impale them from behind.

“Lord Dispater, run!” Cassandra snarled while Romulus leaped into the air at them, souls gathering around his sword. She rushed at her catatonic father-in-law and tried to shake him out of his paralysis. “Now!”

“Finally,” Ultor said as he took a step forward, a hint of eagerness breaking through his usual stoicism. Some arrows had managed to pierce through his iron skin and he had lost his shield, but the gladiator shed no blood. “A worthy opponent.”

And two blades clashed.

Moving faster than Cassandra’s eyes could follow, Ultor raised his sword with both hands and matched Romulus’ own. Time itself seemed to grind to a halt as the blades hissed and the steel screeched. The weight of countless murdered victims clashed against the lonely might of the survivor of a hundred duels. The sound that came out of their meeting was almost a high-pitched note both haunting and terrible, almost a song.

The sheer power of the shockwave blew air in all directions, pushing away the dust of war and reverberating through everything. Cassandra felt the sound travel through her bones and flesh, all sound turning mute.

The blast almost sent her tumbling down and threw the weakened Dispater to the ground. Romulus, who had been leaping in the air when his blade clashed with Ultor’s, was sent flying backward towards the Valian army and crashed in their midst.

Cassandra couldn’t believe her eyes as she regained her footing. He… he outfought him, she thought before noticing the large crack spreading in Ultor’s blade. Cassandra’s hope turned to bitterness. Ultor had pushed back Romulus for now, but even his mighty weapon wouldn’t survive a second clash.

Worse, the Valian army had quickly remade the encirclement, preventing any other Lycean from escaping. A tight belt of steel had closed around Dispater’s army, condemning it to a slow death. Only Ultor, Cassandra, Dispater, and a few soldiers had escaped the trap; and a dozen Thessalan automatons and human soldiers immediately moved to finish them off.

“Milady!” Chloris’ voice echoed behind Cassandra while arrows rained on the Thessalans. Ultor himself joined in the surprise attack, breaking his sword on an automaton. The living soldiers raised their shields to protect themselves against the barrage of arrows, while Chloris and the amazons dashed down the hills on horseback.

Romulus roared in the middle of the clashing armies, hacking through allies and foes while trying to make his way back to Ultor. Cassandra glanced at the gladiator, who was glancing at the melee with clear hesitation. “Don’t fight him,” she pleaded. “Even if you win, we will lose.”

But thankfully, the gladiator’s honor was stronger than his bloodlust.

“I will fight him another day,” Ultor replied as he grabbed the catatonic Dispater with his free hand, as if he were a child. The Lycean leader didn’t resist, the death of his son having shattered his resolve. “I was asked to work as Lord Dispater’s bodyguard, and I shall fulfill my oath. It would be improper to let him die today.”

“Quick!” Chloris shouted while dashing at Cassandra, her horse as swift as the wind. She put her bow aside to extend a hand. “There’s no time!”

Cassandra grabbed Chloris’ hand and swiftly jumped on the horse’s back. Other amazons did the same with the few Lycean soldiers they could carry, while Ultor outsped them all on foot alone.

The rest they abandoned.

Cassandra couldn’t help but take a look at the massacre unfolding behind them. The Valian army, beforehand numerically inferior, was slowly crushing the Lyceans legions. Inch by inch they progressed, cutting down the soldiers trying to escape with spears and swords. Elephants trampled screaming men and women, while horsemen ran down the stragglers. Some chased after Cassandra’s group, but the [Hero] forced them back with fireballs. Romulus eventually broke through, but by then they were too far away.

Zama himself was nowhere to be seen.

Thousands had perished today, the north would fall, and they hadn’t even come close to reaching him.

Cassandra couldn’t help but feel a terrible sense of déjà vu. She had survived the terrible victory against the Orthian fleet last year and the Foresight’s first crushing defeat against the Argonauts in Achlys. But none of these battles had come close to today’s utter disaster. Lycaon would grow ever closer to freedom and Mithridates would take over the entire region.

And Tiberius… her husband she had cherished for so little time…

“Cassandra, his body…” Cassandra heard the confused Dispater mutter as Ultor carried him. “My son’s body… we need to get back… to recover my son…”

“I…” Cassandra gritted her teeth, her heart heavy with sorrow and bitterness. “I am sorry. I am so sorry.”

She had cried too much and had no more tears left to shed.