The ground shock ever so slightly as Ziihor propelled himself forward into the band of elves. They were still in a soft daze after experiencing Ziihor's frightening killing intent so their reaction was slightly slower than normal.

Ziihor's axes aimed at the person closest to him. The smallest of the hooded figures at the same time.

Axe hit bow and a loud sound of splintering wood pierced through the air. The bow was not cut but rather crushed in half and some few splitters flew about.

The axes continued in their path and came crashing down on the shoulder of the hooded figure. Flesh made way for the heavy iron in a sickening noise. Warm blood welled out of the fresh wound and dropped onto the ground. An ear piercing yell escaped the mouth of the cloaked elf. His left shoulder was nearly cut away, but a thin chain vest prevented the worst. But before the elf could sigh in relief a large shadow loomed over him.

Ziihor used his wings as a hook, swung the elf multiple times against the ground and finished by smashing him with a mighty throw towards the trees. His disfigured body smashed through three trees straight until it came to an halt. The poor elf's spine was completely obliterated into thousand pieces and his flesh impaled by large chunks of wood. The first elf died, horribly.

Ziihor send out a large cloud of dark miasma to obstruct vision, two thick arrows have already pierced through his wings when he was preoccupied with the first elf. The arrows burned and pained Ziihor deeply but this pain was, if compared to his past, not even noteworthy.

At the same time that Ziihor send out the miasma, Weiss made his move. He dissolved into shadows and rapidly aproached another elf. Without vision the elves had no idea where their enemies were positioned so it was no surprise that Weiss's surprise attack was quick and fatal. His dagger bored straight through the throat of one of the elves. He turned it left and right, tearing flesh and neck apart. The screams were quickly silenced by the crude dagger.

After a few seconds the spine gave way and Weiss beaheaded his first elf. The crystalline soul was enticingly floating in front of his face bu he couldn't leave his master alone in peril. Quickly turning around Weiss dodged a precise arrow and dissolved again into the darkness.

The dark fog was especially effective because it was night, obstructing vision to a great amount. Even elves with their specialized night vision couldn't see in absolute darkness. The screams of their fallen comrades infuriated the five remaining elves but they knew to not act rash. “Stay at distance!“. Silara shouted,“And send a messenger to the Elders.“. She whispered.

On the command of Silara one of the Elves took out a scroll. The elf whispered a few words, the paper instantly lit up in blue flames which clot into a small blue hummingbird. The elf propounded the commands to the little bird. The elf finished his commands and without losing another second the blue hummingbird dissapeared into the darkness whereas the elf took his position.

Upon contact with the dark fog the elves had found out that the fog seemed highly toxic, it melted their clothes by the slightest contact and devoured their hair and skin.

Silara gave two elves behind her a low gaze. The elves responded by reciting a complex chant of unknown origin. After finishing the chant the wind began to run wild. Mana and wind essence started to roll about like waves and created powerful vortexes within the battlefield. Ziihor contested the power of the wind with his own destructive power. He willed more and more of the dark flakes into the area. The black fog coiled densly around Ziihor and Weiss, protecting them from deadly windblades and arrows.

The wind slowly abraded the dense shield of black fog into fine particles. Two other elves took the chance to encircle Ziihor and Weiss once again. They took out slim vials filled with light blue liquid and poured it over their arrows.

The ash grey wood of the arrows absorbed the liquid greedily and slowly turned into a dark pulsating azure.

The elves chanted something as well, though the wind howled to loud to make any sense out of it. Four vortexes of wind formed on their backs and under their feet, making them slightly float upwards.

Ziihor all the while was gnashing his teeth as he forced more and more of his dark fog out of his wings. The sound his teeth crushing themselves could be heard.

With his dark fog reserves at his limit, Ziihor decided to overload his dark fog wall.

Black worms made of fog started to pulse more and more of the black mass into the already existing wall, making it grow and much thicker.

After pouring the last bits and pieces of his power into the wall it broke apart as its capacity was exceeded. The wall imploded on itself and sucked the wind magic into it at the same time. The air turned cold and stale and the grass around the black orb turned into a dark grey.

The mini black hole sucked leaves and broken tree branches into itself, it even uprooted bushes and small trees in the surrounding area.

It fed itself on living mass until it reached a critical point. The black orb shuddered and started to crack, a bright radiance shoot out of the orb when it finally exploded. The resulting explosion was devastating.

The blastwave send everyone in the vicinity flying, hurling them square into the nearby trees. One of the unlucky elf magicians, who stood to close at the orb, had firstly his arms torn apart by the suction force and then was turned into mince meat by the shockwave.

Blood and flesh was send flying into the forest. The stench of death wafted densly through the air.

Ziihor stood up from the ground, even he himself was blasted away a few meters. When he stood up he felt a sharp pain in his left flank. A deep blue arrow lodged itself into his ribs.

Ziihor wanted to pull the arrow out but when he came in touch with the projectile it emitted a chilling aura and started to freeze the wound shut.

The crawling ice seeped into his bones and made them expand until they shattered. His left side was now a mess of ice and bones.

Weiss was hit by such an arrow as well, both legs were frozen to the ground, bloated and finally bursted into bits and pieces of rotten flesh.

The situation was dire and they both knew it. Ziihor once again felt in his ribs. 'The eye! FUCK!'. He wanted to use the Stallag eye to power himself up but it was frozen solid in his left side.

Ziihor gulped down, picked up one of his axes that laid nearby and started to smash his ribcage in.

The elves were badly injured and disoriented, the blast shattered their eardrums and now their sense of balance was disrupted.

A large curtain of vines openned up a dozen meters away from the explosion. Silara emerged out of it, she was the last remaining elf in a stable condition. She observed the fight and was thus able to protect herself with wind and nature magic.

'Wicked demon! You will pay for your sins!'. Silara cursed the black demon before her. She moved with extreme swiftness through the cluster of trees. Using a few throwing knifes she pinned Weiss into the ground. At least she hoped so.

Before the knifes reached him, Weiss turned into a mass of shadows and glided over the ground. He reappeared over Silara and slashed down with his rusted daggers.

Silara blocked with a dagger of her own and kicked Weiss right into his stomach. Weiss puked black blood and flew a few meters away. He examined his wound and saw a red swirl marked on his belly.

Confused he looked at Silara and saw two small vortexes under her feet. 'Oh nice.'. Weiss praised her mentally, the skill heightened mobility as well as offense.

Weiss engaged once again, this time focusing his attention on her footwork.

Weiss unexpectedly threw one of his daggers towards Silara, and quickly followed from behind. Silara's movement speed was still lower than the approaching dagger so she was forced to block it with any means available.

Instead of opting for a knife block she took out her bow and shoot a single precise arrow. Arrow and knife met in the air, though the knife was sturdier and thus the arrow was destroyed while the knife lost its speed. Silara had a winning smile under her hood.

Weiss bizzarely was smiling as well. He took out his second dagger and threw it nearly at the same time as the first dagger. The second knife flew past the first one that was blocked and quickly covered Silara's vision in rusty silver. Having no means to block the knife in time, Silara used her left arm to block. The knife lodged itself deeply into her arm, black mist started to corode her flesh.

Silara was shocked at the wicked magic and took out one of the blue potions. She poured the liquid over the wound which in turn has frozen it solid. Her left arm was now only good for holding her bow.

Weiss was following behind the thrown dagger and at the same time it hit Silara he grasped after the first blocked dagger that was lying on the ground.

Silara only noticed Weiss out of the corner of her eyes. His arm shooting from the ground vertically into the air.

Silara only noticed a slight pain and a warm sticky liquid sliding down her chin and neck.

Weiss changed the grip on the knife and went in for an overhead slash. In the same instant Silana moved two of her vortexes to her chest region and propelled herself backwards against a tree.

Weiss knife cut through empty air.

Silara breathed out a sigh of relief. She barely escaped death's embrace. Instead of trying to fight the demon in a melee or use her arrows she decided for magic instead.

After only a second long chant the trees in the area started to shake and creak. Their branches and leaves coalesced into two sturdy plant golems, also the vines and roots started to form a protective and yet see through barrier around Silara. Topping it off with a hazardous whirlwind made by wind magic she was now fully protected.

Weiss was completely exhausted. Letting his lower body stay in shadow form was fatiguing and costed a lot of energy.

He took a few 'steps' back and decided to wait for her to attack first.

Silara knew that the devil in front of her was unlikely to engage first in his exhausted state so she simply commanded the plant golems to attack in her stead.

The constructs of dirt and nature started to move mechanically forward. Each step made the ground rumble, testifying for their enormous weight resulted by the high compressed masses of vines and wood.

With a single glance Weiss knew that these things were sturdier than he could cope with. Also it was common knowledge that constructs like golems had great regenerative abilities, more so golems made out of living material like trees. The infused mana would cause the trees to regrow at an impossible speed. Good for Weiss though was their slow speed in both movement and offense.

Weiss dodged the attacks of the golems with ease, but keeping his body in shadow form for any longer would result in a defeat.

He changed his whole body into mist and simply traversed through the golems. His goal was Silara. Alas she was hiding behind a dense shield of nature essence and wind essence, making it nigh to imposiible to penetrate through.

Weiss tested the waters by banging onto the barrier; Silara was just smiling disdainfully at his attempts.

CREEEEESH!

An ear splitting shriek filled the air as the daggers hit onto the wind barrier. Sparks were send flying in all directions and started to ignite small dry leaves on the ground.

The strong wind of the barrier only fueled the small flames which soon turned into a roaring inferno.

CRACK!

With a loud crunch sound Weiss's daggers broke apart. Hundreds of shards were being accelerated to deadly speeds by the oppressive winds. The forest was turned into a landscape of fire and flying metal.

Weiss only grinned mockingly at Silara as she eyed the terrible situation that was unfolding in front of her. His smile spoke volumes. 'I won!'

Even her natural barrier couldn't withstand the blazing flames for to long.

She directed her frozen arm towards the flames, her aim with the bow was a bit off but enough to hit the hollering flames. The blue arrows came like a monsoon and filled the air in a light blue radiance. The arrows were shoot randomly and yet Weiss was hit by another three. Luckily for him it was only his left arm which was used as a shield against the raining arrows.

The plant golems were hit as well, freezing them to the ground.

The scenery changed again drastically. From nature to a sea of fire and now into a frozen tundra.

Silara was sweating profusely and her breathing was ragged. She took of the hood from her head and swayed her head from left to right to cleanse her pearl white skin. The barrier surrounding her was now gone.

Long pointy ears, sleek blonde hair, smaragd green eyes, a sharp chin, small lips and a slight button nose. This was Silara.

Her smaragd eyes scanned the surrounding. Weiss was nowhere to be seen!

Only a slight pai made her look to her left side. A maw was crunching down at her frozen arm.

“AHHHH!“. Silara howled in pain and swung down her right fist towards Weiss's head. Though he was relentless. His black fangs dug deeply into her flesh and ripped her left arm apart.

SHWITSCH!

A sickening sound entered Silara's ears.

She looked disbelievingly at her left arm, or what remained of it. The stump was bloody and rotting at some parts, only a few bits of her lower arm were remaining. The rest was stuck in Weiss mouth.

Her left hand still held onto the bow.

Weiss couldn't really comunicate with her but what he did next didn't need any words to convey its meaning. It was payback time for his left arm.

With greedy gulping sounds Weiss rubbed the saliva from his chin and began digging into his meal. With a rejoicing smile Weiss bit deeply into the smooth flesh. A warm wave of blood greeted his face and stuck onto his skin like war paint. He worked himself through the skin, fat, muscles and bones. After a few seconds only a few parts of the arm remained and all the time Silara was froozen solid at her place, the shock of losing her arm and then watching how it was consumed was to much for even hardened warriors.

Weiss tried to clean his face with his right hand but it only smeared the fresh spilled blood further. He did enjoy his meal but he was still at an disadvantageous position. He had no legs, only one arm and his powers were completely depleted. On the other hand Silana was still fit despite losing an arm, though if not treated immediately she could die from infection or blood loss.

'Fuck I will die here'. Somehow both Weiss and Silara thought so at the same time. Maybe it was the lost blood or the trauma of having her arm ripped apart but Silara saw herself in a disadvantageous situation.

'Where are the reinforcements?!'. She worriedly looked around the forest. Her village was not that far away so her comrades should long since be here.

As if answereing to her despair multiple blue lights started to flicker between the trees. The lights were moving erratic, some on the ground, others from tree to tree and still others were moving through the air. A group of animals such as wolves, tigers, monkeys, and different birds were arriving at the battlefield. Behind each of these blue spirit animals was an Elf. They numbered at least sixty in total, armed with sword and shield, maces, hammers, long swords, bows of all kinds and quivers filled to the brim with different colored arrows, and heavy or light armor.

One of the man at the front, tall and handsome, sprinted towards Silara. His long platinum blonde hair swayed in the wind, his androgynous face was filled with arrogance. 'Fuck not that guy!'. Silara thought to herself.

“Silara my dear. I told you the front line is nothing for a frail woman such as yourself. My offer still stays though.“. The conceited man caressed Silara's face with the back of his hand, like one would do with his lover; he was completely oblivious of her missing arm.

She only gave him a hateful look and smacked his hand away. “Get your hands out of my face you bastard! I will never be your property; you... you, YOU fucking incestous prick!“. Silara spitted the man in his face.

The man's face contorted in anger. He smacked Silara's face hard with his hand, bursting her lower lip and sending her face first into the ground. “This is how you talk to your elder brother?! You fucking bitch I will make you submit one day! And then I will make you taste the earth under my feet!“. The man turned his back towards Silara and went back to the other Elves.

“We got notice that two demons roam these woods. I believe its those two there!“, he pointed his finger towards Ziihor and Weiss. “They have to be kiled immediately. Men, forward!“. He took out a thin rapier and stood at the peak of the troops. Their cadence was making the ground rumble and the man gave Silara only a last angered look. “Your elder brother Nephyriem will show you how to fight, little sister...“. Nephyriem whispered to himself.

Ziihor at the same time broke through the last layer of ice that was encasing the Stalag eye.

He took it out from within his ribs and observed it carefully. He didn't even mind the troops that were moving towards him.

'Can I do the same with this eye as I did with the Burrower stomach?'. Ziihor was in an impasse. He could absorb the raw power to gain a significant advantage for a short amount of time or he could fuse the eye into his body, changing it and gaining a permanent boost to his might.

He went with the latter.

He carefully moved the silver-grey eye over his eye socket. The purple amethyst reacted to the draconic eye and started to send thin purple threads towards it.

Like tentacles the threads pulled the eye into the purple amethyst and started to fuse with it.

'FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!'. Ziihor squirmed in pain as a silver radiance flooded over his body.

His body was starting to change.

Ziihor was now jumping into the fray!