Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Chapter 49: Long Is the Night for the Godless, part XX As soon as Narusha was killed, there was no holding back anymore. The floodgates of bloodshed had finally opened completely. More and more of the Nergranian recruits came charging into the outer ward and were bid a bloody welcome by the Loogranian soldiers. Of course, the Loogranians had the upper hand in this battle. Since the recruits wore neither armor nor shields, they hardly had any way to defend themselves against the enemy's weapons. Swords cut off their limbs, Axes cleaved their heads open and lances penetrated their chests. No one was spared. The Loogranian soldiers stabbed all the fallen recruits, slit their throats and stuck their swords up their assholes to make sure that none of them survived. Some of the recruits realized that there was nothing but their certain death awaiting them here. They tried to turn around and run away. But eventually they ended up running into the Nergranian soldiers. The white-haired women weren't pleased at all when they saw their recruits fleeing. They slashed them with their swords until nothing but bloody chunks of human meat were left of them. This way, all the recruits were slaughtered between the two armies. The battlefield was drenched in blood, flesh and mangled corpses before the true battle even began. Eventually, the Nergranians managed to unhinge the castle's gate. From then on, so many white-haired soldiers entered the outer ward that it became unclear who was the defender and who was the attacker in this fight. The battle was literally fierce enough to make the ground shake. If any outsider would have watched this, it would have been unbelievable to them that these two people shared the same origin. Their hatred for each other was immeasurable. This was just like their ancestors Neril and Loori would have wanted it to happen. The urge to destroy one another, even accepting self-destruction to achieve this goal. It was clear to everyone on the battlefield that this was the final confrontation between these two people. Only one of them would survive this. One lineage would end today. Shortly after the main battle had started, it began raining. The thick clouds on the sky turned day into night. Although it was quite dark, this didn't keep anyone from fighting. The whole outer ward of Loogran castle was filled with white-haired women fighting against black-haired women. Even the sounds of the battle were ear-splitting. Hundreds of swords smashing against shields, armor cracking under the heavy blows, bodies falling to the ground and countless screams of pain. There were people shouting everywhere. The soldiers were screaming death wishes into the faces of their enemies, cursing and taunting them. Many fighters shouted words of encouragement to one another. Others raised their voice to plead for mercy when they were surrounded by enemy soldiers. Not that it was ever granted. On the contrary, their deaths were ensured in the most cruel and excruciating way. Although it was not clear yet who would end up winning this battle, one thing became apparent quickly: A good portion of both the Nergranian and Loogranian would end up being killed off on this day. The losses on both sides were tremendous. On some parts of the battlefield, the ground was covered with so many corpses that they were virtually impassable. Remains of the killed women could be found everywhere. Hacked-off fingers and hands, as well as whole arms and legs were quite a common sight. Many stray heads were rolling around on the ground and ended up being kicked by many soldiers' boots. Of course, there were also numerous cut-off boobs, penises and ass-cheeks lying around on the floor. One could stumble into whole piles of steaming guts or accidentally step on a squishy heart, brain or eyeball. The ground was soaked with blood to such a degree that it resembled a swamp in many places. There were countless puddles of fresh red blood as well as blood splatters on every wall. Many of the soldiers were so distressed by this nightmarish environment that they ended up pissing themselves. It was such a common sight that it was condoned by everyone. On both sides, one could see countless soldiers who had warm urine trickling down over their thighs and filling up their boots. Others who were more faint-hearted also shat themselves in fear. No one was willing to put away their shield and weapon for a second to at least pull down their panties. They filled their panties up with thick logs of shit until they got pulled down by the weight. With bared ass, the fear-stricken women continued shitting until their bowels were completely empty. The stench all over the battlefield was bad enough to give many soldiers dry heaves. In the midst of all this madness was one fight that was even more intense than all the killing around it. On the one side was the personal bodyguard of the priestess Laesa. Theni the one-eyed, a sword fighter of incredible proficiency. Not only was she very talented and had trained rigorously ever since she had been a little child. She also could count on the support of the goddesses themselves. They granted her insight into her enemies' movements, making it almost impossible for any mortal to fight her. The only fault of her body- her missing right eye- had been inflicted upon her by her own master during one of the extensive punishment-sessions in her childhood. Many other children had not survived this insane training. But Theni had not only survived it, she ended up growing so strong that she killed her master in a training fight, taking revenge for her eye. It had been then that Laesa had decided that this girl should be her protector on her journeys. Theni was ready to sacrifice her own life either for her beloved priestess or for the goddesses at any point in time. But there never had been any heathen who could even scratch her. Theni's skill was on a whole different level. Considering all this, it was a small miracle that Virian was still alive. But the former Loogranian princess with the short gray hair had a hard time in this fight. Fortunately, the Nergranian Twin-Blade Style knew various techniques of self-defense. But other than using her two swords to parry Theni's slashes, she was hardly able to do anything. Her few attempts to attack Theni had been punished painfully. She already bore a bleeding wound on her right forearm from her fight against Narusha. Theni had added a cut on Virian's thigh and a bleeding scratch all over her slender belly. One particularly painful blow had cut through Virian's right eye brow. Blood kept running into her eye and forced her to close it. She was also losing quite a bit of blood from her other wounds. She felt it running over her skin warmly. When she made a quick movement, she could even see her own blood splattering onto the ground. Virian felt that she was gradually losing both her strength and her concentration. And this had to mean certain death in such a fight. Theni's blade came at her with such speed and force that she could only parry it when she was at the top of her ability. A single mistake could have led to her body being severed in two halves. Virian had stopped trying to attack Theni a while ago. Now she was using both her blades only to keep herself alive. She had no idea how she could have ever won that fight. For now, she was busy with not being murdered. The weirdest thing about this fight was that the longer it lasted, the more Theni seemed to enjoy herself. At the beginning, the expression on her face hadn't shown any emotion except for the cold intent to kill the one who had defeated her comrade Narusha. By now, she was almost smiling. Theni hadn't ever had an opponent that put up so much resistance. It made her remember how exciting it could be to kill off a heathen. She began playing with Virian, making feints and putting so much force into her blows that sparks sprayed all over the place when her blade hit Virian's swords. The dark red spots on Virian's clothes excited her even more. She wanted to make this heathen bleed and suffer more. Theni bared her teeth. "You're quite good, heathen. I'm sure that there will be a special spot reserved in hell just for you. A pot of fire just for your ass!" Virian hated the thought that this woman was dominating her so badly that she could even take her time to ridicule her. She considered using her enemy's arrogance for a quick counterattack. But she already knew that this would only lead to her own death. So she kept up her two blades, ready to fend off Theni's next blow. Both of Virian's pale hands were trembling. She glared at Theni. "Quit talking... You're just one... obstacle on my way..." Virian remembered her goal. She wanted to stomp this castle into the ground and make her mother pay for what she did to her sister. Damn it, she was a Loogranian princess! This was her home! There was no one who should have been able to keep her out of it! Theni's slash came and Virian was able to parry it with her left sword. The attack had been carried out quite sloppily in comparison to the previous strikes. Could this be a feint? A trick? Or was this woman's arrogance really getting to her head? No matter what it was, Virian knew that she had to do something if she didn't want to lost this fight. Her right blade was free, so she used it for an unrefined all-out slash that was aimed right at Theni's tits. Virian put all of her remaining power into it. It this wouldn't win her the fight, nothing would. Within a split-second Theni hurled around and brought her long sword against Virian's blade. She had grabbed the hilt with both hands. Theni used so much force to parry Virian's attack that the Loogranian princess was knocked off her feet. Virian landed with her ass in a puddle of blood that was running out of a girl's slashed throat. The sword with which she had wanted to strike Theni had been knocked out of her hand. Virian stared at Theni with wide eyes. So this was the true difference in their abilities... Theni grinned. In the end, there really was no opponent who could stand up to herself and the power that the goddesses bestowed upon her. She raised her sword. "Time to die..." Virian shook her head in disbelief. She wasn't ready to die. There were so many things she still wanted to do. Her body was completely paralyzed from fear. The voice that interrupted them was so haughty that it seemed completely unfitting to this scene. "Don't think that I let you bully my disciple, shithead!" Aelgoth hit Theni's sword with such tremendous force that the one-eyed swordswoman got knocked back several feet. Virian looked up with teary eyes. "Master..." Fel laughed excitedly. "Now don't go crying on me, girl..." Theni stared at Fel. Both her hands tightly held sword's hilt. Yet another strong fighter? This really was turning into one exciting battle... "You are this girl's master? Then fight me!" Fel snorted. "Fight you? I'll fucking rip you apart!" Then Fel unleashed the nightmare. Theni gulped. Until now, the goddesses had always been telling her what her opponents' movements were going to be. But right now, the goddesses didn't tell her anything. They had only one message for her that was flaring up in Theni's mind. You are going to die, child. Theni was able to parry Fel's first strike and that was almost a miracle. Aelgoth made a deep cut into her sword's blade. The next blow made a cut into Theni herself. And many more were to follow. Fel dismembered Theni's body before it even had time to fall to the ground. When Theni's head eventually landed on the blood-drenched ground, everything below her navel was missing. Same for both of her arms. It was only a small portion of Theni's body that was still left. Fel stood on top of her with a lunatic look on her face. Their eyes met one last time, then Fel put her foot down on Theni's throat, crushing her windpipe, her carotid and eventually breaking her neck. Virian still sat on her butt. She felt the blood soaking into her clothes. Also, she realized that she had pissed herself in the moment when Theni had been only a heartbeat away from kill her. Virian owed it only to one person that she was still alive right now. Fel... More tears rolled over Virian's cheek as she slowly managed to get on her knees and looked up to the magnificent tall woman in front of her. By now, Fel's cape was quite torn and had soaked up a lot of blood. Still, the death-rune could be seen quite clearly. Her sword was entirely covered with blood as well. Virian's lower lip trembled. It was more than a disciple's veneration that she felt for Fel. This was genuine love. But she didn't have a lot of time to marvel at her sparkling master. After killing off Theni, Fel laughed wholeheartedly and then lashed into the surrounding Loogranian soldiers. They were completely helpless against the Meluthian Nightmare. Gusts of blood, chipped-off armor and body parts hurtled through the air wherever Fel went. One could feel the Loogranian lines breaking down under her blade's wrath. Virian lost sight of her master in the chaos of the battlefield. No one could say for sure how many Loogranians Fel killed during that day. But one thing was for sure. If the Nergranian army would end up winning this battle, then she was the reason for it. Viora could also see that. While she was unaware of her own daughter fighting in the middle of this vast battlefield, she had caught notice of Fel who led the enemy army. It sent shivers down the duchess' spine. Not too long ago, she had sent Fel on a mission to get rid of the Kapla Wolf. How was it possible that the same woman was now leading the Nergranian army against her? Viora realized that it had been incredibly stupid in the first place to think that she could control such a woman. Fel had seemed rather calm and predictable when Viora had met her. But she really was a fucking maniac. And now she came back to haunt Viora. Viora stood on top of one of the castle's towers, surrounded by her closest familiars. From here, she could overlook the whole outer ward where the battle was raging. The rain that constantly fell down on the fighters couldn't cool them down in the slightest. They wouldn't be satisfied until one side had annihilated the other. And it was getting more and more obvious that it was the Loogranian side who would end up being wiped out. Viora clenched her fists. She addressed the women and girls standing next to her. "Bring me my armor... and the sword Enegoth! I will not let this castle go down without a fight!" One of Viora's servant girls shook her little head. "But... it's still not too late to use a secret passageway to flee..." Viora turned around and struck the servant with her bare fist. The girl went to the floor with a yelp. "No one is allowed to leave the castle. We will all die here, together. Now prepare yourself for fighting, all of you. And also... get the 'heart'. In case that everything else fails..." The women around Viora trembled in fear and awe of their leader's determination. No one dared to say a single word after this. Outside, the battle in the outer ward was eventually lost by the Loogranian army. The rainfall got a lot worse and a harsh storm came on. The Loogranian soldiers retreated to the castle's inner ward. Some of the Nergranian invaders followed them and continued the fight, but many others just stayed in the outer ward and continued the massacre there. There were many civilian buildings in the outer ward where common people were hiding from the battle. Now that there was no one left to protect them, the Nergranian soldiers were coming for them. The killing on this day had only just begun.