Chapter 132 War

Nikolai

Imporia

I've always had a one track mind. I can multitask pretty well but when I'm doing one thing, it has my entire focus. And the only thing in my mind right now was kill. Kill every zombie witch that crossed my path.

And it wasn't that hard to be honest. They weren't as strong or as fast as normal witches. And they used black magic. The ruby ring that I had worn made them powerless in front of me. And since most of them were just a bag of skin and bones, ripping them apart was as easy as it got. Actually, it didn't even come to that actually, I simply used my powers and burned those who came near me.

We had limited amount of stones that would protect us so I developed a strategy the moment I saw the worsening conditions. They had even entered the palace compounds. The only place they couldn't enter was the palace, because of its own powers that warded off those who wanted to hurt us. The zombie witches were killing my defenceless people left and right. And they were huge in numbers so there was no chance they could fight them off.

I ordered the few people who had stones to form parallel defence lines starting from the gates of the palace to the doors of the palace. And then small groups of warriors would save pack members from their homes and then help them get through the zombie witches and drop them safely inside the defence line or inside the palace gates, from where they could get into the safety of the palace. Those who were strong enough to fight were given any and every jewellery we had back home that could be used as a defence stone and then they came back outside to join us in the fight.

The condition was better than when I came but it was nowhere near ideal. And if this was continued, more than three fourth of the pack's population would die. I just hope that the Neos are coming quickly with the stones and Dimitri and Nat have found a solution.

I was working alone on the field, killing as many zombie witches as I could. I could kill hundreds of witches at the same time because of my fire. But it also made my body temperature shoot up, so much so that people standing near me felt like standing in front of a wild fire. So I decided it was best if I worked alone.

I heard a loud burst like I have over a hundred times already and prepared myself. I looked up and saw a cloud of red dust. Before they even started appearing, I raised my hands in the cloud's direction and channelled my energy, letting it fuel up.

They started appearing and dropping.

I let go.

A blast of fire escaped me palms as I fired away at them, literally. I burned some of them before they even touched the ground. And then I fired at the rest once they were on the ground.

Their foul smell surrounded me as they circled around me and started coming closer. It was better like this. Me better than my pack. I can at least defend myself.

I felt my power decreasing to I stopped firing at them. Instead, I lit up my entire body on fire, so even if I touched them, they'd burn to their deaths instantly. And then I began fighting.

They were slow so instead of standing still and letting them come at me like I was a piece of meat, I adopted Dimitri' style and ran around them in circles, hacking my way through them. Before they even changed their direction to get to me, I had already moved. It was tiring but it worked. And by the time my legs were tired, my energy to use fire again had built up.

I ran around the herd, ripping heads and arms of as many zombie witches I could. I also made sure to touch as many of these filthy creatures as I could so they'd simply catch themselves on fire and die.

Before I was even half way done, I heard another burst and then a red cloud.

Their frequency is increasing.

'Alpha, the defence line is on the verge of breaking!' I heard a frantic voice in my head.

Fuck.

'I'm on my way.' Abandoning this herd, I ran towards the palace entrance, where the defence line started.

Each defence line was made of two rows. The front row of warriors attacked the zombies and the row behind them defended with the help of shields and spears and took rest. After the attacking line was tired, they'd switch places.

But the zombies had grown so much in numbers that the attacking line was overwhelmed and largely outnumbered.

"Everyone, shields up, back away, duck down!" I growled loud enough for everyone to hear me, despite the chaos around us.

I raised my hands once I saw everyone was in the clear, I fired away at the zombies, trying to keep the fire away from my people. Their anguished screams rose in the air as they turned black and fell down, disintegrating into heaps of ashes.

I made my way around the entirety of both the defence lines, trying my best to burn all the zombies but I quickly felt my power draining.

I staggered when I finally stopped. The defence line had already lowered their shields and were back to their usual fighting.

'Alpha!' Chiara, in her wolf form stepped forward in concern. 'Do you need a break?'

"Our enemies don't rest. We won't either." I breathed out.

She held my eye before nodding and let out a war-cry howl that was joined by many others. We needed to keep each other motivated if we wanted to make it till help arrived.

"Ah!" I heard a cry and saw a little girl fall down inside the defence line. So many people were being brought in that it was a race to get inside the palace and save themselves.

I made my way inside and let out a growl, "walk in rows. No one gets left behind. Help the injured, kids and elders first."

The people who were running like headless chickens stiffened before they realised what they were doing. They automatically started walking in rows, helping injured, picking up the kids and holding hands of the elders.

"Sorry Alpha!" A man came running and picked up the little girl.

I nodded and then he went running back into the row.

'For far are you?' I asked Mikhail through the mind-link. The Neos army was our only hope. We needed those stones now. And we needed the numbers too.

'Twenty minutes. Alvar is mostly taken care of. We will be there soon.' Meaning most of the people there were now in secured locations.

'Be quick, things aren't looking good.' I said as I made my way back outside and joined the fight.

'Yes, Alpha.' He replied while I went back to killing.

I was in the middle of ripping off the spinal cord of a zombie when I felt Ava. She was near me. I thought we decided on resting. She's not strong enough to fight right now, I need to go find her and protect her.

I looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of her silver hair but all I could see were half-dead witches and my pack struggling to defend themselves and save as many people as they could.

It was pure chaos.

People were dying in front of my eyes and I couldn't do anything. Every second, I felt the snapping of a bond, signalling the death of a pack member.

I saw a wolf fighting a zombie but three others jumped on it's back, chanting spells, choking him. I ran towards them with my fiery claws out. I swiped the zombies away and watched them burn as I helped the wolf to his feet. Half of his neck was ripped open and he was bleeding profusely. "Go back to the palace, get this taken care of."

He let out a soft whine before he lowered his head and ran away, towards the palace.

I felt Ava more closer to me than ever and then I heard something.

My head snapped up and I swear I saw an angel. Large white-gold wings, long silver and an ethereal silhouette.

Familiar electric blue eyes met mine and for a second the whole world faded away. All I could see was her. My angel. My mate.

"Avalyn." I breathed.

She has wings now. She's truly a faye now, in every sense of the world.

"Nikolai!" She spotted me and started lowering herself to the ground.

I saw a group of zombies coming near me and I burned them dead. No one is touching my angel.

She mistook the distance and her speed because of which she was about to crash down but I jumped in the air, caught her in my arms and landing back on my feet to make sure she had a safe landing.

"Thank you," she whispered, looking around with wide eyes before she finally looked at me. "Natalia and Dimitri found a cure. Don't kill them, they can turn back into normal living witches again."

I looked around, "they're killing our people, Love." I breathed. "If we don't kill them, they kill us."

She chewed on her lip as she thought about it.

"Mikhail is on his way with the Neos army, we can hold them then but right now the only way to defend ourselves is killing them." I pecked her forehead as I fired another group of zombies running towards us.

"Okay then. What do you need me to do?"

"The people are still hiding away in the houses. The zombies are breaking down the doors and windows. You need to get them out of there and drop them at the palace." The wings will help speed things up.

"Okay, be safe, Nik." She started flapping her wings and I fired some more zombies who got too close for my liking.

"You too, Love." I said as I made sure she was higher up in the air and out of reach of anyone. Only after that, I continued killing. This time, I stayed near the defence line, making sure they weren't overwhelmed.

I lost count of the number of zombies I killed. The pain of my pack members being killed was less than earlier but it was still constant. I knew that Silverwitch Bay and Alvar were in the clear now. But most of the population of Soare-Luna was in Imporia and we needed back up right now.

'We're here, brother.' Mikhail came through.

'Tell the Neos to start handing out the stones to the warriors first before they started engaged in a fight with the witches. Dimitri and Nat have found a cure so tell them to avoid killing the witches, but not at the expense of their lives.'

'Yes, Alpha.' He replied.

It was impossible to not feel the presence of the over five thousand warriors of the Neos Army. They swooped in and I could already see that the condition was getting better. Most of the pack members had stones but we were nowhere near close to winning.

Counting the Neos, we were around six thousand of us fighting and we were still wildly outnumbered.

I aimed my palms towards a group of people running towards the palace when I heard a scream, "no!"

A witch who smelled rotten, wearing rags came kneeled in the middle of the ground, "please spare my life, Alpha."

My eyes widened. Zombie witch couldn't speak. Was this...was he cured?

I walked towards him, "you're cured."

His eyes grew confused, as if he had no idea what I was talking about but he was trying to get away from me. He feared me. "Please, Alpha Adrik, I will do as you wish, please spare my life."

"I'm not Adrik. I'm Nikolai." I informed him. "Do you remember anything?"

"I -I..." he looked shit scared. "I remember being killed...but it...it wasn't me...I swear...I'm going crazy...I-I...don't kill me."

"No one is killing you." I told him and I beckoned Chiara over.

"Alpha."

"He's cured, take him inside the palace and make sure he is safe and taken care of." The last thing I needed was people to think he was a zombie that had gotten inside and attack him.

'There are zombies who are getting cured. Do not kill them, send them inside the palace. They are innocent.' I announced to everyone through the pack link. 'Instead of killing them, focus on saving our people now. But your life always comes first.'

I wasn't going go ask anyone to try and save someone else at the expense of their own life. In war, death was inevitable but we could try and reduce it, especially now that we have a way out.

Instead of using my fire, I started using my fists and instead of focusing on killing, I focused on saving. I ran towards the residential area of the city and saw a particular house that was being attacked by a lot of zombie witches. They were pushing the door and chanting spells which did Goddess knows what.

All I knew was that there was someone in the house that needed to be saved. I quietly climbed a tree in the front yard till I could peek inside the through the window. I couldn't see anyone but they must be in hiding.

I made sure I had enough footing before I walked over the branch and made my jump. I broke through the window and landing on my hands and feet.

A shrill scream hit my ears and I followed it.

I turned my head and saw Viktoria and Lucas hiding under the study table. Both of them were crying, holding on to each other.

"Alpha!" Both of them ran out, throwing their arms around my neck and hugging me.

"Hey kiddos." I wrapped my arms around both of them and stood up, picking them up. The last thing I needed was for the broken glass to hurt them. "Where are your parents?"

"They went to work in the morning." Lucas' voice trembled. "Are they okay?"

"I'm sure they are, Lucas." I breathed out. I really hope they are. These kids have been through enough. "And for now, I need to make sure that both of you are okay."

They nodded.

"Lucas, you'll be on my back, hold on tight, okay buddy?" I asked and shifted him on my back. He wrapped his legs around my waist and his arms around my shoulders. "Vikky, you're in the front. Make sure you don't let go," I made sure I had both the kids holding on to me tightly. "Very good, now make sure you don't make any noise, close your eyes and keep them like that until I ask you to open them okay?"

"Okay." They whispered.

Taking that as a go sign, I climbed out of the window and jumped on the same tree I came in through, holding on to the branch with my hands before I jumped down.

Vikky let out a little shriek which earned us the attention of the witches.

Fuck.

I started running towards the palace as fast as I could. Vikky was holding on to me tightly, her face in my neck and she tried to hide away from the world. I made sure to keep and arm around her and I used the other hand to fire any witches that came too close to us.

"Alpha!" Lucas's terrified voice hit my ears once we got near the palace where the fight was quite dense.

"Keep your eyes shut!" I commanded in my Alpha tone to make sure he did it. This can scar him for life.

Instead of going through the defence line, I personally went to drop them inside the palace. I stopped once we were inside the doors but the kids refused to let me go.

"We're here, you guys are safe." I said and slowly, both of them let go.

"We're safe now?" Lucas asked.

"Vikky! Lucas!" A pregnant woman came wobbling towards us.

"Mum!" The kids' face broke into a smile as they dashed to hug their mother. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, "thank you, Alpha."

"It was my pleasure." I nodded before I ran out.

Back to work.

We might not be able to save everyone but we were doing our best. The one person I was waiting for was Adrik. And I knew he would come and find me himself. It was just a question of when. And I wasn't a weak child anymore, I was a full grown werewolf and I could fight him. And hopefully win too.