Page 89 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
Kitsuki moved to assist his uncle, ice magic gathering in his throat once more. He released it in a torrent toward the nearer of the two necrowings, the freezing beam striking its spine below the skull. The vertebrae froze, immobilizing the creature’s head and preventing it from using its deadly breath weapon.
Jaega seized the opportunity, orange flames engulfing his claws as he drove them into the necrowing’s chest cavity. The fire magic connected with the trapped soul, burning through the necromantic energy that bound it. With a final, agonized scream, the soul broke free, ascending as a white light before disappearing.
The second necrowing retreated, perhaps recognizing the threat posed by the two powerful dragons working in tandem. It rejoined the others circling above the battlefield, their burning eyes watching for any sign of weakness.
Kitsuki took a moment to survey the aerial battlefield. More dragon shifters had taken to the air, their scaled forms vibrant against the sky.
A movement on the castle walls drew his attention. A cloaked figure stood there, arms raised skyward as dark energy crackled around its bony fingers. The figure was taller than any wolf shifter, its form obscured by flowing dark robes that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Around it, a circle of wolf shifters stood guard, weapons at the ready.
Was it Ishibiya, the legendary necromancer? Only he would have been powerful enough to control the abominations. If Kitsuki could eliminate the source of the necromantic magic, perhaps all the undead would fall at once.
Before he could act on the thought, a flash of movement below caught his eye. Maseo was fighting with grim determination against a lichen warrior. The half-shifter executed a perfect strike, his sword piercing the glowing soul at the center of the skeleton’s ribs.
But Kitsuki’s moment of pride turned to horror as he noticed another skeleton approaching Maseo from behind. Its bony hand shot out to strike a killing blow. The protective ring should have activated, shielding Maseo from harm, but Kitsuki felt no surge of magic, no connection to the protective enchantment he had placed on the ring.
It didn’t work against necromancy.
Of course, the ring’s magic operated on principles of life and death, while necromancy existed in the space between. The protective barrier that had kept Maseo safe from conventional attacks would be useless against the undead.
Without hesitation, Kitsuki released a precise beam of ice magic that struck the lichen’s sword arm, freezing it solid mid-swing. The sudden weight pulled the skeleton off-balance, giving Maseothe moment he needed to spin around and drive his blade through the glowing soul in its chest.
Relief washed over Kitsuki as he watched the skeleton crumble to dust. But a pained roar pulled his attention back to the aerial battle. A necrowing had one of Kitsuki’s younger dragon shifters in its bony claws, tearing at his wings as they plummeted toward the ground. Kitsuki rushed to assist, but before he could reach them, Jaega intercepted, his orange flames engulfing the undead dragon.
The necrowing released its grip, more interested in self-preservation than in completing its attack. The young shifter stabilized his flight with damaged but functional wings. Jaega pressed his advantage, pursuing the retreating necrowing with relentless determination.
Kitsuki shifted his focus back to the cloaked figure on the castle walls. If it was indeed Ishibiya, eliminating him might be the key to ending the battle. He shot toward the castle, intent on confronting the necromancer.
As he approached, the figure raised a skeletal hand, confirming Kitsuki’s suspicions about its nature. A pulse of dark energy erupted from its palm, not directed at Kitsuki but at the sky above. The clouds swirled in response, forming a vortex of darkness that spawned three more necrowings, even larger than those already engaged in battle.
The necromancer then stepped back, seeming to fade into the shadows of the castle wall. By the time Kitsuki reached the spot, there was no sign of the figure, only the wolf shifter guards who now turned their weapons toward the approaching dragon.
Frustration surged through Kitsuki as he veered away from the castle. The necromancer had escaped before he could confront him. Now there were three more necrowings to contend with, each larger and more powerful than its predecessors.
The new necrowings joined the fray, their massive frames dwarfing even the largest of Kitsuki’s dragon shifters. One engaged Jaega, locking in a brutal midair struggle that sent them spiraling through the sky. With a ferocious show of magic, Jaega defeated the enemy with the skill that made him legendary during Tatsuki’s warlord reign and the Necromancer War.
Together, they surveyed the battlefield, assessing the situation with tactical eyes. The Valzerna forces were holding their own, but for every lichen they destroyed, another ten seemed to take its place.
Dragon shifters battled in the sky with courage and skill, yet their enemies outnumbered them, and exhaustion took hold. Three of Kitsuki’s dragon warriors had already fallen, their bodies lying broken on the battlefield below.
A necrowing rushed toward a wounded shifter struggling to maintain altitude. Kitsuki and Jaega moved in tandem, intercepting the undead dragon before it could reach its target. Jaega’s orange flames engulfed the undead creature’s wings, while Kitsuki’s ice magic froze its chest cavity, immobilizing the soul within.
With a synchronized attack that spoke of centuries of fighting together, Jaega’s claws were wreathed in orange fire and Kitsuki’s in frozen flames. The combined magical assault proved too much for the trapped soul to withstand. It broke free of its bonds, the green light dissolving into white as it ascended to the Beyond Realm.
The skeleton disintegrated, its bones turning to dust that scattered in the wind. But he couldn’t celebrate the victory when more necrowings circled above, and the battle on the ground continued.
Kitsuki intended to assist his uncle, but a shadow passing overhead gave him pause. Another necrowing had positioned itself above him, its skeletal form silhouetted against the dark sky. It differed from the others; while most necrowings were almost all bone, it retained more patches of desecrated flesh and sinew, giving it a decomposed appearance that was more disturbing than clean bone.
The creature opened its maw, green fire gathering in its gullet. Instead of releasing its deadly breath, it seemed to inhale, drawing the flames back into itself.
Far below on the battlefield, lichen exploded into dust clouds. Kitsuki watched in growing horror as hundreds of souls torn from their obliterated hosts pulled skyward in spiraling streams. The souls screamed as they rose, their ethereal voices creating a symphony of anguish that made Kitsuki’s dragon recoil in revulsion.
The necrowing’s body distended as it swallowed the ascending souls, its bones bulging with each one it consumed. Black fire erupted from its eye sockets as the consumed spirits struggled within its body, their green light flickering like dying candles behind translucent patches of rotting flesh.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the transformation began.
The patches of preserved flesh bubbled and spread, flowing across the skeleton like molten wax infused with the essence ofthe devoured souls. Each absorbed spirit added to the creature’s mass, bone blackening and thickening as it swallowed the life force of hundreds of fallen lichen.
