All Keras’s side needed to do was stop them from reaching the gate. Which sounded far easier than he knew it was going to be. Nemesis had gathered a strong force. Even at this distance he could sense the strength of some of them, and the power the scarlet-haired goddess emitted had grown stronger too. It slithered over his skin like an oily slick, a disturbing sensation that made him want to rub his arms to rid himself of it.
Had she grown stronger because the belief of the males and females she had convinced to join her side was fuelling her, or had she always been this strong but something about her realm had kept her power limited?
It wouldn’t surprise Keras if his father had tampered with the laws of her realm to keep her power in check.
Valen released Cal when he nodded, his black gauntleted hand slipping from his wrist. It was strange to see all his brothers garbed for war, wearing the same red-edged onyx armour as he did. Like him, they had omitted their crimson cloak though. War was no place for something the enemy could easily grab and use against you.
Keras flexed the scarlet tips of his gauntlets against Cal’s wrist and then released him.
A mistake.
Calistos disappeared in a swirl of black smoke.
“Damn him,” Daimon muttered.
“Little fucker,” Valen bit out.
Keras echoed both of those sentiments.
He fixed his gaze on Marinda and stepped, trusting that his brothers and Enyo would follow him. He had wanted to wait for Thanatos and Nyx to arrive with their army, but that was no longer an option. He couldn’t leave Calistos to fend for himself, and his gut said his brother was about to land in a whole heap of trouble.
Keras appeared in the middle of pandemonium, was struck by wind the second he touched down and sent flying into one of the enormous demonic males. The male grunted and his scarlet eyes widened as he shoved Keras off him, realisation dawning in them. The daemon lunged for him instead and Keras was swift to leap backwards, barely avoiding being grabbed.
A pretty blonde female crashed into the male, the swirls and spikes of the dark gold metal bikini she wore barely covering her breasts and the juncture of her thighs, revealing far more than was decent.
A valkyrie.
Fire lit her golden eyes as she turned with a snarl on Calistos, shoved off the daemon and knocked him down as she sprang back towards his brother. She was little more than a blur as she launched at him, her half-leather half-feather wings beating the air and her clawed talons reaching for him.
Daimon appeared in her path and grabbed her by her throat. She hissed and kicked at him as ice spread over her tanned skin, flashing sharp teeth in his face. His white-haired brother didn’t flinch as she railed, as her golden boots connected hard with his shins and her talons raked over his black armour.
He closed his hand around her throat and white spread up his black gauntlets, formed spikes of ice along his forearm that glittered in the amber light from the lava flowing down the mountains.
“Any idea what her charm is?” Daimon flicked a glance at Keras as he dodged left, avoiding a blow the daemon brute aimed at him.
He launched his shadows at the male, tearing a roar from him as they engulfed him. “No idea.”
But she would have one.
All valkyries had a charm they wore, an enchantment that protected her and made it impossible to kill her. Before he could scan her for something that looked out of place, the other three valkyries shot down from the sky and attacked Daimon as one.
Cassandra bit out something in Russian and struck one with a sphere of violet light that sent her shooting back into the air. She hurled another spell at Daimon, and a thin blue barrier appeared around him in a wave, knocking all the valkyries back and forcing the one he had been holding away from him.
It severed the arm of one of the valkyries.
The sorceress grinned.
It fell from her face when Daimon spoke.
“Only going to slow her down.”
Cassandra’s pale blue eyes widened as the blonde female beat her wings, the golden feathers at the tops of them shimmering in the light as she lifted into the air.
And her arm regrew.
The female flexed her new talons and grinned down at Cass, flashing sharp teeth in her direction. On an ear-splitting shriek, the valkyrie launched towards her.
Keras swept his arm up and hit her with a wave of shadows before she could reach Cass, knocking her flying back into the air again. She struck one of the other valkyries and both of them turned on him with a hiss.
White-purple lightning blinded him as it shot down from the sky and hit one of them. She screamed and shuddered, her entire body juddering as arcs of electricity coursed over her.
Valen aimed the next bolt of lightning at her companion, but the female was swift to move, hit the speed of a train as she beat her wings and swept over the battlefield in a broad arc.
Keras tracked her.
As his gaze followed her, the force Nemesis had amassed reached them.
And several of them went down screaming, clutching their chests and vomiting blood.
Esher.
“Do not overdo it.” Keras turned on his brother.
Esher’s blue eyes narrowed on him, and he looked as if he wanted to refuse that order, but then he nodded stiffly. Esher’s power over water gave him the ability to control the fluid within another person’s body, but it drained him. Using that attack too much would render him weak and vulnerable.
Marek joined the fray with Caterina, cutting through the gathered Hellspawn and other species who had sided with Nemesis. The blood from the ones Esher had taken down rose into the air, fist-sized spheres of it that rippled as they obeyed Esher’s command. They were still a moment and then shot towards the bulk of the enemy forces, splitting into smaller spheres along the way. Those bullet-sized balls of blood ripped through the enemy, punching holes in the ones who were too slow to dodge.
Trusting that his brothers had this, Keras glanced at Enyo.
And caught her looking at his wrists as she battled one of the demonic brutes.
She didn’t have to worry. He was more than powerful enough to deal with any from the enemy’s side.
Even Nemesis.
Enyo bent forwards to duck beneath the meaty fist of the daemon and straightened, leaned back immediately to avoid the leathery wing that cut across the air in front of her, her jade eyes widening as it came close to striking her.
Keras sent a wave of shadows at the daemon just as Enyo drew her blade. The silver sword shone in a dazzling arc as she dropped to a crouch as the male twisted back towards her, lashing at her with his claws. She sliced across the daemon’s shins. A frustrated bellow erupted from the brute and she threw herself forwards and rolled as the male tried to stomp on her.
Keras’s shadows barrelled into the male’s foot before he could bring it down and shoved upwards, flipping the daemon into the air.
Enyo rolled onto her feet in front of Keras and glanced around them at the battle. “It seems to be going well.”
Famous last words, if ever he heard them.
A roar off to his right had his focus zooming there and he glared at the two daemons who had managed to get their hands on Cal. His brother fought like a wild thing, battering them with blasts of wind that almost managed to free him, his stormy eyes fixed ahead of him on Meadow as two more of the demonic males dragged Marinda along behind her.
Cal hit his captors with another blast of wind and one of them lost his grip on him.