Ares continued to force himself into the fight, slashing and swiping his blade against the oxfolk. He cut down a couple, but the oxfolk seemed to rush in towards him. They seemed rather excited about wanting to charge Ares, as most of then funnelled their way towards him.

Yet when they approached it wasn’t just Ares they had to deal with. Xan remained ahead of Ares and was, for the lack of a better word, zapping each oxfolk as they appeared. The flash of blue and white lightning that poured out from his finger tips melted any and all oxfolk that appeared before him until they formed a pool of death underneath.

‘God damn.’ Ares couldn’t help but think of the lightning when it had struck him when they had first met. He certainly didn’t envy the oxfolk that had walked into the path of death that was Xan.

“Don’t falter! Kill the shadow!” an oxfolk exclaimed.

“The shadow! The shadow!” another roared out as they marched forward, trying to get close to Ares.

“It seems as though these oxfolk have a low opinion of you,” Xan said as he raised his hand and then shot out another bolt of lightning that struck an oxfolk with such force that they were flung into the air.

“We’ve had our disagreements,” Ares managed out, a thick sweat across his brow.

There was a chant through the oxen as they then forced Zika and her few aside and charged in a line towards Ares. Yet it seemed as though that was a terrible idea, for the oxfolk did not wear any armour other than thick furs.

The lightning tore through the first oxfolk and then shot beyond, striking the second, tearing their torso apart before it slipped through to the third. Then Xan clapped his hands together and a flash lit up the area for an instant.

A storm of lightning had appeared, an entire area sizzled within the blink of an eye as dozens of oxfolk were struck from above once, causing them to freeze where they stood. They were dazed, some were instantly dead, others just shocked and surprised by what had occurred. This allowed the Reptai to gather themselves and to force themselves through. They roared and yelled out with great satisfaction as they cut down the oxfolk.

Arrows whistled from the heavens, but Ares reached out and managed to create a shield through the use of his powers. Some Reptai were struck, but he couldn’t really help that. What he could help was trying to get rid of the oxfolk that had showered them in arrows.

He returned fire. He thought about rows and rows of arrows, all neatly arraged within the sky. Then he imagined how quick he wanted to shoot them out before he dropped the thought as the arrows appeared exactly how he wanted them to, watching as they disappeared within a moment and struck through a large number of the archers in the distance.

The Reptai’s ranks had been broken again, the influx of oxfolk charging towards Ares as the handful of Reptai between he and the oxfolk tried to remain steadfast.

“Step aside! Flank them!” Ares exclaimed as he then began to stumble back, turning and then running. “Come and get me you damn oxen!” Ares led the oxfolk away, allowing half of them to chase him as the others tried to protect their brethren by attacking the Reptai that were on the flanks of them. Xan had stepped aside, allowing the oxfolk through as he watched what Ares was doing.

Ares leapt into the air, his arms turning into wings to give him some flight. He landed atop a wall that he created that had been formed out of dirt, and then created a hole in front of it. Some oxfolk had already begun falling into it, and though some of them tried to leap off of those that had fallen, Ares had already started to drop dirt above them to bury them.

He could no longer feel any sympathy for the oxfolk. Even though he had offered them a place within his Kingdom, or for them to leave as they pleased, they had decided instead to betray him. The thought weighed heavy on his heart, and yet he couldn’t help but mourn a little as he buried the oxfolk alive.

The others had come around and surrounded him. Some had gone feral and leapt up to fight him, but Ares shot out spears from within his ring before then leaping up and then flew over towards the fort where there were still a few oxfolk. They aimed their arrows towards him and fired, but they went through the flames of his wings.

He panted with great effort as he finally entered the watchtower, knocked whichever oxfolk were inside out of it. One had grabbed him and then started to pull him down, trying to gore him with their horns. Ares grabbed onto their head and then covered them in flames, causing them to shout and scream until within moments they had been killed by the intense flames.

Ares stared at the oxfolk around him as they tried to pin him down, a couple of others ran, trying to flee from the fiery death he had brought. Within moments the oxfolk were dead. Ares stumbled towards the back of the watch tower. He gasped for the cool air at the back before then looking down to see an oxfolk with a bow shoot at him. He flung himself away towards the tower and then looked up. He leapt up to the tower and then lit the flames with his wings and dropped down to punch the bell. He rung it hard.

He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with it, but he felt the need to keep ringing the bell. Once he heard the oxfolk begin to charge up the stairs he leapt out and then flew out, though quickly crashed down onto the floor.

“Shit,” he gasped as the pain ran through his body. He found himself between the oxfolk, which had now surrounded him. He panted for air as he shot out some spears to push them away.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He exclaimed as he kept shooting out spears, killing whatever oxfolk were nearby.

He climbed up the wall and then looked down to see a handful of oxfolk children, each clutching their own weapons. Ares winced and then leapt off the wall to the other wall, the other layer that he had told the builders.

The builder?

He looked around to see if he could see what had happened, but an arrow struck him in the side and he gasped for air. He dropped down into the family abode of some oxfolk, being struck by a few of the younger oxfolk. He tried to ignore them, not wanting to hurt the civilians.

Ares roared out as he turned into flames again and then leapt up to fly off, but fell outside the fort. Behind him was the wall, and ahead of him thousands of oxfolk beginning to close in on him.

“Oh damn.”