“Fella you need to stop and think about this. We have only been giving them free horses and it is costing us a lot of gold that we should be saving,” said Bland.

“We can just take the army and crush them. Whenever we met them, they were only gathered in small groups,” said Fela.

The two were sitting inside one of the now empty houses of a small village that they had come upon during their march south.

“They are just a small nuisance. Ignore them and let's continue to our next destination before any of the other Guilds start to get antsy and try to stab us in the back.”

“No! I can not let that damn werewolf stay alive! We will leave after everyone has finished taking all the supplies and loot from this village.”

Fela led the army south towards a direction she thought they would be able to find the small group of werewolves. They had little luck and were unable to catch sight of them until several long days had passed.

“The scouts say they have found a small group of werewolves camped outside a nearby woody area,” said Bland.

“Then we go that way! We must crush them or at least that man!”

***

“How long do you think it will take them to get here now that they know where we are?” asked Zundar. He was sitting next to the large roaring fire that was set up in front of Akira's tent and was focusing on sharpening the spike at the bottom and top of his large hammer while he talked.

“Will they even come here?” asked Klyn. He was sitting next to Zundar and for the 1 millionth time was studying and going over his notes for the new holy shaman chants from the old book.

“There is no doubt that they will take the bait if that weird demigod is in charge. If they don't come to us we will just have to go to them and hit them from behind. Since we know where they are heading it should not be that much of a problem to find them,” said Akira.

“If I had to guess it would be some time tonight or tomorrow morning,” said Varbu as he finished his large late dinner which was made up of only meat since it was hard to find anything else to eat in the winter while on the move.

The regular supplies were for the soldiers' rations so they could keep fighting in top shape and high morale.

“Will they give us more horses again?” asked Zundar with a smile.

“I am surprised you orcs and goblins can handle the cold so well,” said Akira.

“We don't like the cold, but this land is our home now. I just think of the old sayings of the elders from my tribe 'There are more ways to keep warm than there are to stay cool',” said Varbu.

“Gii gii gii,” said Gobbers adding in his own 2 coppers to the conversation. Gobbers had only come to learn more about commanding so there was only a small force of goblin guards with him.

Only ten or so large fires like the one Akira and the others sat around were burning on the outer edge of the camp. The fires did their job of lighting up the surroundings and giving those in the area some much-needed warmth during the cold winter night.

Akira and the others went to bed late after waiting for several hours but still not hearing anything from any of the scouts who were on the lookout for the demigod army.

In the early morning well before the winter sun had even started to peak over the snow-covered horizon Akira was woken by what he had been waiting for.

“AwooooAWOOO!”

The Demigod army had been sighted!

Akira hurriedly put on his armor and sword belt before grabbing his shield and exiting his tent. He gave a quick nod to the two soldiers that were guarding his tent before joining his officers.

An unusual warm air had swept in over the night and had created a light fog that mingled with the smoke coming from the fires and now covered the entire woods. The gray smokey fog obscured the view of anyone that tried to look too far.

“They should be here within an hour or so,” said Varbu.

“Gather your soldiers into the formation we discussed before!” ordered Akira as he hopped onto the back of Grarr.

He went through the small camp and continued to issue orders while gathering everyone.

Several minutes passed before a line of two thousand heavily armored orcs and werewolves got into full formation standing in a line extending from the foggy woods on their right.

They stood in front of their campsite on the flattened land that had been cleared of large snow piles the night before. The moved snow had been used to build a small wall in front of the camp to block the wind.

As the morning grew older, the fog that covered the field in front of the army, lightened but was still strongly covering the woods.

“They're here! We will do this just as we planned!” shouted Akira after seeing a dark blur on the horizon approaching them.

***

“Fela! You said that there would only be a small group! Look! There's over 2 thousand of them!”

“Hmph! Just look at them, they have both orcs and werewolves gathered. It looks like they just asked for a bunch of mismatched fighters to join them. The way you talk one might think that you are scared of them. I can assure you that there is nothing they can do to us. Send them our demands!” said Fela.

***

A horse rider separated from the demigod army that had stopped several hundreds of yards away from Akira and the others.

The horse rider stopped ten yards in front of Akira who she guessed was the leader due to the many warriors around him and seeing the flying flag with a howling wolf under a moon directly behind him.

“I have come to issue my leader's demands! If you want to live, you must hand over those who have repeatedly attacked, ambushed, and killed leader Fela and her supporters!”

“Ha! Bold of you to come all this way without a flag of truce!” rumbled Varbu, his fists gripping his weapon even tighter.

“Where is your honor!? Do you not view us as your equal in fighting power?” asked a heated Zundar.

The female demigod rider nervously looked at the two large hulking figures on either side of Akira. They were both gripping their large hammers ready to swing towards her fragile body.

Both their faces had smiles but their eyes were glaring at her as if they could see through everything that made her who she was. It was her first time seeing the dreaded Werewolves, Orcs, and even a rarer Minotaur.

Everything about them gave her the chills and she felt herself shudder from their gazes.

Akira held up a hand to stop the two from saying anything more.

“If you are going to come here with that nonsense then get lost! If you do not show us any respect there is no point in you coming here,” said Akira.

“Leader Fela knew you would refuse. So she demands a 1 on 1 duel with the leader of this small group. Winner takes all!”

“All of what?”

“The winner gets to order the losing side to do whatever they want!”

Akira pulled his officers and companions into a huddle.

“Don't trust them or her!” said Mileena.

“She's right, they have no honor and will not hold to their word! You should know this already,” said Zundar.

“No, this is a good chance for us! If he kills their leader that will make it easier for us to take out the rest!” said Varbu.

Akira listened to everyone's opinion before turning back to the female rider who was sweating even with the cold winter wind lightly blowing by.

“I agree to a 1v1 duel. But... you demigods must stay over 200 yards away from the fight.”

“I will relay your words,” said the rider as she turned around and rode back to the demigods' main force.

Moments later Fela departed the army with an escort of 10 other demigods and walked towards the center point between the two armies, the demigod army moved back another hundred or so yards so that they were just at the 200-yard mark.

“Varbu, Mileena, stay here. You know what to do if anything happens,” said Akira.

“But I want to go with you!” said Mileena.

Akira flicked her forehead and said, “Follow my orders. There will be more than enough things for you to do later.”

Mileena crouched down and held her forehead with both hands as she watched Akira leave.

Akira moved out with his bodyguards as well as Zundar and Klyn to meet Fela at the center of the battlefield.

The demigods that had joined Fela and the guards that came with Akira both created a semicircle around their leader as they stared daggers at each other.

“You're thinking something rude aren't you!” said Fela as soon as Akira arrived.

“I have no clue what you are talking about. So, do you want to get it on?”

“Wha- what are you saying!”

“I'm all for it, let's go!”

“How could you say something like that, you pervert!”

“HUH??? I'm talking about our duel. What are you thinking about?”

“It's nothing...You really are a battle maniac!”

“Don't flatter me too much or I might get embarrassed,” said Akira.

“That wasn't a compliment!” said Fela as she launched a surprise attack towards Akira.

The sharp pointy rapier stabbed forward creating a wave of bright red light around it as a skill was activated.

BAM!

The surprise attack was stopped dead in its tracks as it was blocked by Akira's shield and the black mist armor that now surrounded him as he quickly transformed.

Akira did not return an attack and just let her use several other skill attacks while he studied everything he saw.

He was using it as a training experience both mentally and physically so he could better understand the demigods even more than he currently did.

“Stop dodging and blocking my attacks! Take them like a man!” said Fela who was getting frustrated that none of her attacks were doing any real damage to Akira.

“I'm not a psychotic M like you! So why would I want to let you hit my body?” asked Akira as he dodged another attack but this time he used his skill [Sword Slash].

The skill flew out and created a spray of blood as Fela's right arm was severed. She gave a low groan from the pain. She grabbed the falling arm with her left hand and rolled away from Akira who was following right behind her.

She took a potion from a pouch on her side and took a swig of it before smashing it against her severed arm to stop the bleeding and begin the healing.

Now using her left arm to wield the rapier, she continued to launch attack after attack at Akira trying to pierce through him. Akira weathered it all, gaining more and more dents and cuts in his shield and armor as he closed the distance.

Another blue [Sword Slash] flew out and sent her left arm flying in the air along with her rapier.

The nearby demigods seeing this drew their weapons ready to rush forward and save her. But Fela had other ideas and did not care what they did. She charged forward without any arms, her mouth wide open ready to try and bite Akira to death.

BAM!

She received a [Shield Bash] to the face knocking her to the ground in a daze, blood covering her face from a broken nose.

Not wanting to drag the fight out any longer Akira sent a blue [Cross attack] towards her body... severing it into four parts before the other demigods could jump to her rescue.

Ding!

You have killed demigod Fela!

You have leveled up!

You are now level 108!

“Awoooo!” Akira let out a loud howl commanding everyone to move onto the next phase of their plan.

The remaining ten demigods all released a barrage of skills at Akira and those around him. The werewolves had all transformed and now ran forward to support Akira.

The two sides clashed and started a mortal fight to the death where only one side would be left standing.

Varbu and Mileena began to charge forward with the two thousand heavy soldiers. At the same time, the demigod army also started to rush forward.

Zundar stood next to Akira and sent several of the demigod escort guards flying backward turning them into mangled and shattered husks, while he received many cuts and burns from the numerous attacks that hit his sturdy body.

The ten demigod guards were quickly finished off and Akira and his own guards retreated from the center of the battlefield to join back up with the charging heavy soldiers so that they were not swarmed by the demigods and their minions.

The dark morning was lit up by the hundreds of skills used by the demigods as they flew everywhere.

Just a moment after Akira had rejoined the heavy soldiers the two sides clashed together.

It looked to be an even match for a long moment. Then a howl was heard from the white foggy woods.

Many thousands of howls replied to the howl and moments later, thousands of howling werewolves jumped out of the foggy woods and slammed into the left flank of the enemy army hammering them hard and culling hundreds of their minions.

***

A dark black fog began to take over the plains and woods to the north of the two clashing armies who were still unaware of its gradual appearance.

Two dark-robed figures exited the dark foggy mist and looked around their surroundings.

“Lucky! Now this is what I was looking for!” said Tibia.

“What are you planning to do?” asked Bonestringer.

“What else is there to do? I'm going to join in on the fun!”