Hunter, Nico, and Crow cause complete havoc, and Lucer shows his might as the two armies clash with a bloodbath. First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/881637225/ Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/884841510/ Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/884605650/ Chapter 56: Teleporting again, Hunter found himself behind the camp, well hidden by a rocky barrier. Taking two rocks, he struck them together, creating a spark. Grabbing a nearby twig, he lit it up with the spark. Then he fed it. WIth his hatred. With his pain. With his suffering. With his darkness. With his mark. With. His. Shadows. He fed it until it grew and grew. He torched every single one of his arrows and left them hovering as he threw it into the densest clump of tents he could see. It ignited instantly. From the left and right, fire emerged as well, Crow and Nico’s work. Now Hunter grabbed his crossbow and aimed at other dense clumps. Arrow after arrow after arrow after arrow. Until he completely ran out of available arrows. Soon enough, the whole camp was ablaze. Machinery and weapons exploded as well, adding fuel to the fire. Ripplers hurried to extinguish the flames but it simply kept building, and Hunter kept adding shadows to fuel it. Treacherous Shades attempted to battle it, but Hunter was much too powerful. Hunter, taking his traditional role, covered behind the rocks, bringing down any soldier who attempted to retreat through the back. Sulla’s army was sandwiched now.
Chapter 57: Crow and Nico joined Hunter; they covered the only retreat. The combined army of Petra advanced. And they charged. Petra’s army got a bit of headway at first, driving Cobra’s army all the way to the rocky outcrop. But it was clear Sulla and COBRA were not giving up. Out came some more troops. Not only Ripplers, but Shades, Venoms, and Stormers. Traitors. Now it was an equal match. A deadlock between the two armies as they slaughtered one another. Bodies littered the battlefield as the living stepped over the dead, until the Danube ran red with blood and clogged with the dead. Even as Finick’s army advanced. Sulla’s army had their backs to the rocky outcrop, protecting them from being circled, and neither Hunter nor Crow or Nico dared to get in front of the outcrop due to the intensity of the fighting. Then Hunter pointed out an open area between the center of the army and their left flank, a perfect place. Yet both armies were already too busy with what was in front to take control of that. Both armies had sandwiched each other, meaning that one had to be completely massacred in order to stop the battle. Hunter sent some of his spirit army to the open area. Causing complete havoc. The spirits appeared out of thin air, and Sulla’s army was caught off guard. They turned to face the spirits, but it was too late. The spirits had already started to wreak havoc. They tore through the Rippler army, causing chaos and confusion. Which would have won the battle, had Lucer not suddenly appeared and taken control. Soon it was a fight between Hunter and Lucer mentally for control of the spirits. Crow attempted to help, strengthening Hunter’s hold, but Lucer had clearly been practicing. And he was winning. Hunter realized this, and released his hold entirely on them. His brain power was needed elsewhere. But Lucer used those spirits to an immense advantage, making them appear where he wanted in Petra’s army, causing the Shades to have to keep focusing on the spirits instead of the enemy in front of them, since they were the only ones capable of fighting them. Hunter could see the control Lucer held. Even more than Sulla, who was taking on Petra. Lucer needed to die. Now.