Anna had been pacing almost constantly since she had reunited with Kristoff who had found the Coroans.

The Princess was riding Marshmallow with Lust in his grip when a couple trolls who were hiding out in the forest noticed her and told her to go toward the shoreline. She initially refused as she needed to get to Elsa as soon as possible but when they told her that the Coroans had arrived to help, the redhead thought that maybe she could ask them to come with her instead of going alone. When she arrived at the shoreline with a giant snowman it caused quite a scene, but the mountain man quickly recognized his wife and sprinted to embrace her while apologizing for not being able to protect her.

It was a heartwarming moment that lasted until Eugene cleared his throat to get their attention and asked they follow him to his flag ship. Apparently, Corona received warning that Arendelle would be invaded soon so the King had sent an advanced force to see if this happened to be true or not. Ideally, they would arrive before the invasion if it was going to happen but judging from the smoke on the horizon, it was easy to see a large area was on fire, hence an invasion was likely taking place right now.

Rapunzel had tagged along despite her father's furious attempts to dissuade her until he finally relented when Cassandra said she would go and keep her out of trouble. The Captain of the Coroan Royal Guard had also came to assist Arendelle in its time of need with five ships that could handle whatever they were up against but more than that, give support or retreat to gather reinforcements if necessary. Anna was deeply grateful they had come to help and explained to them the situation the best she could with what she knew. Grand Pabbie, who had just broken one of his tribe's most ancient rules of remaining hidden from humanity told them what he knew about the enemy.

Hearing him describe what they were up against made it seem like they were fighting ghost stories but having a Princess with indestructible hair changed their perceptions of 'impossible' a great deal. The Captain ordered a scout force to see how the main gate looked to determine if they had the numbers to fight them head on. The scouts had reconned the area and had found groups of civilians being led by Arendellian guards. It didn't take too long until all the civilians that had been evacuated from Arendelle had gathered at the shoreline with the Coroans.

Anna was relieved to see that they had so many people but had learned that the last group had been cut off and likely captured by the enemy. She wanted to bust down the main gate and rescue them but was quickly met by opposition from Kristoff, Eugene, and Rapunzel who pointed out that rash action right now wasn't wise. They're first priority was protecting the civilians who actually made it out of the village.

Grand Pabbie then told her that he would send some of his trolls to dig underneath the castle to speak with Elsa. He had doubted that she had been captured as Marshmallow hadn't felt anything being wrong besides his mother needing help. While two of his fastest diggers did so, the rest of the trolls who weren't posted in the forest would help dig a tunnel to the castle that the people could use the evacuate. Anna thanked him and agreed to stay if she could send Marshmallow to help who honestly shrugged off what anyone said besides her.

As for the snow giant's prisoner, Grand Pabbie knew the dangers of allowing her to be anywhere near people who could be affected by her abilities. So he painlessly removed her stone and sent it with his two diggers in hopes they could deliver her to Queen Elsa or bury her underground to prevent any mayhem she could cause.

Currently, they were waiting as the tunnel had almost been completed and Erend had relayed to one of the trolls who were digging who rolled back to them and told them the situation. Anna was glad that her sister was alright and had rescued the hostages but she was also worried as it looked like the enemy had her cornered until the tunnel was finished. She was thinking about this until a troll from the forest had rolled to the shoreline with a panicked look on his face.

"There are phantoms combing the forest!"

At first, none of them but Grand Pabbie knew what the troll meant which had the elder troll turn around and explain to them. He explained that they were basically the same entity that had attacked Edward in the Valley of the Living Rock before, soldiers with a phantom like body that could physically interact with them. He also went on to explain what had been going on in Arendelle prior to the

The more and more he spoke, the more worried that the Coroans looked. They had come to help Arendelle in the event they were to be invaded but they didn't expect to be met by magical talking rocks and phantoms that basically couldn't die. Rapunzel's determined glare did not waver in the slightest and only took each new fact as an obstacle to overcome. When the old troll finished, Eugene rubbed the back of his head before speaking first.

"No offense guys but those are some really grim sounding odds that we seem to be up against. We only brought five ships of about fifty soldiers each. If you're saying that were against two armies, four monsters, and these phantom-like things then we need a lot more than what we have. It might be better if we retreat back to Corona and ask for additional troops."

Anna whipped over to him and had a heated reply on the tip of her tongue at the suggestion they just abandon both Elsa and Arendelle, but Rapunzel beat her to it.

"Eugene, you know we've faced worse with less."

The former thief looked a little unconvinced with what she said but said nothing as she continued. "Besides, we don't have to win this fight. As far as we know Arendelle has largely almost been entirely evacuated. If the stories are true about Elsa's powers and she is still within Arendelle fighting the enemy then she either believes that she has a chance at winning or there are some civilians remaining inside. In both cases, just running and returning with a bigger force will only increase the chance that we lose Queen Elsa if she can't beat her opposition. The trolls are digging a tunnel that will lead directly to the castle which we can use to either support her resistance or allow an evacuation. Elsa doesn't seem the type to care about land over her people, she'll likely prioritize their safety over her kingdom so she'll be willing to do what you just suggested as long as everyone is safe."

Eugene still looked unconvinced but ultimately just sighed his shoulders. "Alright blondie, if you really think so, then what's the plan?"

Rapunzel turned to the troll who first reported that the phantoms were in the forest. "How far away are the phantoms? Will they find us before the tunnel is finished?"

The troll scratched his head as he looked a little confused. "That's the weird thing, they are combing the forest, but they were at the edge of it when we saw them and seem to be taking their search very leisurely and slowly. Given how far they are and how fast they were moving, I would say it would take them a little over an hour to get here. With the tunnel almost being finished, we should be able to tell Her Majesty the situation and it should give her the chance to evacuate."

Rapunzel took a moment to think, if it would take an hour for them to be discovered, she wasn't sure if she should meet the phantoms to hold them off or stay here and defend the opening of the tunnel long enough for Elsa to complete an evacuation. There were risks in both, if they attacked the enemy that could accelerate their search but if they didn't then the enemy would be right on top of them and there would be a battle right where civilians would be escaping to.

An hour wasn't a lot of time, if they had horses with carts riding down into the tunnel then maybe they would be able to complete an evacuation in an hour. However, the tunnels were only big enough to accommodate people and they had no time to go out and find horses as well as carts while making the tunnel big enough to accommodate them.

They could send all of their troops through the tunnel to help fight off the enemy but what of the civilians who had been evacuated. She also had to consider the possibility that the opposition that Elsa could be facing would be too much for their reinforcements. As much as she wanted to help Arendelle, she also had a duty to the brave soldiers who came along with her. Her father was reluctant in allowing her to go to a potential warzone, it was only at the urging of the Captain of the Royal Guard, her mother, as well as King Alrick that she was allowed to take a small force to assess the situation.

If she could get here before the invasion, then she could warn them but if she couldn't then she was to immediately return home. That was what her father said but anyone who knew Rapunzel knew she wouldn't leave her friends to save herself. It was one of the reasons that the King expressed to her the importance that the soldiers coming along with her looked to her for their orders and lives were in her hands.

She couldn't and wouldn't throw their lives away.

Rapunzel really did want to go in blazing with swords drawn and beat back whoever decided to attack but took in everything the troll had said. From what he described, Arendelle was up against some formidable odds. It would be best if they could evacuate the Queen and whoever was left as Elsa sent away her people to guarantee their safety.

The more she thought about it, the more reluctant she was to openly attacking the invasion force. Their top priority needed to be the noncombatants. With that in mind, she made her decision.

"I want our forces divided up; I want two ship's worth of soldiers to divide up to be able to crew five ships. We'll ferry the civilians to the nearest friendly Arendellian base while one ship's worth will protect the people who can't fit aboard. This group will travel along the coastline and give the ships time to make the voyage to a nearby base and back. The last two groups will split up with one covering the tunnel's entrance and another going through to reinforce Her Majesty!"

The blonde Princess received a loud and thunderous acknowledgement from her soldiers as they rushed to carry out her orders. Eugene looked a little impressed while Anna walked up to her and was about to graciously thank her when the blonde stopped her.

"There's no need to say anything, we're friends and I don't turn my back on my friends."

Stonewell glanced back at Wrath who was holding his head with one hand while another was draped over Klein's shoulder who helped him walk into the war room. Ever since the predator said things got a whole lot worse, he started to hold his head like he was nursing a headache. The Captain asked him to explain what he meant exactly, and the runt answered that there were eighteen more copies of him running around and all of them were both stronger and faster than before.

This of course became an immediate topic of interest for the old man as he asked what they were all doing. Wrath winced every so often before he explained that they were going out and killing all of the Southern Isle and Weselton troops. Stonewell's first thought to that was 'doesn't seem like a problem' but he then thought of Julius and Elsa's wish for peace.

It would be quite difficult to foster peace if all the enemies they hoped to become peaceful with had been killed leaving only the General alive. A lesser strategist would think if there were no enemies then there would be peace but a wiser one knew that if there was no threat outside than it was more likely a threat from within would be born.

Achieving peace with the enemy would make that outcome unlikely so while Stonewell personally believed they should leave the enemy soldiers to their fate; he nonetheless began thinking of a plan as they made it to the war room. Queen Elsa was there with Hector as well as General Julius who was still accompanied by armed guards. When the blonde heard them enter, she turned their way with a hopeful and relieved look on her face.

"Captain, has everything gone according to plan?"

"For the most part, we managed to secure the enemy's leadership with minimal loss of life on our side."

The blonde's face morphed into a smile as her mind instantly began to think that they now had a solid chance for peace with the enemy's leaders captured and one of them willing to call off the attack. Perhaps the tunnel that the trolls had dug would not be necessary and this nightmare is close to coming to an end. Stonewell could see those thoughts in her head and internally grumbled how he was the one who always had bad news when she thought her job might get easier.

"There is, however, a new complication."

Elsa turned to the old man who turned to face Julius with a deadpanned expression that conveyed the seriousness of what he was about to say.

"It seems the one who is truly behind Han's attack on Arendelle has decided to take matters into his own hands and use his own forces. The ones under his command aren't exactly human, they are somewhat similar to Greed as what you saw in the town square except these ones are basically mindless beasts whose only objective is to kill whatever crosses their path. They are quite strong and quick on their feet and reactions so being able to aim a firearm at them and getting a hit would be difficult. Engaging them in melee combat is dangerous however possible given there's little chance of missing a target when swinging a sword."

The war room's atmosphere grew grim as everyone allowed Stonewell's words to sink in. Elsa's eyes slid over to Wrath who continued to clutch his head in agony while he used a free hand to grab on to the back of a nearby chair and she could see his fingers had already made holes in the wood. With everyone focused on the Captain, she ambled around the room until she was next to the young man and placed a cool hand on the forearm of the hand that was gripping his head.

"Is everything all right?"

The blonde's words were a whisper to avoid gathering attention but Klein who was next to the young man turned to face the monarch. "Your Majesty, he's been like this since we got back to the castle. Earlier, he suddenly collapsed then started saying that there were monsters attacking enemy soldiers. He said that he could see them, feel them kill whatever was in their path. Normally I would say he's lost it, but some unusual red lights started to shine in the village. With what's happened in Arendelle lately I don't know what to believe but the Captain seemed to believe him."

Elsa took in what the young guard said as she looked at Wrath. She could tell that his mind was in turmoil right now and if what Klein said was accurate then she could definitely understand why. Before she could say or do anything, the doors to the war room opened and Ahimoth and Lilian both strode into the room with grim looks on their faces.

"We got a problem."

Stonewell didn't even turn to address the Prince. "If you're referring to the creatures that's killing Southern Isles and Weselton soldiers, we're aware."

Ahimoth shook his head. "No, we have an even bigger problem."

The old man finally turned to look at the Prince with a raised eyebrow, a signal for him to explain. Ahimoth opened his mouth but a loud groan from Wrath caught everyone's attention as the young man dropped to a knee and clenched his head with both of his hands. Elsa instantly moved to kneel down next to him, but Hector quickly grabbed her under her arms and dragged her away despite her protests.

Walter eyed the young man suspiciously and took slow steps toward him while one of his hands inched toward one of the swords at his waist. "Runt, are you good?"

Wrath felt like his head was trying to split itself into several different pieces for each point of view that was playing in his mind. He could feel the bloodlust that each of them carried and hear their instincts lead them to their next target. Each time one of them killed someone his nerves would all go off at once as if their victim was right in front of him and he splattered them making their blood cover in him like a red torrent.

The logical part of his mind winced and shuddered while trying to distance itself away from each wave of feeling to regain some semblance of equilibrium, however a smaller more primal side of his mind conformed to it, embrace it even. The sensation of hunting those soldiers was so familiar and routine that Wrath had to remind himself multiple times that he wasn't a mindless beast anymore.

He was aware that everyone in the war room was looking at him with mixed emotions while all of this was playing out in his head. Wrath thought he could conceal his inner turmoil, but the more time passed, the more his hunger grew.

It wasn't blood that he wanted, it was rage. Unfiltered rage that burned so fiercely that the one consumed by it didn't even know how far gone they were. Something like that in Arendelle would be next to impossible to find but in this particular situation where copies of Wrath were running amok, there was so much to go around…

The copies didn't have any rage of their own, they were mindless, however their very being was rage. All of their souls cried out in senseless and baseless rage as they continued to hunt. The sound was becoming far too distracting to ignore, Wrath had never felt such a desire to hunt himself and feed on all the rage around him even when he was mindless. The only one close to this was Rahim who had a special spice to his rage since it was deeply set into his own being and consumed his entire life.

Wrath's mind was about to crumble completely, from all the point of views filling his brain to the overwhelming sources of rage to the almost crippling hunger to hunt once again.

Edward argued in his mind that he needed to snap out of it and get a hold of himself so he could help Elsa deal with the mess they were currently in. However, the predator, the undisputed center of his being had already decided on what it wanted.

As if a mad man had possessed him, Wrath shot to his feet and sprinted out the room, surprising everyone. Hector moved first and sprinted after the fleeing man and made it to the front door of the castle just in time to see the young man jump high enough to grab the castle wall and hop over it, amazing all of the guards and Blackdust soldiers with the inhuman height of his jump.

Stonewell reached him just as the noble cursed. It didn't take much to figure out what happened, the courtyard guards were all looking at the castle wall with awe. The runt probably jumped to the very top and vaulted over it in front of them. That in itself was humanely impossible so his men would wonder if Edward was really human but that was the least of their problems.

They had an unknown amount of creatures appear out of nowhere and their only means of tracking and accounting for them just went off the deep end and took off to God knows where. Stonewell didn't think that the enemy had taken over Wrath's mind since he made no move against Elsa when she was right next to him. Even if Edward had managed to resist the attempt on his mind, the old man would expect the young man to say something or even look at Elsa. Instead, he just ran toward the village.

The castle was an island connected by a single bridge so it would've been smarter to just go through the bridge instead of hopping on the castle wall. The Captain took note of what direction all the guards were in and concluded while it still led toward the village, the direction he took would lead him toward a corner of it.

As far as Stonewell knew, there was nothing of importance in that direction since they've fully evacuated Arendelle and the enemy were posted on the main road out of the village. There was always the chance that there was something new brewing in that direction but Wrath would've said something if he knew before his little rampage…

That's it!

Wrath was fine until all those creatures appeared and he said that he could see and feel everything each one of them was doing. It was possible that there was too much going on in his mind and he set out to ease it. Whatever way he would so was anyone's guess but they wouldn't know if they continued to sit around.

"Do you think he was compromised?"

Stonewell turned to Hector who had an almost worried expression on his face. The Captain could see the noble fearing that Wrath could be turned against them but Bowman wasn't one that scared easy. What was more likely as well as really unlikely was that the guard was worried for the runt. If things weren't so strained, the old man might've said something about it but the sound of hurried footsteps came right after the question.

Elsa was stunned by Wrath's sudden burst of movement that it took her a second to follow after Hector and Stonewell who both moved immediately. Ahimoth and Lilian had concerned looks on their face as the Prince absentmindedly asked if Wrath had fallen under the enemies control. The blonde had snapped out of it and quickly hurried after the two men with her heart in throat hoping and praying that what they said wasn't true. When she made it to the courtyard and couldn't see the young man in sight, she turned to Stonewell.

"Where is Edward?"

The old man could see the panic rising in her blue eyes when she asked that question. The Captain in him would've reprimanded such a useless emotion on her face, panic was not a luxury that royalty and the Commanders of an army could afford. However, the grandfather figure in him lamented that she was young and it was a shame that she was being bombarded by threats even seasoned soldiers would be worried. He wished that she wasn't being forced to grow up so rapidly but the world is a cruel place and he knew that things could be so much worse.

"He fled toward the village, and we have no way of knowing where he could be going."

The young woman looked in the direction that Stonewell gestured to and for a moment, entertained the idea of running after the wayward young man. She already had confirmation that Anna and Kristoff was ok, the tunnel was almost completed so she'd be able to evacuate the leftover people she had in the castle to safety and with the enemy leadership captured, this battle didn't have to evolve into a full-blown war.

The situation was grim but she could see some glimmers of hope compared to where they started in the beginning. Thanks to Walter, she was able to admit that she was unsure what to do and now knew that she didn't have to come up with every solution by herself. She wasn't alone, she had people she could count on to help her through the rough times.

Rushing after Edward by herself was her trying to do everything on her own. It was her first instinct, to do whatever it took to protect the people she cared for but now knew she didn't have to do that alone. She turned to Walter who was still facing her.

"The tunnel is almost finished so we can start getting people ready to evacuate. After we're sure we get all the staff and the civilians out of harm's way, we'll have to make a choice of either staying and engaging the enemy or fleeing. What do you think we should do?"

Stonewell stared at her for an extra moment as the urge to smile hit him but he remained with a focused expression. Elsa was always an academic and could pick up any lessons taught to her very quickly, even the very few he gave her were no exception. He was glad she wasn't trying to decide everything by herself and knew when to refer to someone who was more knowledgeable than her about the subject at hand.

"That depends on what the Prince has to say, he said there was another problem before the runt took off."

Everyone turned to Ahimoth who still had a grim expression on his face. "There is still another problem at hand but it might be better to show you."

The Prince led everyone toward the castle wall and produced a spyglass out of his coat and handed it to the Captain before pointing in the direction of the main road. "You should be able to see it through the smoke."

The old man held the spyglass up and looked through it to see what the large man was talking about. He could see smoke from the smoldering buildings still rising into the darkening sky and saw a few buildings collapsing due to their weakened supports and foundation. As he scanned looking for whatever problem that the Prince spoke of, he saw a burning stand fly into the air from behind a building and landed on another spreading a new flame.

He was about to look toward the site of the new fire but he saw a silhouette moving in the smoke from behind the building. From what he could see it was quite large, the top of it able to be seen over a two story building, likely taller than Marshmallow who was on standby in the courtyard in case the enemy got that far. It moved slowly but judging from the houses around it that kept falling apart as it moved, Stonewell guessed it was quite heavy. The silhouette took a few more steps before it finally cleared the smoke and the Captain let out a vicious curse.

What he saw could be described as a fat green giant with an impossibly large gut as well as fat arms that almost dragged along the ground next to its small stubby legs. Its head was small compared to its massive body but was still larger than an average person. Stonewell strained his eyes and he thought he might be mistaken but he could see teeth decorating around its stomach and arms. After staring at one set of them, he realized they were all mouths when the set of teeth opened and took a bit out of a house as the green beast's arm brushed past it.

Stonewell's mind instantly tried to find a way to take down the monstrosity that was currently tossing bits and pieces of houses all around the village to set it ablaze. Given the size and girth of it, the Captain doubted that conventional weapons would have any effect on it. The beast was currently setting everything around it ablaze so they would have absolutely no chance of moving throughout the village. The only area that was clear of any crushed buildings as well as the flames was the main road that led to the clocktower and out of Arendelle, which the beast was currently sitting tossing around debris.

It was trying to force them to stay stranded at the castle.

Fortunately, they had an escape route being made right now so they weren't stranded and didn't have to actually engage it. Doing so would not be wise as they would really only have one avenue of movement and the only weapons that had any hope of doing damage were the cannons which would make their march to the beast slow and them being easy targets. Elsa could theoretically put of the fires that was burning the village but all that would do is tire her out as the beast could just throw debris at them. Sending Wrath to distract it was out of the question since he ran off and honestly it probably wouldn't do much anyway.

Speaking of the runt…

Walter hoped to keep Edward close by throughout this whole mess to keep him out of the hands of three parties who all wanted them for their own ends. Jorgen was still in the castle making preparations, Garret may have let him go but still wanted Rahim back, and Talib would want his pet under his control again. With the runt running off, it kept him safe from Jorgen and Garret but gave Talib a chance that he would no doubt try to capitalize on. If there were more of those creatures out there who attacked his squad earlier than going after Edward was an almost suicidal endeavor given the current situation.

Elsa or Lilian had the abilities to maybe survive that trip but judging from the way that Lilian was sweating and slightly panting as well as the bags under her eyes, her abilities probably took more out of her compared to Elsa. Sending her would be a mistake. Allowing Elsa to go after him would be a bigger mistake because she still lacked any practical battle experience.

The way those creatures moved were all on instinct and gave little warning for their opponent to respond to their moves in a one on one confrontation. Plus from the way the runt briefly described what they were doing, the creatures swooped down without warning and killed with the element of surprise. Elsa would be killed if one of them managed to see her before she could see them.

Stonewell was sure that Edward wouldn't die, Talib or Jorgen would likely step in if that became a very real possibility. Even if the latter was busy in the castle, the Captain had no doubt he was quite aware of the situation.

The old man let go of the spyglass and handed it to Hector before turning to Elsa. "Your Majesty, as loathe I am to say this, we should probably retreat. We have very limited manpower plus with those creatures we discussed earlier and that beast closing in on us, we can't afford a sustained offensive. Our best chance is to flee and gather more forces from a nearby fort.

Elsa could see the logic in that course of action but in her mind she wondered what about Edward who had ran off. If they fled, they would be abandoning him and leaving him at the mercy of the monster who orchestrated this battle and made Wrath a weapon. As Queen, her obligation was to her people, who were still in danger from unearthly creatures that seemed to have no qualms about destroying life. Her first priority was them and Stonewell's suggestion would keep them safe.

However, as Elsa, the woman who felt alone in the world, who had found someone who could completely understand how she felt and made her consider things she never would have before… it was killing her to consider leaving him behind.

If it was just her life at stake, Elsa would have refused to abandon Edward.

But it wasn't only her life at stake, not only were there the staff members she lived with in the castle, there were sick children that came from a hospital who already watched a doctor die right in front of them. Klein's little sister Lina had buried her head in Elsa's dress as Marshmallow carried them, the panic of almost being killed gripped her terribly.

Even if she just sent the non combatants through the tunnel, there was no guarantee the enemy wouldn't find them as they fled, they needed protection while they were out there.

She wouldn't allow them to be in any more danger.

Elsa regretfully allowed her Queen persona take hold and was about to order their retreat when Hector spoke.

"It's staying in that one spot…"

Everyone turned to the noble who put the spyglass down and had a pensive expression on his face as he looked in the beast's direction. "It's staying in that one area while throwing everything burning around it far away to other buildings…"

Stonewell looked back toward the village and could see the noble was right and the beast was spreading fire away from its position. The smoke that concealed it earlier was from a dying out fire from a demolished building. The beast was leveling everything around it to give it a clear view of its surroundings while throwing burning debris to limit their options for movement. Such an observation was essentially pointless if they were trying to escape but the old man was curious why Hector decided to point it out.

"Is there any significance that fact has on the current situation?"

Hector turned with a somewhat unsure yet determined expression on his face.

"Perhaps, because I might have an idea of how we can end this."

Private Arthur ran as far and as fast as he could throughout the ruined village of Arendelle. His Southern Isle uniform was caked in the blood of his comrades as the horrible scene he experience continued to play over and over in his mind.

His squad was patrolling around their set route when they all heard screaming as well as gunshots. Quickly, his squad leader ordered them to run to assist their comrades at the checkpoint but by the time they got there, it was already over. Body parts were all strewn around and blood permanently stained the ground. They quickly split up to see if they could find any survivors but every body they found was ripped apart or covered in bite or claw marks.

Arthur had to cover his mouth as his lunch went back up his throat as he looked at one body that had half of its head eaten so the skull was cracked open like a broken bowl with the 'food' spilling out the side. Sending a quick prayer to the fallen he was about to rally back with his squad leader when a wooden plank fell next to him causing him to jump out of his skin and accidently pulled the trigger of his rifle.

The gunshot instantly alerted his squad who all raced toward and took up positions expecting to see the enemy. Upon realizing it was just a negligent discharge, his squad leader's face turned red and the Private had his uniform grabbed by the front and was about to get an earful when he happened to look behind his squad leader.

Perched on a ruin building was a demon straight out of his worst nightmares. Arthur could see its wicked claws and large fangs from the ground and in his terror mistaken its red scales for being covered in blood.

Like it would matter in the next few seconds…

The Private was violently shaken by his squad leader who could see that the soldier wasn't even listening to what he was about to say. He was about to shout to get his attention but something in the Private's eyes caught his attention. The two of them were close so he could actually see his reflection in them…

…which also allowed him to see something was standing behind him.

As that thought crossed his mind, a very large hand grabbed his entire head and he barely heard the Private's scream when his head was crushed, showering the soldier with his blood, brain matter, and skull fragments. Arthur screamed as loud as he possibly could as his squad leader was killed right in front of him, and he realized that the sudden death caused the grip on his uniform to escalate into a death grip.

The Private did the first thing that came to mind and tried to work the dead body's grip off of him, aware of the demon that was standing not two feet away from him. His fellow soldiers had now seen the demon and they all aimed their rifles and, in their terror, prepared to fire with the poor Private in their line of fire.

Unfortunately, the demon had not come alone, and another appeared as if out of thin air and starting killing all of them just as they primed their flintlocks. As they were being killed, a few managed to fire their weapon but their aim was dismal as they were being jerked and pulled into the jaws of death.

However, one bullet got dangerously close to the first creature that had the squad leader's crushed skull in hand. The demon with impossible speed twisted out of the way while tossing the body in its grasp away which in turn freed Arthur from his squad leader's grip.

As soon as he realized he was free, the Private ran.

He didn't stay to hear the rest of his squad die; he ran for all he was worth and wouldn't stop until he was on the other side of the world.

It seemed like he ran forever, twisting and turning through the ruins of Arendelle, begging and praying God that those demons never found him. He turned a corner and all of the strength he had in his legs evaporated as his spirit was crushed.

As if waiting for their meal to be served to them at their favorite restaurant, two of those demons were smack dab in the middle of his path with two more on ruined buildings above him. The village was in ruins and there weren't too many paths one could take since they were all covered in debris and right now, all other avenues for escape had been cut off. He didn't even think of turning back and running back where he came, the terror of what he'd seen earlier made him too fearful to even look back for fear he'd see those demons hot on his tail.

Arthur dropped to his knees and put his head to the ground and began to pray.

He was as good as dead so he might as well plead to God that it would be quick. He honestly didn't know why they were here. Their history with Arendelle was already sour and he honestly felt it would be better if the two kingdoms just stayed out of one another's business given what happened but here he was fighting for his new King's ambition.

A lot of soldiers didn't buy their monarch's excuse of the Snow Queen being an emissary of the devil and that she would take over the world if she wasn't stopped. However, he was their King and all they could do was obey. The invasion was easy, they didn't meet the heavy resistance they were expecting and didn't get any blistering cold winters that would leave them all in the Snow Queen's frozen embrace. Arthur was scared that he would die but the invasion seemed easy, and it sounded as if the Queen was about to surrender…

…now here he was about to be killed by the very demons that his King had warned them about.

One might curse the Snow Queen for having these monsters that were about to kill them, but Arthur could only weep. He never got to tell his mother back home how much he loved before they shipped out.

The sounds of claws scraping the ground had him flinch and expect the pain of being torn apart, yet nothing came. A loud thud echoed in his ears and the Private reluctantly lifted his head to see what happened.

The first thing he noticed was another man standing a few meters ahead of him with very worn and dirty clothes that certainly fit the situation. Oddly, he was barefoot but what was shocking was the fact that under his right foot was one of those creature's head. The demon gripped his leg trying to lift the foot that was currently squishing its head into the ground but to no avail. The young man that appeared out of nowhere didn't seem to care to notice as he also had another creature's head in a solid grip with his hand.

Arthur was too stunned to move or say anything as this one man had two of those monsters at his mercy and wasn't phased in the slightest that there were two more above him.

The young man said nothing as he finally started to lift his foot up to give the demon some relief before stomping back down ending its struggles. He then single handedly threw the other in his hand into the ground making it cease its movements as well as he turned his head toward the other two and stared at them down with predatory intent.

Hey guys its been a while and I've been super busy with work as well as school. Honestly I'm legit pooped, I could only bust this chapter out because I messed my feet up this morning and had the day off but I work basically this entire month, weekends too. Anyway, I hope I haven't lost too many readers. Please PM or just review if you want to contact me, I will respond a soon as I can. Have a nice one.