A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Unsurprisingly, Emma's words were met with scepticism, but fortunately, she'd claimed their attention just in time, so that they didn't notice Erik making their beloved leader disappear.

"What you see in front of you is a formation," Emma explained while indicating the glowing connected circles on the ground. "Please stand inside of those circles and infuse them with your aetherium. My sister and I will use your power to fight back against the overwhelming power you're facing."

While she talked, Emily simply stood next to her like a menacing guard. The older sister watched these Arcanists with a cautious eye, ready for any sign of aggression, and perfectly willing to retaliate brutally.

Fortunately, they didn't seem intent on attacking just yet, but that didn't mean they were convinced. Emma's motherly aura was doing wonders, but it wasn't enough to smooth over every suspicion, so the reactions were less than enthusiastic.

Yet, seeing their hesitant gazes, Emma simply continued to smile while she shrugged. "I understand your scepticism, but what do you have to lose? It's not like you were doing so well before. Do you really think those people still need tricks to defeat you? Let us help turn the tide."

The Arcanists glanced and murmured between each other. Frustration and scepticism were clear on their faces, but they couldn't help but agree. They were already losing the battle, and likely soon their lives, so what else did they have to lose by trusting these strangers?

Of course, Emma's motherly aura was doing a lot of the leg work here, but the results were what mattered. Even if she didn't enjoy messing with people's minds, she did know the difference between not using it at all, and only using it for the good of their family… and her master.

Meanwhile, Erik had begun to fight Aaron, and the Arcanists were noticing. Some did wonder where Naeku had gone, but with her uncle clearly fighting together with the werewolf who was supposedly with these two girls, concerns and suspicions were dropping even more.

Finally, the last blow came when the confusion about Erik's interruption faded, and the fighting continued. With the enemy Arcanists seemingly becoming even more aggressive.

Emma looked behind her at the battle and turned back towards her audience with a sympathetic gaze. "I appreciate your distrust, but we have no time to get into who we are, or why we are here. All you need to know, is that we are no friends to the people you are fighting."

Emma's aura, her arguments, and the fact their people were once again being targeted, finally hardened their gazes. Discover more content at empire

"Fine!" one of them exclaimed as they stepped into the nearest circle and began to pour in their power. "If trusting a stranger is our best option right now, then so we will! For our people! And princess Naeku!"

Their voice was full of pride and determination, even managing to light a fire in the hearts of their comrades. "For our people! And princess Naeku!" they all began to chant as they took their place and fed their energy into the formation.

Instantly, Emma and Emily smiled victoriously, yet Emma's smile was also warm, while Emily's dripped with bloodlust.

Noticing her big sister's desires, Emma pouted cutely. "No, big Em. We're can only do protection, remember?"

Although the powerful formation they'd received from Elora would do a lot to compensate for the difference in numbers, it still wasn't enough do so fully. Thus, they could only defend against the far larger number of enemy Arcanists, as they didn't have the power to also strike back.

Emily groaned and rolled her eyes like a frustrated child who just had her toy taken away. "Ugh, I knooow," she complained while both sisters took their places, and turned towards the battlefield. "Alice and Astrid get all the fun today!"

With that, the sisters channelled the power they were fed, and soon, a massive number of golden discs and pitch-black orbs began racing around the battlefield to both deflect and absorb enemy attacks.

Under the awe-struck gazes of the Arcanists behind them, the two sisters managed to render the enemy Arcanists entirely impotent, unable to push even a single attack through the sister's ironclad defences.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the middle of that same battlefield, five more Runebound took the stage, and waded into the thick of it. Astrid, Alice, Seraphina, Nora, and Anne, charged into the rapidly thinning enemy Runebound in a flanking manoeuvre.

Grinning with excitement, both Astrid and Alice jumped into battle with great relish. "Hahaha!" Astrid laughed loudly while swinging both her swords and beheading a branded vampire. "Finally, a real battle!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Alice was no different. Her glee was palpable as she stayed low to the ground, and tore open legs and bellies with her claws, enhanced by both her frostfire affinity, and the special gauntlets Erik had made for her. Going low was the tactic for most wereverines, since they were usually smaller than most other shapeshifters.

Yet, despite her excitement, Astrid wasn't entirely focused on the battle, as one eye was always focused on Alice. "Remember to stay close to the rest of us, Alice," the strawberry-blond vampire cautioned the young wereverine.

Alice grumbled a little, but still nodded. "Yes, Mother Astrid…." pouted aggrievedly while engaging her next target.

Meanwhile, Astrid smiled warmly. It had all happened relatively quickly, but ever since Alice officially joined their family, she'd been calling all of Erik's wives' mother. It had happened suddenly, yet none of them dared to bring it up.

The first time she did, Alice had mentioned it cautiously, as if gauging their reaction, and only when no one reacted at all did she continue doing it.

Obviously, Alice was afraid of an overly emotional reaction, so they'd all decided to downplay it, even though they all felt a warm fuzzy feeling whenever Alice called them mother.

Meanwhile, Anne, Nora, and Seraphina all engaged with the enemy as well. Anne and Nora naturally had their own axes to grind with these people, so they were all too happy to go on the warpath. Yet, their orders were to protect Astrid and Alice first and foremost, so they didn't stray far.

Most surprisingly, however, was that all three of them were now using weapons.

Anne and Nora had mainly fought with their claws in the past, yet Erik had crafted weapons for them during the trip from Norway back to England.

Anne now wielded a single long sword in one hand and used it in elegant conjunction with her wind affinity and the claws of her other hand, while Nora actually carried a large, dual-bladed axe, which she swung with the natural fluidity of a water affinity user.

As for Seraphina, she wielded Erik's surprise.