Divine Beast Ascension

613 Clashing Commanders and Heart-Ripping Reunion

Mertin squinted when he spotted the commander in the distance. With a half-smile, Mertin shouted, “Go, Eefran!”

“MOVE!”

With a bellowing howl, Eefran charged off to the side. Over three dozen wildebeests followed their clan chief at full speed onto the hillside. Any rock cluster in their path was demolished and trodden under their hooves.

“BASTARD!!” a wrathful voice cried out.

But no one dared stop that person’s shouts. Rather, nearly one hundred more voices joined in, filled with that same, oozing rage.

“PRODSOOON!!!”

Every Thick-skinned Stallion screamed at the top of their lungs in seething rage. With venomous eyes, the stallions leered at the incoming, enemy commander.

No one else in the Iron army needed to say a word. They all understood the furious pain striking the hearts of every stallion. It was simple. From only a glance, the entire Iron army was filled with vigor, filled with immovable determination. When they saw the enemy officers riding Thick-skinned stallions with chain bridles, no one could fault the young Yeter for his sharp, sudden shout.

“FOR IRON!!” Mertin shouted.

.....

A torrent of bestial howls and roars echoed over the battlefield in response.

Sarpo and Oli both acted on cue, as well. Oli flapped his wings all the harder and faster. He raced to keep up with Sarpo. Together, both leading beasts streaked straight toward the enemy commander.

Commander Ephar gave his bestial steed a hard kick in the side, forcing the stallion to move at top speed. And Ephar kicked the beast again. With a third kick, Ephar pushed the stallion to the limit of its speed. “Darett, the jaguar is yours!”

Speeding alongside Ephar with his own stallion, Darett asked, “But you’ll have the advantage. And it’s the strongest beast.”

“No. I’m betting on that man and his bloodthirsty eyes,” scoffed Ephar, eyeing the swordsman atop the speeding drake.

Smiling and shrugging, Darett replied, “Well, I’m sure I’ll find a use for jaguar hide.”

At the center of it all, just before the first clash, Lyle leaped off of Sarpo’s back. Oli tucked in his wings with an airborne somersault. Mertin used Oli’s front flip to launch himself off the drake’s back with full force, leaping toward the commander with Mertin’s first strike already underway.

Chtang! Chrring!

Both Ephar and Darett stayed on their horses while receiving those attacks. Ephar blocked with his battle axe and Darett repelled the jaguar’s claws with his claymore.

Under that pressure, both men were fine. Their steeds, however, collapsed. First, Darett’s stallion suffered a broken leg. A split second later, Ephar’s stallion buckled half a step to the side, stumbling a couple of steps until it hit the ground hard.

“Fight the beast army to the death!” Ephar yelled an order while hopping off the horse’s back just before hitting the ground.

“You too! Fight our enemy to the death!” Darett relayed the same order.

For a brief moment, the four combatants stood there. Their sharp gazes never wavered as both armies were seconds away from colliding. But both armies quickly split into two halves, one for each side of the commander battles in the center.

It was a gamble both sides willingly took. Whichever side lost their commander first would also face the immediate threat of the victorious commander.

With his confidence somewhat renewed, Ephar raised his battle axe and scoffed, “Only low-perennials? The savages of Iron are cockier than I thought… Hurry up and go!”

Trembling at that last remark, both stallions tried to get up. The commander’s steed did just fine. But Darett’s stallion stumbled again with its fractured leg.

“GO!” Ephar barked, “Kill them as fast as possible, until you die!”

With clenched jaws and watery eyes, both stallions stood up straight and took their first step toward the incoming beasts.

Frrrip… NEIGHhhh…

Just when Ephar and Darett turned away from their stubborn steeds, Darett’s stallion collapsed yet again. This time, the huge horse gasped in pain and hit the dirt, motionless.

And a huge, black blur was already streaking toward the other teary-eyed stallion running toward incoming beasts.

Darett covered himself in wind, confirming his power as a low-perennial in Sarpo’s eyes. But Darett lunged toward the drake assassin instead, shouting, “How dare you–”

Chrring! CHRRRING!

Before Darett could intervene, Sarpo rushed him in a blitz of lightning. Electrified claws threatened the human man with ease, forcing Darett to counter and defend. “Wow! Prodson loves sicking perennials on mortals, huh?”

Darett didn’t reply. He merely defended and held his own without injury, only able to glance at the drake in passing.

“You’re not allowed to surrender your life!” Ephar yelled, knowing full well that Ephar wouldn’t get past the swordsman so easily.

The stallion, now only ten bromes away from Iron army’s front line, felt his heart seize up once more. From both his owner’s command and from the unexpected sight before his eyes.

“DAD?!”

“DADDY!!”

Two nearly identical cries pierced through the chaos of battle cries and shouts.

“Son??!” Chief Hollen whimpered at that same moment. He was unable to shout due to the flood of emotions slamming into Hollen’s head.

The old horse could hardly recognize the crying, enemy stallion, who wore a thick, chain bridle and had the Prodson crest branded onto both of his sides so it was easily visible from a distance.

And the branded stallion immediately turned his head toward the younger horse who had cried out even louder. With a broken voice, the branded horse cried, “Little Yeter?!”

“DADDY!!”

Yeter’s hooves crushed the ground beneath his hooves. Yeter extended his stride as far as possible. At that moment, Yeter didn’t care about the military formation or anything else. All Yeter wanted to do was reach out. To reach his father after a decade of being forced apart.

Behind Yeter and the leading line, every member of the Thick-skinned Stallion Clan tightened their resolve even further. Together, over eighty stallions shouted as one, “Master Yoren!”

“STAY AWAY, YETER!!”

Only three seconds away from colliding with the branded stallion, and six seconds from crashing into the Prodson army, that heart-ripping cry rang out. And the branded stallion stopped in his tracks, waiting for another sharp, unstoppable pain to rake against his soul.