Chapter 164: The Bloodbath Part III

Chapter 164: The Bloodbath Part III
Lucy's POV

He had recovered enough to school his expression, though the fear still clung to him like a stench. I spotted the wizard beside him—the same one who had dared raise his magic against our army.
‘Katty,’ I mindlinked sharply. ‘Bind the wizard. I want Donald.’
Her acknowledgment hummed through the link.
The wizard reacted instantly, faster than I expected. His hand shot out toward Katty, lips moving in a silent counterspell.
“Not so fast, Richardson,” Pontione said lazily, stepping forward. “Did you really think you were the only one here who understands magic?”
Richardson.
The name clicked into place as Pontione spoke it.
So that was his name.
Richardson’s eyes widened, shock flashing across his face before he masked it with a snarl. “Long time no see, Pontione,” he spat.
Pontione chuckled darkly. “Spare me your pleasantries. You were weak then, and you’re weaker now.”
Their exchange bought Katty the opening she needed. The air shimmered, and invisible restraints slammed into place around Richardson. His body locked, arms frozen mid-motion, mouth opening in a silent scream of fury.
The moment he was bound, I moved.
Power surged through me, speed bending reality as the world blurred. One blink—I was standing where I had been. The next—I was directly in front of Bratton.
His gasp was almost satisfying.
Fear rolled off him in waves now, unmasked and raw. He lifted his hand instinctively—and that was when I saw it.
A remote.
Small. Black. Ordinary.
Deadly.
My blood ran cold.
“If you take one more step,” he said shakily, holding it up, “your family dies.”
Everything stopped.
The calm shattered, replaced by a hollow dread that swallowed my chest. The implications slammed into me all at once. A remote. A detonator. Whatever pit he had hidden them in—it was wired. Rigged to explode.
If I moved, if I attacked, if I made the wrong call…
They would die.
Again.
I froze.
Bratton noticed—and smiled.
“I thought so,” he sneered. “Now you’ll listen very carefully. One wrong move from any of you, and the entire castle goes up in flames.”
The air thrummed with suppressed fury. Growls rumbled deep in the throats of lions around us, restrained only by the threat he held so casually.
“You can come out now! Your prizes are here.” Bratton shouted suddenly, smirk plastered his lips as he looked between me and Katty.
Confusion rippled through our ranks.
Then the ground shook.
Dust exploded into the air as massive shapes burst from the treeline—minotaurs. Dozens of them. No—hundreds. Hulking, horned beasts charging forward with thunderous stomps that rattled the earth.
So that was his final card.
“I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to die for him,” Pontione said coolly as he shifted and engaged one of the largest bulls charging toward him. “But then again, you cows have always been easy to manipulate.”
The largest minotaur—clearly their leader—snorted angrily. “Today, Pontione, you’ll learn what we’re capable of.”
The battlefield erupted.
I barely had time to register the chaos before instinct took over. A minotaur lunged at me from behind, hooves crashing down where my head had been a split second earlier.
‘Right!’ Lira shouted.
I moved without thinking, twisting aside as the ground exploded under the force of the blow. I slashed upward, claws tearing through muscle and sinew, crippling the creature’s leg. It bellowed in pain, staggering.
I slid beneath its massive frame as Zeus appeared beside me, fangs sinking deep into its exposed belly. Flesh ripped. Blood spilled. I gagged but forced myself onward.
‘Thanks,’ I sent quickly, already turning.
The field was a slaughterhouse now—roars, screams, the stench of blood thick in the air. Our warriors fought with desperate ferocity, but something was wrong.
Bratton was gone.
My heart slammed painfully against my ribs.
‘Ken,’ I mindlinked urgently. ‘Where is he?’
Before I could search further, the minotaur in front of me collapsed—dead—his body hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
I looked up—
—and froze.
Lira’s eyes were glowing.
Not gold.
Not silver.
Every color imaginable burned within them, swirling and shifting like a living storm.
Power rolled off her in crushing waves.
And I knew, with terrifying certainty, that whatever Donald had planned next—
He had already lost control of the battlefield.