Chapter 37: The Siege of Oakhaven

The horn blast echoing from the fog was like the scream of an ancient iron beast.

Before the sound could die away, the dark sea exploded into motion. Giant black-sailed warships, their hulls forged from jagged, light-absorbing iron, sheared through the coastal mist. From the decks of the lead dreadnought, heavy catapults creaked and snapped, unleashing a volley of glowing obsidian boulders into the sleeping port city.

The projectiles struck the stone harbor walls with catastrophic force. Where the stones landed, there were no normal explosions of fire or splintered masonry. Instead, waves of crackling black void-fire erupted on impact, instantly vaporizing stone quays and turning wooden warehouses into pillars of dark ash.

"Fall back to the upper stone ramparts!" Captain Torin roared to the fleeing townspeople, drawing his broadsword. "Rogue archers, take the high towers!"

"Torin, use the Frostborn ice-bows on those catapults!" Nikolai commanded, his voice slicing cleanly through the chaos. "Freeze their winches before they can reload!"

A squad of silver-haired Frostborn archers leaped onto the high sea-wall, pulling back their heavy bows. A volley of ice-infused arrows streaked across the dark water, striking the winches of the lead warship. Instantly, thick blue ice crept across the catapult gears, locking the black iron mechanisms solid.

"Elora, look at the shoreline!" Nikolai yelled, pointing down toward the docks.

The lead iron warship didn't slow down—it rammed straight into the wooden piers, splintering the heavy oak docks into kindling. Flat iron gangplanks dropped with a deafening crash, and scores of armored shock-troopers poured onto the land.

They wore interlocking plate armor forged from dark void-iron, their faces concealed behind seamless silver masks. In their hands, they held long curved halberds that glowed with a sickening, pulsing purple light.

"Hold the line!" Nikolai bellowed, his twin daggers igniting into roaring golden flames. He leaped off the high sea-wall, landing directly in the middle of the first enemy squad.

His blades twirled in a lethal golden whirlwind. He parried two void-halberds, spun inside the guards' reach, and drove his right blade through an armor seam. But the moment his flaming steel bit into the dark plate, a sharp recoil of purple void-energy surged up his blade, extinguishing his golden fire and forcing him back a step.

"Nikolai!" I cried out.

I leaped down beside him, drawing the Sovereign's Edge. The star-iron steel flared into a blinding column of violet solar flame.

An elite Vanguard commander—distinguished by a cape of woven black scales and a heavy two-handed broadsword—stepped through the ranks of troops. He raised his dark blade, pointing it directly at the glowing mark on my collarbone.

"The vessel of the First Sovereign," the commander rasped through his silver mask, his voice sounding like grinding metal. "Hand over the celestial core, little Queen, or this city becomes an ocean of ash."

"If you want my mark, commander," I replied, my voice steady, my posture unyielding as I took a tight combat stance beside Nikolai, "you'll have to take my head first."

The commander lunged forward with terrifying speed, his dark sword sweeping toward my neck in a lethal arc.

I brought the Sovereign's Edge up to parry. The moment our blades clashed, a violent shockwave of violet fire and black void-magic erupted across the docks, shattering the stone flagstones beneath our feet. The void-steel began to drink the celestial light from my blade, trying to siphon the magic directly from my bloodline.

I gritted my teeth, planting my boots firmly into the stone. "Nikolai... their weapons draw power from celestial light!"

"Then let's give them more fire than they can swallow!" Nikolai roared, stepping shoulder-to-shoulder with me as our dual-soul bond ignited in a brilliant flare of gold and violet.