Shattered Alliances

I heard the sound of a gunshot. Thankfully, my vines came to my protection. Dan fired a shot at me. He aimed it at the back of my leg. The vines wrapped me like a cocoon and I was moved to a safer distance, behind one of my monster trees. That was close. Not that the gunshot would have done any damage. I didn't even know whether I could still bleed. But earlier, I felt it. A heartbeat. Or maybe I have mistaken it for something else. Dan's words, and the sincerity in them, swayed me more than I expected. It was wrong - to still feel an ounce of sympathy for them. They've become my enemies. I must kill them. I lingered out of sight, hiding within the dead leaves of the tree, and watched the three of them move away from where I was. A couple of soldiers have been killed but a lot of demons have died too. It wasn't because our weapons were subpar nor because of the lack of combat training. It was because of the other side's teamwork. Those soldiers have been fighting together for years - a team, a family. The demons were obviously less coordinated. We picked the strongest ones and those we thought whose abilities we'd need, but we just started working together. It was the demons' first battle as allies. I decided it was time to attack full force. I let out a shriek. Everybody who heard me paused for a moment to stare. Multiple portals opened and monsters came out. I summoned all of my most powerful monere. It was time to annihilate the humans.

Demon birds came swooping towards the humans. Some soldiers were hit either by claws or beaks, and died an instant death. The rest of the monere followed and joined the battle. I used my power and saw that the other monere have also arrived in the other battlefields. It did not look good there. Since the monarchs were in one place, the forces in the other battlefields were more than disorganised. We were losing. The best thing to do is to kill the commander, I thought. The commander's death will kill the soldier's spirits, and their teamwork will fall. I searched the area for him. As expected, he was fighting the strongest demons. It wouldn't be easy to kill him. He was surrounded by some of his strongest men, fighting other powerful demons. They'll see me coming. Even if I kill the commander, Dan will just take his place. If I kill Dan first, the commander might be disheartened. I might be able to kill him more easily then. I guess the decision has been made. It's time to kill Dan. He was there behind the barricade, among the medical unit. He was helping Ris treat Mike's wounds. I closed my eyes and visualised the entire battlefield. I could feel every demon fighting. I could hear every soldier's panting. I could see the roots moving below the ground. I could smell the fresh scent of the earth. I opened my eyes. The earth started to shake, and the ground, where the medical unit and the rest of the defense unit were positioned, collapsed. The roots caused the soil to erode, forming a large pit. Some of the soldiers did not survive and drowned in the soil.

Finally, I saw Dan rise from the ground. He immediately went looking for the others, not caring to brush off the dirt from his face. I whistled and a demon raven came to me. I climbed on its back and ordered it to fly to the pit. It descended to the bottom of the pit and landed with a loud thud. I slowly slid from its back and told the bird to go and fight. Dan found Mike and Ris a few meters from him. Mike was in pretty bad shape. He should have just let me kill him. I walked towards them and stopped a few feet away. "Just let me kill you already."