Chapter 7 - Battle

'Is this a battle between crusaders and fallen?' Thought Pan, admiring the performance of the crusaders and the ferocity of the beasts.

 The scenes that played out before his eyes lasted less than a minute, but he was already out of breath. He just wasn't captivated by the battle anymore because he knew that the moment the line was broken he would also have to fight for his life. Something that would happen soon as more and more fallen came out of the darkness, the only advantage of the caravan was that the fallen who got too close to the salt were being burned by it and getting weaker by the second, which in turn gave precious moments of breath to the crusaders.

 But that was all, a breath, for a scream was soon heard above the cacophony of steel against bone and man against beast. The source of the scream was one of the reds who had been brutally impaled by the tail of a fallen, similar screams began to resound through the defense line. And then the first fallen passed through the line of defense and then another and another.

 The line was then broken.

 The fallen who broke the line began to run through the camp making carnage in their path. The servants of the young masters even tried to protect them, but they were just mundane men and without essence, how could their short swords compare to the speed and ferocity of the natural weapons a fallen had in his body?

 Pan soon heard another cry of pain, this time much closer.  As he turned towards the noise, he saw a fallen running frantically towards him, rivers of drool pouring from his mouth in anticipation of the young human flesh before him.

 Pan wanted to run, scream, cry, or brandish his weapon, but he was unable, fear had petrified every fiber of his being, and when the vile creature's fangs got close enough for him to smell its fetid, putrid stench, something pushed him back aside, causing the fallen to miss his target.

 The culprit in question was Ava. Small bolts of electricity jumped over her body and her hair was slightly spiked.The fallen, as if annoyed by the intrusion, turned all of his attention to her, giving Pan time to compose himself and raise his sword.

 'Fuck! Courage Pan! you almost literally died of fear,' thought Pan.

 Pan read about the ferocity and mortality of the fallen and he thought he could handle it, he thought he knew what to do, he thought he was ready. But reading about something scary and being faced with something scary were completely different things.

 Meanwhile, the creature threw itself at Ava again and again, but she managed to masterfully dodge them all. But Pan knew that this performance wouldn't last forever, heavens he didn't even know when she had learned to use the essence so masterfully.

 Deciding he should do something, Pan waited for the creature to throw itself at Ava once more and circled it from behind with his sword, being careful to stay out of the beast's perceptions.  But the two were too quick to keep up.

 'Come on Ava, help me help you,' thought Pan hoping that Ava would be able to sense his intentions.

 And despite being focused on the fallen, Ava didn't disappoint him, she glanced at him briefly trying to sneak up behind the creature and raised her arm to the left as if to point, but it seemed she lacked the strength to finish the movement. But that was enough for Pan to understand.

 He then dashed to the left following Ava and when the creature threw himself again and missed, Pan took the moment the fallen needed to get back to the axis and swung his bastard sword as hard as he could towards the tail of the fallen, slashing it in half.

 'Do you like that bastard?' Thought Pan, excited to have worked out.

 The creature screamed in agony and when the unnatural sound that resembled breaking glass reached Pan's ears all his excitement turned to dust. He had already heard the wails of the fallen as the Crusaders wounded and killed them, but hearing the ominous sound so closely unnerved him to his core.

 To be fair, being able to react like he and Ava was already something to be commended for. Most of the novices just ran and screamed until the mouths of a fallen stopped their wails.

Even most of the young nobles trained from an early age in case they were selected as crusaders were helpless. Only Pan, Ava and a few like the little brown from day one were doing better.

 The boy in question seemed to have found the courage within himself in the midst of desperation and was pummeling a fallen half crumpled and already dead on the floor while screaming.

 'How is he already using the essence? How is Ava already using it?' Thought Pan, feeling indignant.

 But the one lying in front of him wasn't in the mood to let him finish his thoughts. And Though the fallen have no eyes. Pan could have sworn he had a look of endless hatred on his face.

 "I'm sorry?" Pan half said and half asked as she looked at the fallen and then at the severed tail still twitching on the ground.

 The fallen furious at losing his tail threw himself at Pan, but there was less strength and speed than when he attacked Ava, losing a limb and constant exposure to salt left him weak.  However, to Pan's dismay, it was still faster than he was capable of reacting.

 But in the brief moments that the creature was in the air, a strange phenomenon occurred. Pan could slowly perceive everything, his breathing, the rush of the wind, the smell of the blood of humans and fallen. It would be a captivating experience, but among the many sensory perceptions he was having, one of them was the knowledge that his sword would be unable to rise in time, as he would be ruthlessly impaled and killed by the fallen limbs.

 'Great,' thought Pan sarcastically.