Three more fae soldiers charged at her. She ducked down under the attack of the first one, and thrust her sword up into the throat of the second one. Blood sprayed around them. With a lightning speed she spun, swinging the sword through the soldier's stomach. She caught hold of the third fae soldier midair and planted her foot right into his groin and plunged her sword right into his chest. Suddenly a stinging pain raced up her spine. Someone had thrust a dagger in her from the back. She twisted and slammed her sword inside the skull of the fourth soldier as she shrieked, throwing fatal purple tendrils out of her mouth at him.

"Anastasia!" A voice called, but she wasn't listening. Pulling the dagger out, she lunged at Etaya who had somehow managed to get up and was trembling. However, before she could reach her, there was a wave of pain racing through her thigh. She just swirled and swept her sword in an arc. The blade of the sword met with something and a head rolled down. From the corner of her eye, she saw Yion attacking Adrianna from the back. She pulled her dagger out, moved her arm back and then threw it at him. The dagger planted in his abdomen. Airborne, Yion stumbled back, whipped his head with shock in his eyes towards her and grumbled as he tried to yank the dagger out of him. But he knew that this was a special dagger, which only listened to its owner. And the owner, she was rage-filled. With a smirk on his face, he bowed to Anastasia and then tried to take the sword out. 

Anastasia wiped her face with her sleeve and her lips tugged up. She twisted the dagger and then called it back—a warning that he couldn't attack Adrianna. 

Movement caught her eyes. A sliver of gray armor with one wing charged at her.

Etaya created yet another wall around them. She feinted towards the other end of the wall in order to get Anastasia run after her, where she was ready for her to spike her on her sword. But Anastasia had learnt about these moves from Iskra. She chuckled through all the blood on her face. As soon as Etaya struck her, she ducked and thrust the hilt of her sword up into her jaw. Etaya dropped on the ground as snow, now crimson with blood, crunched beneath her. Her sword clattered and Anastasia swirled behind her to slice her left wing. 

Etaya screamed with pain, as her wing fell on the ground with a thud. Both her wings were lying in a pool of blood. Red rivulets formed around them. The pain of losing wings was so excruciating that she saw stars in her vision, her body became numb and her shoulders felt… empty. 

Anastasia walked to one of them. She pierced it with her sword and then suddenly, she was filled with so much rage that she desecrated it into hundreds of pieces. She should have felt guilty, but she was feeling satisfied as hell. She walked towards Etaya and poked her sword at her throat. 

"Please," she whispered in a hoarse voice. 

Anastasia dug her sword deeper into her skin and she wondered how to make this slower than it already was, because she didn't want to kill her. With one move, she could plunge the sword in her and behead her. Or if she wanted, she would simply disable her as she did to her parents. A feral smile came on her face. 

"If you have the guts, kill me, Anastasia!" Etaya pushed her. "You think that my death will stop this— this motion that has set in? The Galahar king is ready to attack Vilinski. As soon as the news of my death reaches him, he will get his forces and once again Vilinski will face the same battle it faced thousands of years back. Vilinski will be taken down bit by bit! We will rip it apart. Galahar will win in the end. Demons will win!" 

"Oh, I won't kill you," Anastasia purred, as lightning that flashed in the skies danced over her sword. "I know you want this, but my parents wouldn't want me to do this. And by the way, how does it feel to be without wings?"

Etaya spat blood on the ground as her chest heaved. "Coward!" she hissed. "You are worse than your parents. You don't have the guts to murder in cold blood, do you?" 

Anastasia tilted her head with amusement in her eyes. She motioned her chin towards the fae soldiers she had gutted. "I can do whatever I like with you, but right now— right now I am in a mood to hunt your dear son, Aed Ruad." Her sword lowered to Etaya's belly. 

"You will not touch him!" Etaya growled. She grabbed her sword and with whatever energy she had, she threw herself at Anastasia, but the fae princess dodged her and stepped back. Etaya fell on the ground on her belly, right on the feet of Anastasia. Taking advantage of the position, Anastasia kicked her head with her boots heavily. Stars marred Etaya's vision as she fainted. The mighty Etaya who had for the past eight years had tortured and tormented her, was now down on her knees in front of her. Anastasia's eyes flitted around to find her husband, but she saw that he was at present battling with Ráild and Yion together. 

All of a sudden, the wall that she had built around her broke, and Anastasia saw a dense mass of fog drifting towards them. At first, she thought that it was a cloud that broke from the skies above, but the smell around it. "Ugh!" she scrunched her nose. 

"Etaya!" Seraph came to her side as he wrapped her in his dense mist. His face, a blur that came in and out of the fog, was contorted with pain. The woman for whom he had done so much, who had promised him that Vilinski would be theirs to rule, was now on the ground, bleeding and half-dead. "You!" Seraph hissed. "It's all because of you!" He charged at her, but Anastasia shot high in the air. She came to land right behind him. 

"Do you know where your body is, Seraph?" Anastasia snarled. Seraph turned sharply towards her and lashed a tentacle in her direction. Anastasia stepped back and then jumped to avoid it. 

"I am going to kill you," he said in that ghostly voice. He threw more of his tentacles at her but a shock of black passed in front of him.

Iona. 

The Dark Witch stood right there in between him and Anastasia. "Killlll herrrr…" he commanded Iona as he slithered his tentacles on her body. 

Anastasia was well aware that Iona was not in her senses when the dark forces took over her. Iona had already communicated it to her. When the Diumbe were inside her, her own mind was clogged and she couldn't decipher what she was doing. All she knew was she had to follow Seraph because Diumbe were full of darkness, which Seraph filled them with. Right now, Iona must be battling with her inner demons and when she saw Seraph attacking Anastasia, she must have come… to be sacrificed. "Masterrr…" she said. She hovered in the air in front of him.

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