Chapter 67 - The Howls of War

The sky soon darkened as the last of the civilians finished up their errands and safely hid themselves away. Every door was barricaded, every window nailed shut and candle snuffed. What was once the lively town of Onryx, was now a ghosttown. The only people present on the street at this moment, were the binders ready to defend the town with their lives.

The binders, both mercenary and Imperial, were all currently standing in two neat rows of ten. Sir Agiros was in front of the binders, mounted on the back of his Wooly Rammoth. "Alright binders",Agiros began with a booming voice, " I want half of you at the Western front and the other half at the Eastern front. Any of you with silver grade monsters to form teams of two while those with bronze grade form teams of three. Stick to your teams and keep each other's monster in check. And in case you need reminding of why we're forming teams, Monster's Night has the ability to make our own monsters a little nuts, especially if they're weaker than gold grade. As such, Skullcrusher and I will be at the central gate ourselves and deal with any monsters that try to barrel down that way. Is that clear"?

The binders replied with a quiet murmur of approval.

"I said, Is that clear?!", Agiros asked again, this time with aether in his voice

"SIR YES SIR", the binders responded in kind. The mercenary binders were originally lackl.u.s.ter with their response, but when they felt the aether in his voice, they perked up immediately. They could sense the gold grade strength in it, reassuring them to follow orders. With a curt nod and a small grunt, Agiros rode Skullcrusher to a point pass the barricades on the town's dividing line. Onryx was the only bit of human civilization in the Gemini Forest and was built on the point where the two seasons collided.

Under Agiros' orders, the binders split into two groups, with half heading to the spring side of town while the other half went winter side. The town itself never had proper city walls built, so the binders had to make do with some makeshift barricades to huddle behind.

While the Sun was just about to disappear over the horizon, and the stars began to become more and more visible, the binders pulled forth their drajules and began their chants.

"Arise from the depths, Whalerus".

"Pierce their hearts, Cattletrop"!

"Electrify and Mistify, Gremlin"!

One by one, summoning circles of various colors and designs appeared after the other. Out of these circles came majimonsters of all shapes and sizes, from tiny Fragmouses to intimidating Snogres, every single last one of them were battle ready.

The summoning was rather well timed as well, for as the last of the binders summoned their monsters, the sun had completely disappeared. In a flash, the atmosphere grew heavy and the forest seemed to pulse with savagery. The aether became increasingly restless as an orange moon rose over the horizon.

Howls, roars and all manner of beastial noises echoed through the forests, even the bound monsters started to become more and more aggressive. Dozens and dozens of glowing red eyes soon appeared, surrounding the binders and their barricade.

There were only two bastions of calmness in this rising sea of madness, but one has yet to make their appearance on this battlefield while the other was Sir Agiros and Skullcrusher.

The duo just stood in their position as the eyes came closer and closer. Out of the shadows of woods and bathed in the light of the Monster's Night moon walked out a huge, scarred Lycanne, a bipedal wolf monster with muscles as thick as oak branches and fangs as sharp as knives, flanked by at least a dozen other canidae species monsters, including other smaller Lycanne. While these monsters would normally be at each others throats, fighting for food and territory, the influence of Monster's Night overrode their instincts into working with one another for one singular goal.

The Lycanne and Agiros stared each other down as the fog of war formed between them, becoming a literal fog under the power of Monster's Night. A elephant's trumpet and a ear piercing howl sounded off at the same time as the oncoming horde charged in to destroy the defending binders.

Monster's Night had truly begun.