Kieran coughed as he got up back on his feet, slightly staggering, after being hit by the monster's paws. 

Blood flowed from his forehead above his left eyebrow, getting in the way of his eyesight. Wiping it with the back of his hand, he carefully assessed his condition.

His hip, back and shoulders are killing him, probably badly bruised from all the attacks he had to endure; his legs have several abrasions as well.

They had been fighting for quite a while now yet somehow, they still couldn't get rid of these monsters.

Changing his grip on the sword and adjusting his stance, he subconsciously looked up with the intention to gauge how much light they have left only to see the Crown Prince and the Holy Maiden locked in a tight embrace up in the air.

Clicking his tongue at the unsightly display of affection even amidst this slaughter, Kieran focused his annoyance into the sword and chucked it as hard as he can towards the incoming enemy, lodging it firmly into its eye with a loud, disgusting squelch.

The dog howled in pain as Kieran celebrated for a short minute before he was caught yet again under a different dog's paw, slamming him down to the ground.

"You son of a—" He started as he grabbed hold of the heavy paw on his chest that was gradually pressing down on him, making him gasp for air.

He extended a hand out and shot out a sharp light made of mana, aiming it wherever since the monster's face is wide enough for any kind of attack from below.

A whimper resounded in his ears as the paw was lifted off of him and Kieran took deep breaths to calm himself down.

Looking up at the monster, he noticed the horn had a gash on it and that made the whole creature back off in a stumble.

He was about to get up when a loud crackle of lightning went off around them and at the next instant, Kieran had to crawl in an undignified way to get out of the lightning storm that rained down out of the blue.

"Damn it. I can't believe she was right about that." Fion angrily admitted as he had one hand raised when he called down the lightning. "I guess being half a Holy Maiden has its own perks."

Kieran blinked at that, turning his head to look at Fion's direction.

Half a Holy Maiden? What does that mean?

It was obvious that Fion was ranting without care now, seeing that the lightning striking down is loud and no one's visibly around him; most of the remaining knights were out of range and bleeding out.

Seeing Kieran being smacked down twice, Fion must have surmised that he's also dead or unconscious.

Fion continued to rain down the lightning on the monsters until he had depleted half of his conserved ether.

Panting and wiping his sweat, he glared at the stunned monsters as he readied his sword again.

He needs to kill them swiftly, before his knees give out from under him; he's now regretting he didn't listen to Aine before and wasted his stamina instead of using magic first.

Fion was already light headed after he stopped his lightning assault but he has to finish the job.

"I'm going to request His Highness for extra pay and a day off." Fion mumbled as he steadied his stance, a small grimace on his lips when he teetered off to the side slightly.

He was about to take his first step when a flash of blinding light caught his attention and he clicked his tongue in annoyance, thinking that more enemies had come.

He was surprised to see a white spear flash by and struck one of the nearby monsters dead.

"The Spear of Assal…?" He muttered, dumbfounded as he watched the spear dislodge itself on its own and return to its owner.

Allen Asgeir Carran stood not far from Fion, a grim expression coupled with his imposing stature quickly changing the atmosphere of the losing battle.

Next to him is Darius, who is also holding onto his own lance, The Lúin, which is decorated with a red round gem embedded into the blade.

"Why are you two…?" Fion stuttered, staring at them.

Darius only glanced at him with a passive expression, before pointing his lance at the remaining monsters, conjuring a large magic circle at its tip and creating numerous red, almost translucent replicas of Lúin which he then launched at his enemies.

The replicas have pinned them to the ground, restricting their movements; a few even 'accidentally' cut off the dangerous tails, resulting in loud howls of anger and pain.

"Retreat for the moment." Allen told Fion as he passed by him, charging towards the enemy near him.

Fion blinked before nodding looking for any signs of life at the nearest knights around him.

When he came near Darius, he remembered what Aine told him.

"Aim for their horns. Apparently they're like lightning rods of sorts." Fion told him.

Darius gave him a small smile. "We know. Us Carrans are responsible for updating the Kingdom's bestiary after all."

Fion exhaled at that, a little annoyed. "Gods, you Carrans are insufferable. Why did you have to taint Aine that way too?"

"Speaking of which, where's our lovely sister?" Darius asked, letting the earlier comment slide as he's not in the mood to bicker about it.

"She's with His Highness. I told them to run, though I didn't expect reinforcements to arrive quickly."

Darius frowned, canceling his magic and turning his full attention to Fion. "Why was she with you in the first place?"

Fion sat down on the ground next to Darius, exhausted and sullen to know that his knights were dead after he had taken a good look around.

"His Highness will answer that for you once we catch up to them. More importantly, shouldn't you help your brother?"

Darius glanced over his shoulder to see Allen prolonging the agony of the monsters before killing them off entirely.

"The Red Demon's on the field. He'll be done in a jiffy, so he doesn't really need me."

Fion scoffed at their arrogance though he couldn't really refute them.

House Carran is a military household, with each member known to be demons on the battlefield as they ruthlessly kill their enemies; it's painfully funny to know that the Holy Maiden was born with the same blood running in her veins.

He turned his gaze away from Darius and looked back at the battlefield.

His eyes then went wide to see Kieran struggling to move himself out of the falling monster's way.

Fion has to admit that the former Prince has quite the tenacity to survive, and somehow he surmises that the Carrans who went after the Principality must have seen it as well and admired it for his brothers and his territory to be let off the hook like that.