Page 86 of Dynasty of the Wicked

Feng Mian lopped the head off the soldier’s body. The man crumbled to the ground, his shadowy wings and black armor disappearing to reveal his Kadian uniform, which was drenched in old blood.

“Are they … ghouls?” Zhi Ruo whispered.

“Half-ghouls.” He was breathing heavily, his sword dripping with blood. “They’re between life and death. They’re more powerful than when they were alive.”

“Why—How?” She had so many questions.

“When a person with powerful magic, a powerful will, and a greater soul dies violently, they become ghouls. It’s only when they have a strong reason to stay alive that their souls fight it, and they become half-ghouls. They become violent, mindless beasts. Ghouls feed off human souls, but half-ghouls … They are far worse, because you don’t know what they are fighting for. Why they wish to stay alive.”

She turned to the corpse on the ground. A shiver ran down her spine. Why were these Kadian half-ghouls attacking their camp? And how was it possible for so many of them to turn into half-ghouls? “Is their last wish … to kill us all?”

“I don’t know.” A grim expression overtook his features. “Let’s hope not.”

Zhi Ruo willed her magic to come forth; she could feel the darkness of it dancing beneath the surface of her skin. Maybe it was the fear that spurred her magic, or the knowledge that she was going to fight half-dead beings, but her magic came to her more readily than before.

When they reached the center of the camp, all hell seemed to break loose. Soldiers struggled against half-ghoul Kadians, and magic blasted all around them. Tents were on fire, some with bright green flames and others with typical reddish-orange ones. Smoke and death and burning flesh pervaded the air. A cacophony of screams and shouts lifted through the chaos.

“Stay close to me!” Feng Mian shouted just as a Kadian soldier launched himself at him. This one wasn’t shrouded in shadows, and he appeared to be alive by the way his dark brown eyes narrowed and his cheeks flushed. Feng Mian grabbed the man’s face, and the man shuddered, his sword falling to the ground as his life was leeched off in a few seconds.

The dragon tightened his hold on Zhi Ruo. She glanced down to find him staring at two approaching soldiers. Neither of them appeared to be ghouls, but their swords radiated with a blinding-white heat.

Feng Mian jumped between the two soldiers and Zhi Ruo, fending them off with blasts of his own dark magic. The black veins along his skin crawled further toward the tips of his fingers. Another warrior, this one with pale blue eyes and deathly magic, approached from behind, a scream on his lips as he launched at them.

The dragon yanked Zhi Ruo to the side, away from the half-dead soldier, whose lips curved into a sinister grin as he twisted around to face her. The dragon hissed at him as the man leaped forward. She dodged to the left, while the child launched himself onto the man’s shoulders, wrapped his hands around his face, and twisted his head until the bones on his neck jutted out sickeningly.

She quickly averted her gaze from the dead body, and was nearly tackled by another ghoulish warrior. Panic seized her chest and her magic lashed out of her, whipping the half-dead corpse away from her.

More ghoul-like soldiers fell from the sky, their bodies cloaked in black and their pale blue eyes promising death. They were slowly becoming surrounded. In the corner of her vision, she could see Huo soldiers fending off the Kadians, but they were no match for the half-ghouls—only magic could kill those beings, she realized as the Huo soldiers, most of whom didn’t have magic, failed to injure the corpse-like beings.

“How are there so many half-ghouls?” Zhi Ruo shouted. The dragon ripped one of the Kadian’s throats out with his teeth. His hands, mouth, and the front of his shirt were drenched in blood.

Feng Mian yanked his sword out from one of the bodies, his chest rising and falling. More of the curse had spread. “I don’t know. Someone must have … used some sort of magic before they all died.”

She swallowed down the bile rising up her throat. His curse was nearly touching the tips of his fingers at this point. “Feng Mian, your curse?—”

“It’s fine. Just fight.”

They didn’t have time to talk, because the soldiers were on them again. Zhi Ruo’s magic hurtled out from her in her panic, devouring the half-ghouls and the living soldiers. She snatched a sword from one of the corpses and swung it atthe approaching enemies. She didn’t even know how to use it properly, but she fought savagely, jamming the sharp blade into the soldiers and pulling it out without thinking. Her shadowy magic compensated for her lack of skill and experience.

By the fourth soldier she had defeated, her hands trembled and were slick with sticky blood. She wasn’t even sure if it was her blood, or theirs. Her numb arm felt number, and the injury on her other arm had reopened, making her sleeve cling to her skin.

She released a shuddered breath and raised her sword as another Kadian attacked her. He swung his sword over his head and brought it down on her, but she lurched back just in the nick of time. His blade buried into the snow, and he swung it up toward her face in one fluid motion. It would have struck her face, killing her, but Feng Mian’s shadow appeared in front of her and took the damage. She reeled back, breathing heavy.

Zhi Ruo wasn’t used to battle, and she wasn’t inthatstate—the state where her magic lost control and wreaked havoc on everyone. She didn’t know how to awaken that part of her.

The dragon ripped a man’s arm off, blood spraying against the snow. He was completely drenched in red, and if she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was a demon—the horns, claws, and sharp teeth played the part.

Feng Mian also fought brutally, his cursed magic draining life with every stride. He fought the majority of the soldiers that came their way, but she could tell he was growing tired. The curse was spreading fast; it was already up to his chin.

A sense of panic settled deep into her bones, making her muscles quiver and her stomach to twist within itself. She swung her sword, but her arms were too leaden, and she careened to the side as one of the soldier’s blades met hers. The impact jolted up to her elbows and she nearly dropped her sword. The man—alive and with a cruel expression—grinned and kicked her. Shebit back a scream, tumbling a few feet away. He launched at her, but not before the dragon roared and sent a wave of fire over him.

She tried pushing herself up to her knees, her gaze flicking over to their surroundings. The half-ghouls made up more than half of the army, and they were killing the Huo soldiers at a breakneck speed. More and more Kadians were overtaking them. The tents were blazing and burning to crisps, the half-ghouls screeched and flew in from the sky with shadowed wings, and snow began to collect on fresh corpses. She couldn’t tell if it was the wind that was howling, or the ghouls, or even the other soldiers.

They were losing.

Feng Mian, the dragon, and Zhi Ruo were able to fend against the half-ghouls rather easily, but … but only a handful of Huo soldiers had magic, and it was telling.

“Feng Mian!” she shouted as a dozen soldiers—some half-ghouls and some living—circled him in. She made way to attack him, but a chilling voice stopped her in her tracks.

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