Page 84 of The Hellbeast's Betrayal

Dom frowned before sighing. “I fear it would not help us, even if he did, as their numbers are far greater than our own and with Ella now able to summon their dead, it will be an impossible battle to win.”

Keira looked crushed by this, reaching out for her daughter’s hand as Amelia stood next to Lucius. The rest of the room held seats around the edges, most of which were taken up by Seth, Sigurd, Tyr, Koro, and Lucius’s brother Dariush. This made me wonder where Lerna was, as no doubt Koro wouldn’t have let her go far.

“Then let’s make it a diversion,” I said, making all heads turn to me.

“A diversion?” Keira asked.

“All I need to do is get close enough to give her this, and it should be enough to bring her back,” I told them, opening my hand to show them the stark white branch.

“And how do we do that, if she is there fighting?” my brother pointed out, no doubt uneasy about me being near her considering what happened last time.

“Dariush can create a portal,” Lucius said, making his brother groan.

“Seriously, brother, I feel like you’re my fucking pimp,” Dariush complained, making Lucius smirk before winking at him.

“And if it doesn’t work?” Seth asked in his sardonic way, his long black jacket folded over the seat’s armrest.

“It has to,” I replied in a hard tone.

“And if it doesn’t, we will have no choice but to fall back and wait for more reinforcements,” Dom said with a sigh, and I had to say, it wasn’t a good sign for us if he already saw defeat. The King had been in more battles than I had eaten steaks.

“They are not all here?” I asked, disappointment lacing my words.

“Many legions are still making their way here. My father’s and Lucifer’s included. So far, we have Luc’s army, Sigurd’s shadow army, part of my own, and what remains of Koro’s army after the first battle.”

“And mine, if I am able to reclaim them back,” Clay stated, now joining the room.

“Damn, but my army of Wraths would have really come in handy right about now,” Amelia mocked, making Lucius grin down at her. I looked to Koro, and without me asking, he shook his head.

“They are still too far from crossing the border,” he said, making me sigh.

“So, what are our odds.”

“With your own army of HellBeasts that are soon to arrive, we still fight twenty to one,” Dom replied with a tense look.

“And Adam?” I asked, knowing he would be our biggest asset in this.

“We are all in agreement that should the battle look to be lost, Adam will create the diversion that gives our men a chance to retreat without Garmr’s army being able to finish us off,” Dom replied, making me grit my teeth and once again, it wasn’t like Dom to plan for failure, which told me how bad this truly was.

“You fear they will find a way to stop him if given long enough on the battlefield?” my brother asked.

“We do, but this way his presence will cause panic and confusion, enough so that Garmr won’t want to risk the loss of any more of his army if he doesn’t have to, despite Ella’s abilities,” Lucius replied, as clearly, they had thought this through.

“And what if he brings about Ragnarök?” Sigurd asked, his usual easy-going nature now gone, replaced by stone cold strategy for the upcoming battle. And after my conversation with Hades, this was one problem we didn’t need to worry about…for now.

“He can’t, not until he figures out a way to cross Ella over to Helheim, hence why Hades remains hidden. He is the only one that can release her of being bound to this realm and with Ella stuck here, he can’t complete what is needed,” I told them, prompting Keira to ask,

“To do what exactly?”

“To break free of the forces of chaos, which the Gods had previously restrained,” Sigurd replied with a clench of his jaw.

“Oh… that would be bad,” she replied softly, making her shoulders slump.

“We still don’t know who else Garmr is working for,” Koro pointed out, and he was right.

“Then we can’t afford to wait for the rest of the legions to get here. For Garmr might not have found a way to get Ella out, but that is not to say whoever he is working for hasn’t found a way to get chaos in, in whatever form it may arise,” I said, bringing new concerns to the group. As an enemy you could see coming was one thing, but the enemy you didn’t know you had was quite another.

When no one else had any more to say, I added,

---