The weeping stopped and all nine creatures opened their wings, and the first beat sent loose feathers spinning down through the green light.
Eirwen did not even look back when he spoke, his golden eyes locked onto the enemies before him.
"Joel in frontm, Mara on his left, Tomas and Nia behind them! Keep the entrance at your backs and don't follow me unless I call!"
Boots scraped into position behind him, and Mara didn't argue this time. The things above were already starting to move, and whatever opinion she held about his authority had become insignificant.
The first harpy threw itself from the seats akin to a missile.
It folded both wings against its sides and fell toward the western entrance until the last possible moment, then opened them and converted the drop into a straight burst across the sand.
Its talons stretched toward Eirwen, but the true target was the group behind him.
Eirwen's golden eyes widened as the distance vanished.
He could not afford to feed his Flaw more Essence through a long fight, and the cleanest way to save it was to make the first enemy die within the first couple strikes.
A faint light stirred in his eyes. Blue-white electricity flickered once around his neck, ran down his spine and wrapped both legs.
He took two steps forward just as the harpy crossed the final three metres with its mouth open and its feet reaching for his chest.
Eirwen planted his right foot, moved his left one a couple inches to the side and turned his torso with it.
The creature passed through the space he had occupied so closely that it nearly crashed into him.
Before it could fold its wings and changes directions, Eirwen continued the turn and swung [Hydra's Choice] from right to left, and the edge immediately met the stretched neck.
The skin opened, then the narrow spine snapped with a hard vibration, and the head came free in a burst of black blood.
The body travelled another two couple meters without the head before striking the sand breast-first. Its momentum folded one wing beneath it and sent the carcass rolling toward the arch they came through, while the severed head bounced once and stopped against Joel's shield.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Mourning Harpy]
[You have consumed a Soul!]
[Devour the Flesh for more]
The electricity vanished as soon as Eirwen completed the cut. He simply could not allow for any of it to linger.
The four Sleepers behind him stared at the head beside Joel's boot for a long moment before Joel set the shield's lower edge into the sand.
Mara moved to his left with her heavy sword held near her hip, leaving room for him to turn the shield without striking her.
Tomas and Nia stood two paces behind them, Tomas on the right with his bandaged hands away from the girl's body and Nia on the left where her shadow could spread past Mara.
Eirwen remained farther into the arena, the point of [Hydra's Choice] lowered while black blood ran down its edge. The little formation of theirs was not perfect, but every person could now see the space they were responsible for.
Two more harpies descended together.
They approached Eirwen from opposite sides, wide enough apart that he couldn't defend both at the same time.
For an instant he expected them to close on him, but instead, each creature banked around his reach.
The one on his left climbed over the tip of [Hydra's Choice] and drove straight at Joel, while the one on his right kept low and swept past Eirwen's back toward Tomas and Nia.
Despite only being Awakened Monsters, they somehow managed to ignore the stronger target and go for the weaker ones.
Eirwen turned after the right-hand creature, but another shadow was already growing beneath him. Something higher in the darkness was coming down, fast enough that chasing the pair would expose his back to it.
Meanwhile, the left harpy had already struck Joel.
Both taloned feet hit the centre of his shield, metal booming through the amphitheatre as the impact forced his feet a couple inches through the sand.
Joel gave ground before steading his stance and not folding. He lowered the top of the shield and made the creature's weight slide toward the ground. Its claws hooked over both edges before it could fall, and its wings beat hard enough to shower Mara with grit and sand.
Nia pressed one palm to the sand and her shadow ran beneath Joel, joined the sharp outline cast by the harpy and climbed around its right "foot".
When the creature tried to pull away, that foot remained trapped low. Its body twisted sideways, exposing its side to Mara.
She stepped forward and her first cut came up from below her hip and broke the long wing bone close to the shoulder.
The harpy dropped onto the shield with its balance gone and Mara used the moment to reverse the blade before it reached the ground. She brought the edge down across the front of the throat and put her whole body behind the strike.
Grey skin split and black blood poured over Joel's shield in a hot sheet.
He shoved upward once and the dying creature rolled off the metal and landed on the sand between him and Eirwen, kicking until Nia released its shadow.
The second harpy—a tad bit slower than the other—reached the rear a second later.
It skimmed over Mara's torso with one wing tucked close to avoid the arch, then extended both feet toward Nia.
Tomas stepped across her before the talons could touch her.
He opened his right hand and orange fire spilled between the blood-stiffened bandages and struck the harpy across its face and partially a wing.
The flame was no larger than a humans head, but it was close enough to ignite those disgusting, greasy feathers.
The creature shrieked and jerked its head away. Its right wing clipped the stone edge of the arch, turning the clean dive into a shoulder-first crash across the bottom step.
Despite the little win, Tomas paid for the burst immediately.
The same fire had caught in the cloth around his fingers. He clenched his hand, smothering it against his shirt, but the skin beneath the bandages had already blistered and split.
He had no protection from his own power; most likely his Flaw.
Nia seized the opening his flame created, sweeping her shadow around the harpy's scorched wing and holding it flat against the stair.
Joel turned from the first corpse, crossed the distance as quick as he could and brought the lower rim of his shield down across the creature's back. Thin and hollow bones crushed beneath the metal.
The harpy's mouth opened in front of Tomas, and he drove his short sword through it with both burned hands. The point emerged beneath the base of the skull and its legs scraped at the stone before falling still.
Eirwen heard both bodies settle, but he could not watch the group finish them.
And that was because the fourth harpy had dropped almost vertically from the darkness above him.
Its wings were folded tight, its feet together, and its body gathered speed until it resembled a grey spear aimed at the top of his head.
Eirwen looked up at the last instant. There was no room to leave the line of attack, so he raised [Hydra's Choice] horizontally above him.
His right hand held the hilt while his left gauntlet braced the blade close to the tip.
Thankfully, the talons struck the blade instead of him.
One set closed around the silver near the guard and the other locked around the far half, trapping the sword between the two of them.
The collision hammered Eirwen's arms down until the flat nearly touched his hair. Blue light flashed through the [Vestment of the Sunken King] as the blunt force passed through his bones and [Weight of the Deep] swallowed it.
The harpy did not try to wrench the weapon free, instead it folded its wings open with a single violent beat, and the same momentum that had driven it downward tore Eirwen from the sand.
The Nightmare Creature climbed almost straight up, carrying [Hydra's Choice] in its talons while Eirwen hung beneath the blade with both hands locked.
He had intended to put the next corpse between himself and the group, Devour it quickly and recover enough Essence to make the rest of the fight less annoying.
Instead, the amphitheatre floor was shrinking beneath him, Mara and the others were looking up in a daze, and the creature had turned his sword into a handle.
What the hell is this!? He groaned in annoyance at the stupid situation he just got himself into.
The harpy climbed higher and higher, then higher some more.
Eirwen tightened his right hand around the hilt and slid his left along the blade until his arms were apart just enough. That gave him a rigid bar to pull against.
He flexed his abdomen, drew both knees to his chest and waited until the next wingbeat pulled the creature's body down.
Then he drove both armoured boots upward into the creatures keel like centre.
His heels met the harpy's keel together and at the same instant, Eirwen released [Abyssal Return].
The impact the creature had forced into his armour came back through the point of contact.
Blue-white pressure burst from both boots and punched into the narrow breastbone.
The keel collapsed with a deep crack, ribs and other bone caving inward around it, driving fragments through the organs, and the harpy's next wingbeat immediately broke apart. Its legs convulsed and both talons finally opened around [Hydra's Choice], freeing the sword and Eirwen with it.
With that, the two of them began to fall side by side.
Eirwen pulled the longsword to his chest, tucked his knees and turned his hips.
With nothing beneath his feet, the movement rotated his entire body.
He opened again halfway through the turn and carried [Hydra's Choice] through the wound his boots had made, cutting from the broken keel across the left side of the torso.
The edge split the sunken chest, severed every skin and muscle it came in contact with, opening the abdomen far enough for dark organs to spill into the air between them.
The harpy fell away from him, one wing beating without rhythm while its body slowly rolled onto its back.
He landed on both feet and one hand, knees bent and absorbing some of the impact.
The fall struck the armour as pure blunt force. [Weight of the Deep] absorbed it in a blue flash that travelled from his boots to his upper body, and the sand beneath him erupted in a low ring.
No bone broke or joint broke, and thus no Essence was wasted by his Flaw.
His boots sank several inches and stopped, leaving the force of the landing stored inside the plates instead of inside his body.
The harpy hit five metres away. Its ruined torso folded around the impact, but it remained alive, rolling onto one side and clawing at the sand while the uninjured wing battered the ground.
Eirwen came out of his crouch before the spray of sand could settle down. He crossed the distance in three quick steps, moved over the beating wing and drove [Hydra's Choice] straight down through the creature's face.
The point entered between its human eyes, passed through the skull and buried itself in the arena floor. Eirwen leaned on the hilt until the spasms ended, his eyes wide and teeth clenched. For a moment, his golden hair obstructed his face as he pulled the sword out.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Mourning Harpy]
[You have consumed a Soul!]
[Devour the Flesh for more]