A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The second ranked Runebound skill Erik got through his thundersnow affinity was weapon enhancement. By channeling his affinity through his weapon, he could both electrocute and freeze his opponent on every hit.

In this case, he intended to slow and hinder Liv until he could trap her.

But that would take a little more effort.

A ghoul didn't feel any pain. It's muscles could get tired and might strain under the constant application of cold lightning and ice patches, but it would take quite a while.

On the other hand, a regular Runebound or Arcanist could use their energy to easily break up the ice and negate the rampaging lightning. Against opponents like that, this ability would merely be an annoyance, while sapping some of their energy. It would mainly be useful in fights of endurance.

But a ghoul couldn't use that energy at all. All they had was their body. Slowly, the ice would accumulate, and the after effects of lightning would wreak havoc.

Thus, their fight continued.

Erik had to be constantly wary of Liv's slow but powerful attacks. Any attack of hers that hit put Erik under severe strain. His thundersnow armor cracked. His runeguard armor dented and scratched.

His body ached.

Fortunately, it wasn't so hard for him to avoid her attacks, so he got hit very little. Meanwhile, with every blow Erik struck against Liv, the thundersnow traveled across her boy. Every time it did, she became a little more affected.

Ice formed on body and muscles spasmed.

Liv screeched. Sigurd tried to keep up with both fights, but it quickly became clear to all that he was losing both of them.

Frustration etched on to his face. At some point, he started focusing on Astrid in an attempt to capture her as a bargaining chip, but Frostfang wouldn't let him go, and Astrid was far more experienced than him.

Sigurd may be a third ranker, but he spent most of his time planning, creating sigils, and training. But unlike with Astrid, his training didn't include actual fights.

In a match between raw power and experience, experience didn't always win, but it definitely allowed her to stay out of his reach, especially with Frostfang's help.

With bated breath and unflinching gazes, the surrounding vampires and shapeshifters looked on.

Opinions varied a little, but even among the vampires, most actually hoped for Sigurd's loss. Many of them recognized Astrid and they realized Erik wasn't trying to harm Liv.

Many of them had thrown their lot in with Sigurd a year ago, but most had regrets over that decision by now.

Sigurd lured them with promises of plenty of blood for those loyal to him, but he didn't unveil his plans to ghoulify 80% of the Dominion population until it was too late.

At that point, he was already the strongest around and he and Lars were the only ones with access to the locked up Liv.

The vampires around Kirkenes remained conflicted, however. They might prefer a return of Liv, but the question was how they would get through it in the end.

The Enclave wasn't using this opportunity to slaughter them all. Yet. But the excuse 'we were just following orders' hadn't worked since WWII.

Admittedly, world leaders of that time didn't have the personal power to wipe out their own nations if everyone simply stopped obeying them, but still.

While the spectators stewed in their conflicting thoughts, Erik had finally reached a point where Liv's body was having a lot of trouble moving. It had taken a full hour of fighting, but her muscles were spasming, and layers of ice covered her shriveled body.

'Finally,' a tired Erik sighed inwardly. His body ached, and fighting something slow but powerful like Liv was always nerve-wrecking.

Liv screeched again, but Erik ignored it. Using lightning flash, he suddenly appeared behind her and pushed an icy blue magic circle against her back.

At this point, he could have Elora remove the controlling sigil, but that would only make her act more feral. Unlike when they did this with Astrid, he couldn't have Emily enslave her immediately after. Not only was Erik's third wife not there, but it was also entirely impossible for to enslave anyone above her own rank.

So it was more important to restrain her first.

To do that, Erik used his second-ranked Arcanist ice spell: ice maker.

The ice already on Liv's body began to expand and spread. The ghoul screeched and tried to turn around, using her powerful, yet stiff body to break the accumulating ice, but there was no use.

Erik's ice accumulated faster than she could break it. On the other side, Sigurd was cursing loudly. He realized Liv wasn't getting free from her icy prison, and finally decided to change tactics.

'Only one way out now,' he growled inwardly.

Ruthlessly, he cut the connection between himself and Liv. With only one body left to control, he could finally concentrate on the fight he was currently in. But he knew he had to make haste.

Using his third-ranked Runebound skill, he created a high-pressure blast of water vapor around himself, pushing Frostfang away and instantly turned around to intercept Astrid's attack.

This had been the pattern before, whenever he created an opening with Frostfang, Astrid made sure he wouldn't be able to use it. Mostly that was because Sigurd was unable to concentrate fully on the fight. His reactions and movements were too slow, too robotic, and almost choreographed.

But now he was much faster, and he intended to use this opportunity to capture Astrid and trade her for his safe escape.

Unfortunately, no attack came.

The space behind him was empty. Astrid had already left.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" Erik chuckled, as he leisurely walked over from his battle with Liv, a cocky smirk on his face. "The moment I incapacitated Liv, it was obvious what you would do. So I warned Astrid to get out there."

Lightning sparkled across Erik's body as his lightning flash was charging once again, just in case he had to step in.

"Now how about you and I have a little talk, huh?" with every word, his cocky smirk became a little more sadistic.