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Holy shit, that was close,Emerie thought, thankful for Lindiwe’s interference.

She watched its eyes drift in two different directions as consciousness drained from it. Purple blood bubbled up from its fatal wound when Lindiwe yanked her blade free, and the Demon thudded chest down against the ground.

By the time Emerie turned back to look at the podium, her heart stung on each beat, utterly filled with fear and anxiety. Her chest ached, her lungs working too hard and fast. Her lips dried more and more with each ragged breath, and already she felt parched.

Her muddled, bouncing gaze searched for Jabez near his throne.

He was gone.

A high-pitched, pained shriek behind her had her spinning.

Lindiwe had been lifted off her feet, clutched in Jabez’s fist by her long, curly brown hair. Before she could turn incorporeal to escape, lowering her chin to protect her neck when she was pulled, he ripped his claws across her face.

He laughed when her ghostly body flittered through his fingers.

Lindiwe covered her cheek with her hand and then turned to face Emerie, like Jabez was insignificant. Emerie had just raised her sword up to block, as a set of claws came down while she’d been looking away. The Demon roared as his fingers were chopped off, and Lindiwe pulled Emerie’s shoulder to put her behind her.

She stabbed her dagger into the white human flesh of a medium-sized Demon’s chest while it was distracted and sliced upwards. Emerie spun on the spot with her sword raised, ready to defend Lindiwe while she finished carving it up.

Once more, the Demon King disappeared from view.

He materialised at the podium for just a second to assess his next placement.

In front of Emerie, Delora floated in the air as she tried to evade the two flying Demons – one with bat wings, the other with feathers. Emerie shuddered, but turned her focus away when she looked relatively okay.

She wished she hadn’t.

She wouldn’t have witnessed Jabez standing behind Reia, who had been lifted off the ground by the claws he’d stabbed into the back of her skull. The stain of red flowed down the blonde strands like a macabre river. Her lips were parted like she’d gasped, and she was forced to look up at Jabez, who had bent over her from behind with a twisted sneer.

Her legs weren’t still, but they didn’t kick; they twitched, like her pierced brain was sending strange signals to them.

Her sword clattered to the ground when her body went limp. Demons sliced her arms and legs into ribbons with their claws as they dragged her corpse off Jabez’s fingers. They began to devour her, along with the three Demons she had managed to kill by herself.

Like he was unbothered by the fact he was in the middle of a battle, surrounded by the carnage his servants created, he licked her blood and whatever brain matter had clung to his fingers.

Reia,Emerie thought with a sob. She’d barely made it a few minutes; an obvious target for Jabez.

She had to look away from the Demons mauling her corpse and bringing bits of her to their mouths. Bile rose in her throat, and she threatened to dry retch when the smacking of lips, slurping, and hungry snarls flooded her ears.

Delora descended to the ground only two metres in front of Emerie.

The yellow skirt of her dress was in tatters, but she appeared fine. Then she let out a cry and cupped her ribs from the force of a Demon shoving her down and landing overtop of her.

Emerie charged.

There was no battle cry from her as she jumped and came down on the small, bat-winged Demon’s back. With her arms above her, both hands gripping the handle of her sword, she shoved it through its chest from behind. When she steadied her hand against its back to support herself from its thrashing, her palm print slowly began to singe and burn into its rough flesh.

Surprised, Emerie pulled her hand back.The diadem?Although she said it would only work against some medium and smaller Demons, no wonder Reia had given it to her.

Emerie didn’t have time to linger on it.

Whatever the Demon had been able to do to Delora was forgotten. The enraged creature roared and swiped its arm back, throwing Emerie across the stone floor. Within seconds, Lindiwe was bent above her on her bare feet, a single hand extended.

A shield formed, just as the Demon lunged.

When it landed on the shield, Lindiwe was quick to react. She opened up a hole in it so her hand could fit, grasped it by its foot, then glanced at Emerie.

She nodded and moved into a crouch.