Page 202
Story: A Soul to Revive
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.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202 (Reading here)
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222
- Page 223
- Page 224
- Page 225
- Page 226
- Page 227
- Page 228
- Page 229
- Page 230
- Page 231
- Page 232
- Page 233
- Page 234
- Page 235