The hand closed around his throat like iron dipped in flame.
Four fingers only, but each one was a brand. Each scale was rough, ridged, as if carved from volcanic glass.
Aiden's skin sizzled where it touched him. He could smell himself burning. The world shrank to the circle of that grip: his neck, his lungs screaming for air, the hammer of his pulse.
And yet—it wasn't the worst pain he had felt.
The real agony had been when his ember had guttered out. When the tiny flame of mana that marked him as alive had flickered to zero, leaving him hollow.
He remembered that moment vividly—the sensation of being erased. Not killed, but emptied.
Compared to that, this was only pain. A smaller cruelty.
He forced a ragged grin, lips cracking under the heat. "Heh… we meet quicker than expected. Usually, this sort of reunion happens after an arc or two."
His words scraped out, half-choke, half-jest.
The abomination's crimson eyes widened—and then he laughed.
"Hahaha .HAHAHAHAH.."
