Chapter 43
"I'm coming."
Dax swung Cil in a wide arc behind him. The nine-foot Slaughter Demon instantly pivoted, turning its massive back toward Nadia as if shielding its master. Then Dax moved.
A sudden, explosive burst of speed. Each step cracked the earth like thunder—fissures racing outward in radiating lines. In one blink he vanished from his spot; in the next he was a hair's breadth closer to her.
Nadia's senses screamed danger. Calmly—almost serenely—she began chanting long, intricate words at impossible speed, syllables tumbling out faster than thought.
I need to move.
She tried to read the battlefield, but the gap had closed too fast. Too tight. No room to breathe.
Dax cut downward—no flourish of aura, no oppressive pressure, just clean, inevitable motion.
In that same instant the Slaughter Demon appeared above him, leaping straight into the descending blade.
BOOM.
Insane pressure detonated from Cil—raw, focused, a concentrated storm contained in steel.
