Monsters surged forward, their relentless assault crashing against our defenses. Their determination was automatic, a testament to the power that Matthieu had over them.
The cottage was decimated to nothing but rubble, and cold seeped into my veins as I saw the haunted look in my goddess’s eyes.
Monsters were abundant, filling the entire grasslands around us, but the large grotesque monster that was Matthieu stood in the very front of it all. He seemingly commanded the horde himself.
A rage-filled scream tore from Fawn’s throat as she threw her hands out. I could feel power being drained through me from the bond before a wave of spirit magic burst from her and spread through the grasslands.
The monsters around us dropped to the ground, except, of course, for Matthieu—who instead shifted forms back to his normal mage form.
Her shield shattered like fragile glass, leaving us vulnerable in the aftermath. Fawn's form crumpled, caught between Casper and me, her breath ragged as she fought to regain her composure.
Hot air smacked into us as the sweet tang of magic and burning wood filled the air. The thick, overpowering smell of smoke was so potent that my tongue felt like it would burn off in my mouth. My throat tightened from the vapor, but the only thing I could taste was magic.
Silas's eyes met mine, his gaze a reflection of the chaos that surrounded us.
Matthieu and his horde reduced the cottage to smoldering ruins, the fires still flickering in scattered patches. As the winds carried away the scent of destruction, we stood amidst the devastation.
Matthieu’s hands clapped together, and a sinister smile curved his lips. “Delightful trick,sweet mage! But there are more monsters in my horde than that.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I growled, shooting arrows of darkness toward his heart as Casper did the same with light arrows directed toward his brain.
But Matthieu side-stepped them, clearly amused with our exhaustion from lending Fawn our magical power. “I want Fawn. Thought that was clear.”
“You’ll never have her,” Silas snarled, tossing a death rune at him with his ink magic—but even I felt the weakness of the rune.
We’d depleted a lot of energy withstanding the cottage being destroyed around us, but what drained us was Fawn ripping the spirits out of who-knew-how-many monsters.
Monster vessels lay around the rubble of the cottage stacked in piles. It was a damned massacre—a glorious one done by my goddess’s hand, but still.
“Ah, but I know I will,” Matthieu cackled. “You can’t protect her forever. Not from me. She’ll be mine one way or another.Mark my words.I created her!”
Fawn’s hand tightened around mine and Casper’s, but before we could react, she shot forward toward Matthieu with her spirit magic crackling around her like a storm.
“Fuck you! I created myself!”Her eyes were a wild iridescent as she sent him flying backward with enough force that he was nothing more than a blur in the sky before he slammed back down to the ground, skidding to a stop several yards away from us.
Silas rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Fawn’s waist to hold her back. “Muse, breathe. We still don’t have everything we need.”
Matthieu spat the dirt out of his mouth as he stood. “You think you’re really going to win, sweet mage? I created you, and if I want to wipe your spirit from Hexarium, I won’t hesitate to do it!” His eyes were dark and raging, and I could see energy whirling around him, almost like a tornado of power.
He reached into his robe and grabbed a vial before downing the contents in one go. Within seconds, Matthieu transformed into that massive monster form with sharp claws and teeth dripping with saliva.
Fawn shielded us from his attack as he swung wildly at her.
Anger boiled inside of me as I watched Matthieu grow bigger, more menacing, by the second. But there was little we could do until we had the weapon that would kill him for good.
Over the horizon came a new horde of monsters, and my stomach twisted.
“We can’t fight anymore, sunshine,” Casper said softly.
“We need to go, bug,” Aimon murmured.
Fawn looked back at us with determination in her eyes.
She knew Matthieu was out of our league right now, but she didn't want to let him get away with destroying everything around us. I could see the war waging inside her—I felt it in the bond—and she glanced between the monsters and Matthieu, who was now more grotesque than any monster I’d ever seen before.
His large body was gray and scaly, but his teeth were sharp, and he had black beady eyes—it truly was like a cross between a dementid and a dragon. I couldn’t wait to rid Hexarium of this abomination.
“Love, we need to leave before we can’t,” Bastian urged her, pleading with his gaze.
