He didn’t let her go.
Not even as wild fury burned through his stomach, and his gaze shifted toward Tievel.
Tievel clenched his fist tighter around the stone, and Seda started to pulse with angry waves of crimson. Her eyes flared open, and she snarled at Kalon like a beast, raking her nails across his face and drawing blood from her fingers. But he held her tightly, not allowing her to succumb further to the dark power.
“You think you can defeat me? I have become the darkness that breathes. Iwillbecome a god, the first to be ascended in history! I may not be able to control you with this magic, but I can commandherfury! And through her you will die! You will finally fucking die!” Teivel shrieked as his sickening, wicked grin spread wider across his face.
Seda began to writhe in his arms, storm clouds churning and brewing above her as bright flashes lit up their faces.
“I won’t let that happen,” Kalon replied coolly.
He didn’t let her go as lightning descended and hit him in the shoulder. He held her body tightly against his as he fell to his knees against the edge, pain flaring through his body, vibrating through every nerve. Through the pain, he clenched his fist and poured the last bit of his magic into a pain-filled nightmare, channeling it into the Monster King.
The Monster King’s eyes widened before he fell backwards, emitting a scream that tore across the land, funneling through the dark, oil-slicked magic and shaking the earth.
He didn’t let her go as the stone slipped from Tievel’s hands, landing and turning a dull shade of gray.
His own smile crested his once-evil lips as he saw the megalomaniac Monster King on the floor, writhing in convulsing waves.
He didn’t let go as the electrical shocks receded and Seda’s radiance changed from crimson to violet starlight, and her burning eyes met the pain-filled tears dripping down his face.
He did finally let go when she shifted out of his arms and turned her slitted gaze toward Tievel, lightning sliding up and down her form.
Seda unleashed her divine electrical storm upon the man. Her fury focused on him as she watched his burning body thrash and his back arch off the floor in a mix of Kalon’s nightmares and her own rage.
With her magic, Seda lifted his body high into the sky, over the Palatium battlement’s edge, and released him, allowing the charred body to fall to the rocky ground below.
Kalon gasped at his weakened state when he pulled back hismagic, as if the last tendrils were a flickering candle, clinging to nothing but the wick as the wax had evaporated into thin air.
His vision blurred, and his body gave out, toppling backward and falling over the battlement’s edge. The air enveloped him as his body fell, and he watched himself drift farther from the divine being from the heavens who had absolved him long ago.
Kalon closed his eyes, waiting for the impact that would finally claim him.
He heard a roar and felt himself land on something warm. As the warmth spread through his body, he cracked open his eyes and saw Elco’s burning red scales, rescuing him—a man who had given up hope to see another day, a man who barely deserved to inhale the air around him.
Elco dropped him back onto the battlement, and Seda rushed to him, kneeling by his side. Her exhausted eyes met his, and she held him tightly in her arms. He allowed the wholeness to swell in his heart as he inhaled her lilac scent, his nose brushing against the top of her head.
“I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Not today and not a millennium ago,” she choked out, pulling away and brushing her hand across his bloody face. “Thank you for never giving up.” Her words were soft, but he could feel the love in each syllable—something he believed had vanished long ago.
He watched as she nodded to Elco before brushing away a tear, and glanced at the stone. The dark, pulsating magic beckoned his weakened body forward, flaming through his dark tattoo, and urging him to succumb to the darkness’s addiction once more.
He looked away as she picked it up.
Chapter 50
Seda
Seda felt nothing as her fingers brushed against the cool stone and looked at it in her palm. It looked like any other rock, dark and jagged. She expected something grand, like a tornado of Wisps or an explosion when her skin made contact, but there was nothing. It was just… a rock. A rock once so pure with motherly love, now tainted by the evil magic from Supay.
She looked at Kalon, at his handsome face and chiseled jawline that she knew so well. She could see the torment in his eyes, the way the dark magic called to him, attempting to lure him into the recesses of corruption once more.
She placed the Dark Stone into her pocket and reached a hand out to him, an offer of friendship, a plea for forgiveness.
His seafoam-colored eyes met hers, and she saw him swallow before reaching out and taking his hand into hers.
The sounds of screams returned as they looked over the banister, seeing the Jotnar and Dragors resume their torment on the land.
The Vatte were below, doing what they could to take down the monsters, but the Rozzers stood still, as if confusion swirled through their minds.
