Page 80 of Drawn into Oblivion

“All that power and you don’t know how to use it?” he quipped. “I’ll gladly demonstrate after I cut it out of you. But don’t worry, I’ll keep you alive long enough to bear my seed.”

With a shout of effort, she whipped a long tail of her magic at him. It wrapped around his shield, catching his back and staggering him. Joy rose within as she realized his barrier didn’t move without him willing it. In his arrogance, he hadn’t accounted for anyone other than her reaching his throne room.

She couldn’t call for Mai. He’d realize his error and adjust his shield. So she used the last of her air to scream.

The Damned One’s deep laughter shook the room. Squeaks and grunts echoed from the balconies—the laughter of his nobles. To Shumei’s delight, he leisurely strolled toward his throne, putting his back entirely to the doors. He gripped her neck hard enough to gray the edges of her vision, but not enough that she couldn’t see the throne room entrance over his shoulder.

His back is turned. Now, Mai!

⁂

As the deep echo of the throne room door slamming shut faded, Mai glanced at Akiji still slumped in the chair, and tried not to panic as she waited for the empress’s signal. The next few moments would decide it all—not just whether those who had ventured into Oblivion would succeed, or even live, but whether the Divine One and all of humanity would survive.

Her composure threatened to crumble. She didn’t doubt she had the will to aid Shumei, only the ability. What could she, someone who had been next to nothing only months ago, do to strike a blow against a god? Her gift of knowledge about fighting demons wouldn’t help her here. The old court had never discovered whether the Damned One had a weakness. No one had ever come this far.

“Your only flaw is your lack of trust. You trust no one, not even yourself. It is time to let someone in and to let yourself become more.”

The words the Divine One had said to her the first time he’d visited rushed back, as clearly as though he was once again inside her head. She remembered ejecting the demon possessing young Oka, invoking the genesis spell, mind-walking with the empress, and visiting the Garden.

Yes, she had received gifts from the Divine One, but not the courage to use them. Instead, she had drawn strength and purpose from those around her, from Master Gin to Kyoko to Rosuke and the empress. She wasn’t here alone, and she knew she could trust her courage, if nothing else. It hadn’t let her down yet.

A scream rent the air, so loud it pierced the immense doors and seized her heart. The empress. It was time.

Without hesitation, Mai pulled open the left door. She curled her lip in disgust as the throne room’s putrid air hit her, and stepped over the threshold. Balconies to either side. An impossibly high ceiling. A tall blond man was heading toward an elaborate throne at the back of the hall. The faint glow of a thick, magical shield protected his front. Shumei whipped tails of power at him while grasping at the hold he had on her neck.

Even though his back was turned, Mai instantly recognized him as the blond man from her first vision. The fall of his hair, the shape of his shoulders, and the stab of fear in her gut told her they were the same. He had been the one supplanting her image of Rosuke. He had been trying to keep her afraid.

I need to make him let her go. One slash of her sword across his vulnerable back could work, but she didn’t think she’d reach him before he noticed her.

Sharp pain cut through the numbing effect of her magic, and she looked down at the dagger holster digging into her thigh. The whisper returned. Use me, it said.

She had no time to marvel at the strange voice. She jerked the dagger out of its sheath and cast one whispered spell. Then, with all the strength she could muster, she flung it at the Damned One. It flew straight, tumbling end over end and magicked to land blade-first.

The knife sank into the right side of her opponent’s back with an audible, metallic thud, piercing some sort of armor. His steps faltered, and he lost his grip on the empress. An inhuman roar shook the room. Shumei sank to the floor like a pebble through water, landing gracefully on her feet.

Mai was ready to follow the empress’s lead, but the Damned One wheeled around to face his second intruder, face twisted with rage. He reached back to grasp the hilt of the dagger buried in his flesh and ripped it out with another roar, one so loud and bestial that Mai couldn’t believe she was looking at the Foul One’s true form. Two bumps pushed out of his forehead, stretching the skin so tight she saw the color of his red horns. He threw the blade to the floor and curled his fingers into claws, as though eager to rip her to shreds. As he stalked toward her, he tossed his head about like a raging animal. Mai braced her stance, sword at the ready.

But then the Damned One stopped, eyes wide and back arched. The empress stood behind him. She had buried her Blade of Flesh deep in his wound, and she smiled victoriously.

“Jouzaikousen.”

Light exploded inside him, revealing his true dimensions in nightmarish clarity. Coiling horns, a wide, jagged mouth in a skeletal face, a ruffed neck, and a long-limbed, animal-like body. This time, he screamed in pain rather than anger. His nobles shrieked as well, but Mai could not tear her eyes away as the Damned One burned from within. Cleansing fire erupted from his mouth, his eyes, and even bled through his skin, lighting him up like a lantern. A dark spot deep in his core squirmed and writhed. She watched as it slowly shrank like melting snow.

“Mai, get out of here. Run!” The empress ran past her, jolting her out of her horrified trance. But even then, she could only watch, stupefied, as Shumei shoved open the throne room doors. “Mai, please,” she shrieked as she ran back. She grabbed Mai’s hand. “We’ll die if we stay here.”

Of course. Oblivion was the Damned One’s domain. It existed because he existed. And they had mortally wounded him. They had to escape.

Mai unstuck her legs and followed the insistent tug of the empress’s hand. They ran together toward the exit, but before they could get there, the empress let out a strangled cry and collapsed to her knees.

“Shumei,” Mai screamed.

She wrapped her arm around Shumei and tried to pull her to her feet, but the empress’s back was wet with blood. Shocked, she looked over her shoulder at the Damned One, whose true form had emerged. He stood on all fours, and parts of him had burned away—the side of his skull-like face, part of his hunched back, a chunk of his thigh. One of his long, thin arms was stretched out, and swirls of energy around his clawed hand indicated he had cast one last spell. Then he collapsed onto the floor, his strength waning as the light of the Divine One consumed him.

“I can’t…walk,” Shumei gasped, grimacing with pain.

“Then I’ll carry you,” Mai decided. She sheathed her sword, fed more magic into her strength spell, and picked Shumei up as if she weighed no more than a sack of rice. Mai disliked also treating her as such when she draped the empress over her shoulder, but they had precious little time. She pushed through the throne room doors, keeping her steps as even as possible to avoid jarring Shumei’s injury.

But Shumei wasn’t the only one who needed carrying. Mai considered dragging Akiji behind her but knew it would only slow her down, so she reluctantly diverted even more power into her strength spell. The heat that seared through her veins wrenched a scream from her burning throat, for each drag of air was like breathing fire, but she was able to sling Akiji over her other shoulder without much effort.