Page 81 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

I flew away, racing in erratic patterns, ignoring Kell’s profanities as she tried to reload. As expected, the demon contained the explosion and hurled it at us, steering the shot with telekinesis. This wouldn’t end until he found a target. While I believed in the barrier I’d created, I didn’t want to chance it with such an amplified Diabolic attack. At my best, I couldprobably only withstand a few physical strikes from a demon before my barrier cracked.

Whipping back around, I allowed the ball of fire to close in.

“If you’re expecting me to stop that, I hate to break it to you, but—”

“Hold tight, Kell.” I slammed all my mana into the broom, shifting our trajectory and sending us plummeting toward the floor.

“Dammit.” Kell squeezed my ribs tightly as her grenade launcher flung from her grasp. A heavy clunk of her weapon hitting the metal grates of the railing pulled my focus.

We could double back for it. But first, I needed to lose this targeted strike. I flew furiously, following the splattered trail left behind by the demon, and turned onto the freshest trails until I reached him.

His mouth widened, teeth stretching out of his massive mouth like outstretched hands seeking to snatch Kell and me into his gullet. One of the teeth stabbed my shoulder, another cut my forearm, and black tendrils seeped through the cracks in his jagged teeth, latching onto my arm that held the broom steady. I trembled desperately, wanting to run, but I maintained my hold, waiting until the last second.

When the sizzle of the fiery grenade’s eruption he’d condensed closed in, still following us, I retrieved the Demon’s Demise, using the dagger to hack at the tendrils and then propelled us straight up to the ceiling. The fireball landed in the demon’s wide-opened mouth.

Essence exploded, raining across the engine room.

Limbs flailed through the air, tattered and ripped apart with ragged tears.

The scream the demon bellowed became faint and disjointed, like bits of his vocal cords attempted to carry sound but werescattered among the muck of his broken remains in every direction.

I did it.I fucking did it. I helped, and I stopped a demon.

Kell hugged me, resting her head on my back as I slowed down.

“Woo,” she boasted, hiding the wispy breaths of exhaustion she took. “We did it.”

Right.

A bright yellow arm cut through the smoke holding a grenade. Wait—the fifth one never exploded. I’d been so fixated on the demon catching the fourth one mid-explosion, I’d overlooked the fifth one. But how was he moving his arm? His body was riddled with injuries, torn to bits, and… This arm. This was the first one he’d lost; I recognized the perfectly clean cut.

“Fuck.” I pivoted as the thumb holding the grenade released. “He sliced off his arm intentionally.”

He’d accounted for the overwhelming force of Kell’s weapon, made it seem like he’d lost a limb, and planned to use it to turn the grenade against us one way or another.

I channeled all my mana, knowing there was no way to outrun the grenade inches from us, and amplified the barrier hoping it’d hold.

A blast raddled my eardrums, sending a painful piercing through my entire body.

Fire flooded my vision.

I spun in circles, and Kell’s grip faded. Not happening again. Fighting through the carnage, I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her close and safely within the confines of my barrier. I had no clue how I did it, how I found her amidst the fire and smoke, but I couldn’t let anything happen to her, to me.

We nosedived in a spiral, crashing hard onto the ground.

I gasped as my back slammed and spasmed, releasing Kell before I flipped and rolled over a few times, thudding against a pillar.

My vision was hazy, but Kell was fine. As fine as someone could be after barely escaping an explosion.

Glass shattered.

A dozen or more orbs lay in broken bits surrounding me as chaotic essence lashed around me.

No. I couldn’t stand, couldn’t move. I couldn’t even catch my breath. How was I going to survive a whole horde of demons?

24

Beelzebub

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