Page 183 of Elven Crown

Almost as if the bomb had become self-aware and knew it was being consumed.

Rebecca was no more capable of stopping herself now than she’d been when this very same magic in her veins had decided it wanted to sample a non-existent homunculus spark, and look where that had gotten her.

But this? This was worse.

Rebecca had unleashed the hunger of her own power. She’d let it run free, and it took everything but what she’d specifically marked off limits.

The roaring bomb trembled and groaned, beeping and blinking and flashing, wailing until its various parts rebelled against the energetic theft.

Then the roar cut out. The low whine ended abruptly. The blinking lights inside the bomb cracked and burst, all the various magitek components crumbling in on themselves.

And still, Rebecca’s magic sensed more to be had.

So more was what it took.

Every casting-circle ward her team had discovered—and significantly more they hadn’t yet found—flared to life in a brilliant range of magical colors. In the walls, within the sloping cement floor, on all sides of the stage, and directly in front of the captured and bound operatives still strapped to the now empty and defunct bomb.

The walls and floors and ceilings strobed with all the magical booby traps set for the rescue team.

The full culmination of Bloodshadow power thrumming through Rebecca’s veins sucked each and every bit away, across the floor, through the air, up toward the balcony where an old-world necromancer lay dead in a crumpled pile.

The Bloodshadow Heir drew every last bit of energy into her open mouth.

Until every bit of magical light in the theater hall flickered and went out all at once.

A burst of electricity zapped somewhere below her, and someone yelped in response. Then came the sound of multiple bodies toppling to the slanted auditorium floor, and the overhead lights that had been off until this moment flickered and sputtered, buzzing in a pulsing rhythm until they popped. Light bulbs shattered, and everything around her went completely, utterly dark.

The last trailing filaments of magical energy from bombs and death clouds and a long-dormant generator somewhere close by drew into Rebecca’s open mouth until she had finally taken it all.

It was finished.

She tried to breathe normally again, but the energy surging through her all at once was more crippling than she’d expected.

There was a first time for everything.

She should have known that what happened next couldn’t possibly be ideal, even for her.

She should have prepared herself, but nothing could have prepared her for this.

Her legs gave out beneath her. With a cry of surprise and confusion, Rebecca thumped to her knees on the balcony.

There was so much…

So many different types of magic and power, energy and life force swirling through her simultaneously, each of them gifting her in their own way with renewed vigor and strength and glowing possibility.

It would have felt that way if she’d only consumed one of them the way she’d intended, but the conflicting sensations and the sheer amount she’d taken on in her last-ditch effort to save her team without preparing herself first overwhelmed her.

She had no control or awareness left to differentiate between all the growing, swirling bits of energy inside her. Nothing left to force them into a combined shape she could control.

Her only option now was to let it all run its course.

In seconds, she found herself wondering if it would even end at all, or if she’d acted far beyond her own capacity. She was too out of practice with this kind of volume.

Had she done herself in for good this time by protecting her team and overloading her own system beyond repair?

Soon, she could no longer hold herself up on her own anymore, kneeling there on the balcony, gasping as so much energy surged through her and tried to find a viable purpose for itself.

Rebecca toppled sideways, unable to catch herself at all, overwhelmed by an unyielding dizziness that tripled her vision and ushered in a fresh wave of churning nausea she couldn’t fight.

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