Page 40 of Witch Queen

Only Vlad and Tarang were able to withstand the full force of the spell, their pupils bright with the unholy energy bubbling inside their own cores.

Mae’s scalp prickled as she tasted the potent forces coursing through every cell in her body. It wasn’t just her demonic energy that was being amplified by her current location. So too were her white and black magic. And just as Brimstone had said, the spell she’d invoked was bigger and more vicious than anything she’d ever manifested on Earth.

Wind Furyswept demons and beasts up into its vortex, the deadly currents cutting their flesh until their blood misted the inside of the spinning funnel.

Brimstone’s quivering tails crackled with demonic energy and black magic. His chest swelled as he inhaled.

TheWrathhe unleashed felled three giant hellbeasts and a swathe of demons before blasting a fifty-foot-wide hole in a hill a quarter of a mile away.

Incubus energy swamped the air as Vlad and Tarang faced off against a score of ten-foot-tall monsters, their attacks so blistering Mae could barely keep up with their movements. The demons went flying into the air, bodies landing in a mess of broken limbs and caved-in chests and torn flesh.

Hellfire Magic engulfed the pack of hellbeasts leaping for Nikolai and Alastair. The sorcerer finished them off with a barrage of white magic spell bombs and a blast ofHell Flare.

Cortes fixed the two helltigresses prowling around him with a deadly stare, Popo’s wings and eyes blazing brightly on his shoulder. The beasts sprang on murderous roars, fangs and claws glinting.

Arcane Magic and steel split the skin and flesh of the first one as the sorcerer dropped to the ground and sliced its belly open from underneath. It collapsed heavily in the dirt, blood and guts spilling from its fatal wound.

A strangled sound left the second monster when Cortes’s whip found its throat. The crack its neck made when the sorcerer snapped it echoed in Mae’s ears.

It didn’t take long to dispose of the fiends and beasts that had ambushed them. More came over from the main battlefield, bloodlust brightening their pupils.

Vozgan returned from where he’d felled the hellmammoth.

“You guys are strong,” the helldragon said brightly. “We should have a mock battle.” He sobered at the sight of the approaching enemy. “But after we get rid of them.”

The energy pouring out of Mae’s cores made her very bones tremble. Her magic was flourishing with every minute she spent in this realm. Brimstone and Na Ri were experiencing the same thing, their souls welcoming the demonic strength their birthplace granted them.

“Let me try something.”

Her tone caused Nikolai to cast a worried look at her.

She stepped forward, heat surging through her bond with Brimstone, fusing their cores. A black aura bloomed around her. She raised a hand toward where the sky should be, the taste of magic making her tongue tingle.

“Eclipse!”

The spell that formed at the summit of the valley bathed the battlefield and the very mountains in twilight. A deafening silence rolled out across the landscape as every living thing stopped and stared at the phenomenon.

“Shit,” Cortes mumbled, sword and whip hanging limply in his grasp.

“Well, I think you just demonstrated to everyone here that you really are Azazel’s daughter,” Vlad told Mae flatly.

She met his crimson gaze and swallowed, the incubus energy in his pupils vibrating along the same wavelength as her own demonic strength. Brimstone towered over her, his and Na Ri’s presence bolstering her magic.

Even Astarte startled at the negative pressure that erupted fromEclipsewhen it fully manifested its devastating ability. Hellbeasts and demons panicked and shrieked as they were dragged across the ground and swept up toward the gigantic black hole.

Mae raised a shield around those who fought alongside the Goddess and Alicia, her growing powers and Na Ri’s soul allowing her to differentiate between friend and foe in a heartbeat. Brimstone’s tails quivered savagely as he poured his magic into the spell.

It took less than a minute forEclipseto rid the battlefield of most of the enemy. Some managed to escape through tunnels in the mountains and burrows in the ground. The rest were cut down by Astarte and her alliance.

Mae shuddered and retracted her magic. She could only imagine the damage she could inflict on Earth if she ever unleashedEclipsethe way she’d just done in Hell. A wave of dizziness washed over her. She swayed.

Nikolai steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you okay?” the sorcerer said quietly.

Mae met his concerned gaze, her chest tight. “I’m not sure.” She looked blindly at her fingers, doubt assailing her for the first time in months. “This power is insane. Surely, no one should be allowed to wield something like this.”

Cortes exchanged a guarded glance with Vlad. Vozgan stared, puzzled.

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