Page 99 of Witch Queen

The corruption that detonated around the Sorcerer King made the bridge quake and brought with it the stench of the wicked soul he’d stolen from theBook of Shadows.

He turned his livid gaze on Oscar, his expression inhuman. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Oscar stumbled and fell on his ass with a choked sound. He backpedaled along the deck.

“I should have killed you when the thought first came to me, you ingrate!” Vedran hissed.

“Run, Oscar!” Mae shouted.

The sorcerer twisted around and scrambled to his feet.

Black magic shot out of Vedran’s hand and wrapped around his ankle. Oscar grunted as Vedran tugged on the dark cord and brought him to the ground.

Mae started running, a spell falling from her lips on a desperate shout as the Sorcerer King’s intentions became horrifyingly clear.

“NEGATE!”

Vedran did not waver an inch. He yanked Oscar to him, straddled his body, and punched his hand straight through his stomach to his core.

Oscar went rigid, his gaze locking blindly on his father’s face. His spine bowed off the asphalt as the man who had sired him tried to rip his soul from his body.

Brimstone reached the Sorcerer King first and smashed into his black magic aura. The fox snarled when he bounced off it and skidded some fifty feet.

A high-pitched ululation left Hellreaver as he attempted to slice Vedran’s corruption apart. He might as well have tried to punch through water for all the difference he made.

Mae’s heart slammed violently against her ribs.

“PURGE!CHAOS SEAL!”

The spells brushed off Vedran.

Shit!Bile burned the back of her throat as she tried to think what would work against him.We need Nikolai.

Oscar moved his head a fraction and met her frantic gaze as she closed in on Vedran. His mouth curved on a small smile even as his eyes glistened with sadness.

“Look—after Drabek!” he gasped.

His eyelids fluttered closed and his body went limp.

A crimson portal blasted into life to Mae’s right.

Azazel shot out of it, Nikolai right behind him.

Brightness flooded the bridge, the white magic sorcerer landing on it with a thud. His power dispersed Vedran’s corruption on a wave that made the air breathable again.

Nikolai snarled and spun the spear in his grip, the weapon crackling with the dazzling light of white and Moon Magic. “Not this time, asshole!”

He brought it down and sliced Vedran’s hand off at the wrist. The Sorcerer King froze, eyes rounding in incomprehension.

Nikolai made the most of his father’s shock and kicked him violently in the chest. He snatched the corrupt appendage still buried in Oscar’s stomach and destroyed it with a burst of pale magic, the foul power it contained hissing and bubbling as it vanished between his fingers.

Azazel alighted next to Mae. “Daughter, are you okay?!”

“Yes!” Mae shuddered as the demon took her in his arms and squeezed her to his chest. She pulled back and searched her father’s face. “Ran Soyun?!”

Azazel smiled. “She’ll be here soon.”

Mae’s jaw tightened, her relief short-lived. “This isn’t over yet.”

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