Page 13 of Demon Monster's Little Human

It erupts.

Not controlled. Not intentional. Just raw survival.

A blinding light rips from my hands, lancing into the creature’s chest.

It screams.

The entire cavern shudders, a shockwave of energy blasting outward, shoving everything away from me.

Including Dain.

The first creature crashes into a wall. Dain slams into the ground, his wings snapping open to stop the impact.

The second beast shrieks, its flesh seared where my magic hit it.

The pain hits me. The magic rips itself out of me like a piece of my soul is being torn apart.

I collapse, gasping, cold, so cold, my limbs shaking as if every drop of life in me was just siphoned away.

The beast staggers but it’s not dead.

Now, I can’t move.

Dain rises, slow, deliberate, eyes locked onto me.

Not the creature. Me.

I feel it inside me—the shift in the fight, the shift in his focus.

He saw what I did and he didn’t like it. The displeasure is clear on his face.

The beast snarls, trying to recover.

Dain doesn’t let it.

He launches forward, slamming his claws through its skull, tearing it apart in a spray of black ichor.

The cavern falls silent.

I gasp, pressing a trembling hand to my chest, still shaking from the magic, from the emptiness it left behind.

Dain turns toward me. Slow. Intentional.

A predator with a new target.

He crouches, tilts his head. "That magic.What is it?"

I swallow, throat raw. "I told you, I don’t know."

His lips curl. It’s a dark, hungry sort of amusement.

Behind him comes another roar.

Louder and way closer. There are more.

Holy shit, how am I going to survive this?

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