Page 97 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
He extended a skeletal hand toward Maseo and lifted the half-wolf shifter from the ground to suspend him in midair with invisible forces. Maseo struggled, his muscles straining as he fought the power that held him, but his weapon fell from his grasp, embedding in the soil below.
“No!” Kitsuki shouted. His dragon roared within him, ice magic exploding outward in a desperate surge of power. He dares to touch our mate.
“Let him go!” Kitsuki snarled, charging forward only to be repelled by an invisible barrier that sent shockwaves of pain through his body. He struck it again and again, his knuckles splitting against the magical wall as blood ran down his hands.
Ishibiya’s evil laughter cackled through the clearing. “Nasume was so eager to trade his son’s soul for my services. He had no idea of its true value. What a fool he was to give away his greatest treasure so carelessly.”
Maseo’s body went rigid as black magic, crackling with green lightning, snaked toward him. The first tendril wrapped around his throat like a noose, and Maseo’s scream of agony split the air. More followed, binding his arms, chest, and legs.
When Maseo opened his mouth to cry out again, the black spirals surged forward like shadowy serpents, forcing themselves past his lips and down his throat. His eyes widened with terror and violation as the necromancy invaded him, choking off his scream and making his body convulse as if he were drowning on dry land.
His throat bulged as the invading power searched for his soul’s anchor point. Blood streamed from his nose, ears, and eyes, running down his face in crimson rivulets as the necromantic force tore at him from within. To Kitsuki’s horror, a blue light emerged from Maseo’s stretched mouth, the luminous essence of his soul being extracted.
“Extraordinary,” Ishibiya breathed, his green soul flaring with avarice. “Who knew there could be such power in a half-breed? I can taste the dormant but potent magic in you, boy. Neither your father’s shadowmancy nor your mother’s wishmancy, but something far more unique that will make me unstoppable.”
It devoured Maseo’s voice next, leaving his mouth open wide in a soundless wail. The welts on his skin smoked, the flesh blistering and weeping. His limbs spasmed so violently that Kitsuki could hear joints popping. He feared Maseo’s spine would shatter under the brutal assault.
Kitsuki’s attacks grew more frenzied as he watched Maseo’s torment. His dragon clawed at his mind, demanding to be freed, but even in his shifted form, he could not breach the necromancer’s defenses.We are failing him. Our mate suffers while we stand helpless!
“Your father sold you cheaply,” Ishibiya taunted. With each strand of Maseo’s soul that emerged, his body jerked as if he were being flayed alive. “He called you worthless. Weak. If only he knew what magic flows in your veins. The power you could wield if only you knew how to access it.”
As his soul shredded, Maseo’s spine bent backward as he fought against the extraction, every fiber of his being screaming in rebellion against the violation. Each torn fragment left him less whole, less alive, as if parts of his memory, his love, his very identity were being devoured.
Welts continued to spread across his skin like a plague, angry and oozing pus, while his eyes rolled back until only the whites showed, veined with burst blood vessels. Foam flecked with crimson bubbled from around the dark magic choking his throat as his soul clung to its mortal shell, each fragment ripped away, sending fresh waves of torment through his frame.
“Death would be a mercy, but you are not so lucky,” Ishibiya said with cruel satisfaction. “This is so much more exquisite. The more you resist, the more delicious your agony becomes.”
The sphere of soulflame above Ishibiya’s hand swelled larger as he wrenched away more of Maseo’s essence. With each passing moment, the half-wolf shifter’s struggles grew more frantic and desperate, his body rejecting the extraction with primal terror while being murdered in pieces. His welts turned black at the edges, spreading like gangrene across his flesh.
“Once I consume your soul, I will be unstoppable,” Ishibiya declared with triumphant laughter. “Not even the Powers will stand against me. And you, my dear boy, have the honor of being the catalyst for my ascension.”
With another surge of necromantic power, Maseo’s resistance crumbled, his body going slack as the last of his strength drained away. Only the thinnest strand of blue light tethered his soul, leaving him hollow and dying.
Desperation clawed at Kitsuki’s throat. Nothing he did seemed capable of breaching Ishibiya’s defenses. In mere moments, Maseo would be gone forever, his soul devoured by the abomination before them.
The thought of losing Maseo before they could claim him sent a wave of anguish through Kitsuki so profound it almost brought him to his knees.
With trembling fingers, Kitsuki reached beneath his armor and grasped the wish pendant Maseo’s mother had infused with her soul. The small orb was warm against his palm, pulsing with Corina’s life force blending with the power contained within it.
“Please,” Kitsuki prayed to Mireya, “let my next strike save Maseo’s life.”
The pendant grew hot in his hand, then blazed with an intense blue light similar to the color of Maseo’s soul. It spread up Kitsuki’s arm, enveloping his sword in a shimmering aura.
“Kizoshi!” he called to his sister, who met his eyes with instant understanding.
They charged together with their blades wreathed in power. Kitsuki’s glowed with the blue power of Corina’s wish, whileKizoshi’s burned with the purple-red flame of her Divine authority and dragon magic. When they struck Ishibiya’s barrier, it held for a heartbeat, then cracked under pressure.
But Ishibiya was ready for them, his skeletal form moving with inhuman speed as he raised both hands to defend himself. “You think your pitiful efforts can stop me?” He unleashed a blast of necrotic energy that sent Kizoshi tumbling backward. “I have transcended death itself!”
Kitsuki pressed forward alone, his burning sword clashing with Ishibiya’s claws in a shower of sparks. The necromancer was faster than any mortal, his attacks coming from impossible angles as he fought with the fury of the damned. Kitsuki’s arm screamed with every parry and strike, but he could not falter while Maseo hung dying above them.
The green soulflame within Ishibiya’s bones pulsed brighter as he drew upon the stolen essence of a thousand victims. “His soul will make me an untouchable god!” Ishibiya shrieked, landing a blow that staggered Kitsuki.
Kizoshi recovered, and together the siblings pressed their attack. Their blades moved in perfect harmony, each covering the other’s weaknesses, until they found their opening and combined their power in a burst of light as they attacked his soulflame.
“If I cannot have it, then no one can!” Ishibiya’s scream shattered the air as they severed his connection to the Living Realm. His skeleton disintegrated as he fought to maintain his hold.
Kitsuki lunged forward, his burning blade piercing the necromancer’s chest as the last strand of Maseo’s soulthreatened to snap. The wish magic blasted outward, not only destroying Ishibiya but also sending healing energy toward Maseo’s suspended form.
