Page 110 of Fractured Souls

The beast was enraged. He moved in with a killing stroke, but it brought up its claws, blocking his blade.

Behind him, something moved. Without looking, Nythian raised his cannon and fired.

A male swore viciously. Nythian barely heard above the spray of yellow Xargek venom.

It rushed forward, claws raised…

Thwack.

A massive claw came down as someone shot at him from behind. Boom! Boom! Boom!

Blue fire rained down around him, pushing him right into the Xargek’s field of attack. Nythian swore and brought up his sword, countering the creature’s razor-sharp foreclaws.

Shit. He’d never had to fight a red-stripe with someone else trying to kill him in the background.

Xargek were fast. Really fucking fast.

Their claws were one of the few things in the Universe that could penetrate his exo-armor.

He was reminded of that the hard way as the Xargek broke through his defenses and impaled his right shoulder.

He tried to dodge backward, but the Xargek claw wouldn’t dislodge. Emboldened by the scent of his blood, the creature pressed down, trying to crush him.

Pain exploded through his body. His nanites swarmed to the surface, trying to repair the damage.

The pain fed his anger, and the red veil became deeper, his vision blurring.

Nythian cursed and tried to pull the claw out of his shoulder, but the Xargek was coming at him again, and he had to frantically raise his blade to block its vicious claw.

Movement from behind stole his attention.

He tried to duck, but it was too late.

A blade sank into the back of his neck. Thrust with great force, it penetrated his armor and went through vertebrae and spinal cord. Only a blade made of Callidum could cut through his exo-armor. He never would have let an enemy sneak up on him like that, but he’d been dealing with this cursed red-stripe Xargek.

The strength left his arms and legs in an instant. He lost all sensation.

Paralyzed from the neck down, Nythian dropped to his knees, his sword falling out of his hand, clattering to the floor. The Xargek came down on him, plunging its remaining claw into his belly, piercing through armor, through skin and muscle and tissue and viscera.

He fell to the floor.

Fire engulfed his body. The pain was so bad he almost blacked out, but he welcomed it, because it meant his nanites had gone into overdrive to repair damaged tissue.

All he wanted to do right now was turn around and tear his attacker to pieces, but he couldn’t do a thing.

That made him furious.

The Xargek impaled his belly again and again, a terrible shriek escaping its angular maw.

But amidst the bitter smell of his own blood and the excruciating pain and the blanket of crimson that clouded his vision, he was utterly helpless.

The anger surged through his body like white hot fire, burning away the last shreds of rational thought.

“Stop,” a deep voice said. Behind him, someone flicked blood from a blade and slid it back into a long sheath.

The one who had stabbed him was different from the others. He had the precise movements of a highly trained warrior.

Fucking coward, attacking from behind.

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