Page 258 of Psycho Gods

I ignored her.

Smoke filled my lungs.

I blinked.

Twenty of us crept through familiar flame-lit corridors. Ice melted off uniforms and dripping sounds echoed down the quiet corridor.

I looked down.

Unlike everyone else, I was still covered in a sheen of cobalt.

The ice wasn’t melting off me, it spread beneath my feet with every step I took.

Someone shouted.

Glowing blue swords were drawn.

I blinked.

Wings clattered above, and swords stabbed down from the ceiling, expertly hitting targets. Down the corridor, a gruesome roar echoed—the warning sound of a bear shifter—and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Infected screamed as we eliminated them.

Ungodly chittered as they ripped from their corpses. I sliced off their heads before they could react.

“Good work,” Malum shouted. He was nothing but a blur of darkness. I squinted as I tried to discern where the rest of the soldiers were in the smoky corridor.

A hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back.

An ax flew out of nowhere and missed my pipe by inches.

“Pay attention,” Luka shouted.

Two figures closed ranks on either side of me, and I sucked on my pipe greedily, grateful it hadn’t been hit.

“I am,” I said as I swung my enchanted swords forward and sliced the neck off an infected.

“We’ve got your back,” John shouted. There was a grunt and a thump as a body hit the ground behind me. The twins fought behind me.

“I’ve got your front.” I dodged ungodly pincers and protected them.

That was the last thing I said for hours.

The battle raged in the halls.

I blinked.

We’d been fighting for what felt like an eternity.

Sweat froze as it dripped down the sides of my face, making my skin feel uncomfortable.

We sprinted down the hall as a group. The twins and kings ran in front of me with their swords drawn.

There was a fork ahead in the corridor, and everyone turned left.

A hidden door opened at the exact moment I passed, and an infected flung herself at me. As our swords clashed, I skidded backward down the right path, away from the group.

There was a loud crack as the side of my head slammed against the stone.

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