Page 3 of Wicked Enemy

Trapped.

They were going to trap us in here.

The panic inside me flared into unbearable levels.

Fuck.

Screams ripped from a few of my people as two lightning attacks slunk through, but the sound was quickly cut off as they toppled backwards and crashed down dead on the floor.

I raised another wall as the explosion mage shot an attack at us while Aaron hurled a nest of shadows. They were closing in from all sides.

My mind was pounding.

My soul screaming.

Then it went quiet.

Deadly quiet.

A slick cold feeling seeped through my bones, washing through my whole body, as I felt that familiar insanity stir inside me. It muffled all the terrible feelings like a thick blanket, and I could finally breathe properly again. But my mind was slipping. And it was slipping fast now.

“Shinji,” I said, my voice coming out terrifyingly emotionless. “Get everyone out. Now.”

All it took was one quick glance, and Shinji knew exactly how serious I was about that order. Knew exactly what was about to happen. But I barely heard him as he began ordering everyone else to pull back into the corridors because the silence inside my skull was reaching deafening levels.

The House of Onyx bombarded us with attacks, but I raised metal wall after metal wall while my people beat a hasty retreat. I was expending enormous amounts of energy in order to do it, but in this state, I could barely feel it.

Once the area behind me was clear, I let the metal wall drop.

Uncertainty blew across Aaron’s face as he met my gaze from across the now unnaturally still throne room.

My lips curled in a wicked grin tinted with absolute madness.

And whatever he saw in my face made him flinch. “Pull ba—”

Before he could finish the sentence, I slapped my palms together and then threw my arms out before yanking them back together again.

Metal spikes shot out of every surface inside the room. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything inside this entire room was made of metal. And every single part of it obeyed me and my power.

Screams ripped through the room as people were impaled on the spot. Aaron hurled a massive cloud of shadows towards me to block my view. But it didn’t matter. My consciousness was slipping anyway.

The last thing I saw was the fear and panic pulsing on my enemies’ features as I let the spikes drop back down before yanking up another wave of them from every surface.

Then my mind retreated into that safe place deep inside where I felt nothing at all.

It was impossible to tell if seconds or minutes had passed when that fog of insanity at last lifted and I was brought back into my body.

Coming back after it happened always felt like breaking the surface and sucking in a breath after a deep dive into a dark ocean.

I blinked and shook my head as I tried to reorient myself.

The whole area around me smelled like blood.

Once my vision was clear, I realized why.

At least a quarter of the people that Aaron had brought were now lying dead on my metal floor. The shadow mage himself was not among them, but I recognized one of the fire mages who had melted the doors.

Slowly, I looked up at those doors.

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