Chapter 156: His Last Stand

Great question, honestly. But Riley had no time to answer anything, because the mouths on those figures twisted into something far more menacing the moment they realized that he had actually managed to evaporate the bubbles.

Their forms rippled, jagged lines shivering before settling. Irritation clung to them now, heavy and sharp, as though the darkness itself was bristling. Riley could see it in the way their many mouths stretched too wide, curling into shapes that were never meant for comfort.

This time they were no longer amused. They had decided. The human was not a nuisance. He was a threat that needed to be snuffed out.

Riley gritted his teeth. His hand burned with lingering heat, but he raised it again, forcing the fire to flow.

FWOOOSH!

A ribbon of flame lashed out across the corridor. It struck true, searing through the distortions that had been draped like veils over the shadowy figures. The false layers peeled away in an instant, revealing what they truly were.

For one breath, Riley almost believed they had an opening. The fire clung, licking across twisted flesh, and the monsters reeled back. The children gasped, faces lighting with fragile hope. Even Miss Risa’s expression eased as though the nightmare might finally be faltering.

Then the disguises fell.

And the corridor seemed to shrink around them.

What stood before them was nothing short of an abomination. Chimera-like, grotesque, with features stolen from things Riley could not even recognize. Scales melded into slick skin. Patches of fur jutted out between bones that looked as though they belonged to beasts. Too many eyes glimmered wetly across ridges where no eyes should be. Extra limbs bent at angles that made his stomach lurch.

They looked wrong. They looked real.

And worse, they were smiling.

The figures bulked up, muscle and shadow surging until their frames grew larger, heavier. Their claws extended like blades as their bodies pressed against the barrier.

BOOOM!

The shield shuddered under the first impact.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

Black needles shot out of their twisted forms again, hailing against the dome like arrows of iron. Sparks flew as each one hit, the air ringing with every strike.

Flames still clung to them. Riley could see the burns blistering, skin blackening. Yet they did not stop. Their jaws gnashed, their claws hammered, their needles pierced.

They were burning alive and they did not care.

That was bad.

That was very, very bad.

Because what was worse than fighting monsters was fighting monsters that felt no fear of pain.

And Riley, unlike them, was very afraid of pain. All sorts of pain.

“Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!” he hissed, voice breaking between terror and rage as the shield groaned under the assault.

It was then that Riley saw it.

The beings clawed at their own bodies, their talons raking deep into shadowy flesh. Blood poured down their arms, thick and dark, and it made his stomach twist violently. It did not look like any blood he had ever seen before.

And then those bloodied claws struck his shield.

THUD!

Riley’s heart lurched. Not in fear, not figuratively. It physically jolted, as though someone had reached through the barrier and squeezed it. His breath hitched, chest heaving.

“Oh no…”

Had he already drained too much mana from the guardian stone?

It would have been fine if the fight had continued as it had earlier, but now the figures were different. More menacing. Their movements sharpened with intent, as if they had stopped playing.

One of them hissed, its voice layered and wrong. “You were interesting for a moment.”

The other snarled with jagged laughter. “But now we have no time for games.”

They lunged together.

BOOM!

The shield flared as claws and black needles slammed against it in unison. Riley’s body screamed at him. His sigil burned worse than ever, scorching through nerves until his arms felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. He forced them up anyway, flames sparking wildly at his fingertips.

“Burn, dammit,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

The fire erupted, hotter and harsher than before. The figures snarled as the flames hit them, their limbs twisting, smoke rising from scorched flesh. For one brief second, it looked like a victory.

But behind him, the children screamed in terror.

Riley’s head snapped around just as Miss Risa staggered forward, blood spilling from her mouth. Something long and sharp had burst through the wall where she had once been chained. The spike had pierced her stomach clean through.

“No—”

The sound tore from him, raw and strangled.

It all slowed. The teacher sputtering blood. The children crying and clutching at her skirts. His own near-resigned smile freezing into horror as the shield cracked from a final concentrated assault.

CRRRACK!

The barrier shattered. At the same time, his whole body pulsed violently, as if it was about to split apart. Riley dropped to his knees, one hand slamming to the floor, the other clutching at his burning heart.

The children’s screams filled the chamber, now wet with tears, grief, and pure mortification.

And Riley… he was angry.

Angry at the kidnappers. Angry at the situation. Angry at himself.

He should have noticed. He should have figured something had been set into the wall where the shackles were. But he had been distracted, drawn by the fight, by the sight of their grotesque enemies. Even if he had known, would he have been able to stop it? Or was this just the pointless regret of a man about to die?

The figures laughed. Several mouths that did not belong together stretched wide, cackling in chorus as they closed in.

“How fun that was,” one purred. “How sweet to see them think they were succeeding.”

“And to watch them fail,” the other added, its voice rippling with satisfaction. “Now I understand why fresh despair tastes so good. To see their faces and hear their screams is almost enough.”

Riley’s head lifted. His eyes locked on them.

He had been ready to curse them with his last breath, but something within him shifted. His hand rose slowly, trembling with pain, yet steady with resolve.

“Ah. I’ll show the children what it’s like to kill,” snickered one of the abominations while reaching for Miss Risa, claws stretching to finish her. The other gripped Riley’s hair, jerking his head up.

But instead of breaking, Riley’s gaze sharpened.

His pupils narrowed into green slits.

Cold, alien.

Heat surged through him, hotter than anything he had ever felt. Blue flames erupted from his hand and mouth in a torrent that roared down the corridor.

FWOOOOOSH!

The fire washed over the figures, their shrieks slicing through the air. This time it was not disbelief, not mockery. It was horror. Real, searing horror.

The blue flames devoured them, ripping through the dark, shattering every makeshift shield the children had clung to. The power was too much, too raw.

Riley’s body buckled, falling forward as the fire ate away at his last strength.

“Fuck you,” he spat, voice faint and broken, as the beings screamed and burned.

Blue flames. They were blue flames.

The ground rumbled.

From deep below, the stone cracked, and then, with a violent explosion, the floor tore open. Debris scattered as dust choked the air.

And from the blast, a figure emerged. A very angry being, golden eyes blazing, wings half-spread in fury.

Kael.

And he looked up just in time to see a bloodied twig collapse to the ground.

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