NOVEL WEB Chapter 294: Scream Of The Heart
Thorn grunted as he lashed out with his bone whip arm, slicing through one of the grotesque figures bearing down on him.
The creature screamed, a high pitched wail of fractured soul energy, as the whip severed its torso. It collapsed into vapor mid-charge, vanishing like mist under sunlight.
That was one of the many energy clones that the Leviathans had spewed to keep the weaker members of the party as they ganged up on Ren and Lilith. After all, they'd taken care to separate the two, but not everybody.
The clones were much smaller than the actual Leviathans, but what they lacked in size, they made up with numbers. Another evidence that the Deep was not unchanging. It really did have a sense of preservation.
Another clone leapt at him from the side. Thorn spun, the bone whip snapping forward like a snake and smashing into its jaw. Soul-blood splattered the ground. It retaliated with a burst of tendrils, wrapping around his legs.
"Zuzu!"
She didn't hesitate. A tidal wave surged upward from beneath her feet, slamming into the clone and ripping it away from Thorn.
As the creature tumbled back, Zuzu raised her arms and clenched her fists. The water condensed into razor thin blades and pierced the construct mid-fall. It detonated with a shriek of light.
"We can't hold this pace!" She shouted.
"Then we get faster!" Thorn growled, re-forming his whip into a clawed gauntlet and punching through the skull of another charging monster.
The ground vibrated beneath their feet. The clones kept coming, spawned from the dark mist left in the Leviathans' wake, and they showed no sign of stopping. Quantity was indeed quality all on its own.
On the other side of the barrier, Elias became fire incarnate.
He spun with the kind of grace he rarely displayed, blade cutting arcs of flame through the black void. Every attack was filled with pressure, his feet carving molten trails in the rock.
One Leviathan surged toward him, its mouth gaping open. Elias ducked low and rolled to the side, dragging his sword across its throat as he passed beneath. The wound glowed orange, smoke and ichor spilling out in waves.
"Too slow!" he roared, flames spiraling from his hands.
The creature retaliated, slamming a winged limb downward. Elias raised both hands, heat erupting in a pillar of fire that blocked the strike.
He blasted forward through the smoke and drove his sword into its side, twisting deep into its body before kicking off and flipping backward.
The void was filled with chaos.
Whirlwinds of soul energy clashed with waves of fire and blades of bone. The darkness around them twisted, as if it was trying to consume the violence.
Zuzu was a cyclone of blades and crashing water. Thorn was a juggernaut, tearing through anything in reach. Elias cut through the night like a living inferno.
And above it all, Lilith floated.
Her swords crackled with power, glowing white-blue in her grip. The smaller Leviathan roared and surged toward her, its segmented mouth opening wide, lined with serrated energy teeth. It snapped forward like a viper.
Lilith darted to the side, her body spinning in midair. She slashed with both blades, carving a burning cross through its face. The beast recoiled, shrieking.
She pressed the assault.
She darted forward again, blades whirling. The Leviathan tried to strike with a tail swipe, but she flew under and drove her left sword up into its underbelly.
Soul fire exploded from the impact point, searing through sinew and membrane. She jumped to its back, carving lines of burning light across its length.
The creature twisted violently, trying to throw her off, but she held firm, planting both feet against its spine and driving her blades deep into its core. With a scream that echoed through the void, she ignited every ounce of energy within her.
Wings of flame erupted from her back.
"Burn."
She launched skyward, dragging the Leviathan with her by the blades until it began to break apart. At the peak of her rise, she twisted and hurled the beast downward.
It crashed with a thunderous impact.
Then it stopped moving.
Lilith landed hard, one knee crashing into the ground, her body trembling from the sheer force she'd unleashed. Her vision blurred. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps. The soul energy flickered at the edges of her blades.
Ren watched it all through the translucent barrier. His throat seized.
"Lilith! Move!"
But she couldn't.
The last Leviathan twisted midair. Its eyes locked on her. It surged forward, maw wide and glowing.
Ren screamed. "LILITH!"
The barrier didn't open.
But Elias did.
He moved.
A flash of fire. A blur of motion. Elias saw the incoming beast and ran.
A gap in the barrier, a flicker, a seam, opened just wide enough.
He dove through it.
"Elias!" Thorn shouted.
Too late.
The Leviathan slammed down.
It was like the world cracked. A thunderous boom, and Elias vanished beneath the crushing blow.
His sword clattered across the ground. His flame went out.
Lilith looked up.
There was a beat of silence, then her scream tore the sky.
The energy inside her exploded.
Soul energy surged outward in a violent sphere, consuming everything nearby. The air trembled. The clones evaporated. Thorn and Zuzu threw themselves to the ground as the storm swept past.
"Get down!" Thorn roared.
The Leviathans turned toward her.
But Lilith was gone.
Something else stood in her place.
Her body hovered, bathed in white light. Her eyes blazed like stars. Her hair whipped in unseen winds, flames cascading from her shoulders like a cloak.
The closest Leviathan lunged.
She met it head on.
One blade swept through its skull. The other carved down its spine. It screamed, tried to flee.
She grabbed its head.
And crushed it with a giant hand of soul energy.
The last one left Ren, who it had been fighting, howling as it charged Lilith.
She turned, eyes narrowed.
It struck with all its might.
She let it.
The blow connected, but she didn't move.
She raised both blades and rammed them through its skull.
It shrieked, limbs flailing.
"Fall."
She twisted.
And it died.
She stood trembling, soaked in firelight, eyes glowing like dying suns.
Then, finally, the light faded.
And she dropped to her knees, whispering Elias's name, tears falling down her face.
Elias was dead.
And he'd died guarding her, just like he'd always wanted to.