Evenson continued gathering Fel energy.
He only had one chance left.
The Ghost Rider understood that just as well.
If he wanted to use the Penance Stare, he had to get close. At their current distance, if Evenson completed his spell first, there would be no opportunity to dodge.
"You’re not getting any closer."
Without interrupting his casting, Evenson split off a sliver of concentration.
A shimmering barrier of Void energy sprang up between them.
Just a little longer...
The Ghost Rider roared.
Hellfire surged along his chain as he swung it with both hands.
The blazing weapon crashed into the Void Barrier.
The impact sent the chain rebounding, but the barrier fared little better.
Cracks raced across its surface.
It trembled on the verge of collapse.
The Abomination had possessed greater raw strength.
The Ghost Rider’s Hellfire, however, carried the force of high-order magic.
That made all the difference.
The rebounding chain wrapped around the Rider’s arm.
He stepped forward and drove a single flaming fist into the fractured barrier.
It exploded into shards of violet light.
Three steps.
That was all that remained between them.
"Sinner."
The Ghost Rider reached for him.
"Your soul will burn beneath my gaze."
Evenson’s eyes snapped open.
"No."
"You’re the one who’s finished."
At that exact moment...
His spell was complete.
The Ghost Rider realized it too late.
If he reached for the Penance Stare now, Evenson’s spell would strike first.
His outstretched hand instantly clenched into a fist.
If I can’t judge you...
I’ll beat you to death.
Evenson thrust both palms forward.
"Point-Blank Annihilation!"
The compressed sphere of Fel exploded around the Ghost Rider.
At the same instant...
The Rider’s fist slammed squarely into Evenson’s chest.
Boom!
The impact launched Evenson through the air.
He hit the ground hard, coughing up blood as he tumbled across the desert.
The Ghost Rider disappeared inside a storm of emerald Fel energy.
"Cough..."
Evenson lay flat on his back, forcing himself to breathe.
"Good thing I activated Demon Armor at the last second..."
He looked down.
A dinner-plate-sized section of his chest had been charred black, thin streams of smoke rising from the ruined flesh.
It could have been much worse.
Without Demon Armor, that punch might have gone straight through him.
"I hate fighting..."
He winced.
"It hurts."
"I’ve heard wounds from the Ghost Rider never heal."
"...Please don’t apply to me."
With trembling hands, he pressed a Healthstone against his chest.
Warm restorative magic flowed into his body.
The charred flesh slowly regenerated.
"Still works."
"Thank God."
Relief lasted approximately three seconds.
Then his brain resumed functioning normally.
"You know..."
He stared up at the brightening sky.
"This is usually the part where the heroine runs over crying, helps the wounded protagonist to his feet, and asks if he’s okay."
He sighed.
"I know Melinda’s a little older than the average action-movie love interest, but this level of emotional restraint feels excessive."
He had been badly injured.
The least she could do was help him sit up.
Bang!
A gunshot echoed across the desert.
Evenson flinched.
He turned toward Melinda.
She stood several dozen feet away with both hands locked around her pistol, her expression grim.
She wasn’t looking at him.
She was aiming past him.
A cold feeling settled into Evenson’s stomach.
He slowly turned his head.
"...What?"
The Ghost Rider was kneeling in the distance.
Melinda’s bullet had struck him squarely in the skull.
So that’s why she didn’t come help me.
She thought I still needed protecting.
Something wasn’t right.
Point-Blank Annihilation shouldn’t have killed the Ghost Rider.
Evenson had never expected that.
But it should have completely saturated him with Fel energy, leaving him glowing green and unable to move.
Instead...
The Rider looked half-dead.
Smoke drifted from every bone.
His Hellfire had almost vanished.
Yet there was almost no trace of Fel corruption.
"How...?"
Evenson stared.
He quickly found the answer.
One small flame still burned in the Ghost Rider’s right hand.
"I see."
"When you punched me..."
"Your hand remained outside the spell’s effective radius."
"The corruption hadn’t spread there yet."
"From that one untouched flame, you purged everything else."
Lucky.
Ridiculously lucky.
The Ghost Rider had paid dearly for it.
Almost every trace of Hellfire had been sacrificed.
Recovery would take time.
Even so...
A cursed weapon forged by Hell recovered far faster than a flesh-and-blood warlock.
Gradually, thin orange flames spread from his right hand.
His transformation stabilized once more.
The fire was pitiful now.
Instead of an inferno, it resembled a gas burner running on its last fumes.
Twice he had discarded nearly all of his Hellfire.
His reserves were almost exhausted.
The Ghost Rider struggled to his feet.
He took one step toward Evenson.
Bang!
Another bullet struck his skull.
"Stay away from him, Bones."
Melinda fired again.
And again.
She emptied one magazine.
Reloaded.
Emptied another.
When she finally ran out of ammunition, she threw the pistol itself.
Then she raised her fists.
"You said I’m guilty?"
"Then judge me."
Evenson watched silently.
"...Thanks, Melinda."
She couldn’t possibly defeat the Ghost Rider.
She knew that.
Which meant she was risking her life simply to buy him a few more seconds.
Whether she was acting out of duty...
Or because, somewhere along the way, she’d begun to consider him a friend...
It didn’t matter.
Evenson would remember it.
The Ghost Rider had had enough.
His chain lashed toward Melinda.
Even without Hellfire, its sheer physical force would kill an ordinary human instantly.
A small explosion erupted against the chain.
The strike veered aside.
"You dying would create a mountain of paperwork for me."
Evenson staggered to his feet.
"I’ll take it from here."
"But your injuries..."
Melinda stopped.
The wound across his chest had already closed.
"The outside’s fixed."
Evenson grimaced.
"My organs still feel like they’ve been through a blender."
He clenched his fists.
"This is the worst beating I’ve ever taken."
The Ghost Rider immediately abandoned Melinda.
Just as before...
He judged Evenson the greater sinner.
The greater threat.
Unable to use the Penance Stare anymore, he settled for the oldest weapon in existence.
His fist.
"Hmph."
Evenson, who moments earlier had looked ready to collapse, calmly raised one hand.
He caught the punch.
Effortlessly.
The Ghost Rider tilted his head.
Am I that weak now?
No.
His fist creaked under crushing pressure.
The warlock had become stronger.
Much stronger.
"This..."
Evenson smiled.
"...is the first time I’ve ever used it."
A complex violet rune floated before his face.
Shadow flooded into his body.
Bones cracked.
Muscles swelled.
His entire frame expanded.
His arms lengthened until his fingertips reached his knees.
Three bladed protrusions erupted from each forearm.
His fingernails extended into hooked talons.
His legs bent backward into the digitigrade limbs of a great beast.
His feet became cloven hooves.
Dark violet armor spread across his skin, hardening into demonic hide.
His facial features vanished beneath living shadow, leaving only the glowing rune suspended where his face should have been.
Curved horns swept backward from his forehead.
A pair of enormous bat-like wings unfurled behind him.
The ultimate technique of Demonology Warlocks.
Metamorphosis.
By channeling overwhelming shadow energy into their own bodies, master demonologists transformed themselves into living demons.
Strength.
Durability.
Spell power.
All increased dramatically.
For Evenson, the price was steep.
His current power allowed him to force the transformation only once each month.
And the cost afterward would be severe.
His wings spread wide.
Shadow-laden winds blasted across the desert.
The weakened Hellfire around the Ghost Rider flickered violently.
"Feel..."
Evenson’s voice had become deep and hollow, echoing unnaturally.
"...the demon within me."
He grabbed the Ghost Rider by both shoulders.
Now towering over him, Evenson simply lifted the skeletal executioner off the ground.
"You wanted to judge me?"
"Now?"
He pulled the Ghost Rider into a crushing bear hug.
Shadow and Fel erupted together.
Corruptive flames poured relentlessly into the Rider’s body.
The rune where Evenson’s face had been twisted into a vortex.
A torrent of concentrated Fel energy blasted directly over the Ghost Rider like a waterfall.
When it finally ended...
The Ghost Rider was burning once more.
Not with Hellfire.
With emerald Fel fire.
He couldn’t move.
Not even a finger.
"You should be grateful..."
Evenson’s hollow voice echoed across the desert.
"...that your soul already belongs to Hell."
"Otherwise..."
"You would have become my servant."
The Ghost Rider struggled desperately.
Trying to force the corruption from his body.
"You want to purge the contaminated flames?"
Evenson asked calmly.
"I’ll help."
Fel obeyed no one...
Except the warlock who commanded it.
At his will, every strand of Fel energy withdrew.
It carried the entangled Hellfire with it.
Both vanished into Evenson’s own body.
The instant the last flame disappeared...
The Ghost Rider’s skull cracked apart.
Beneath it appeared the face of an ordinary man.
His transformation ended.
His power had finally run dry.
Evenson tossed him aside.
A moment later, his own Metamorphosis collapsed.
The towering demon shrank back into a battered human.
He dropped heavily onto the sand.
Unlike before, his skin was flushed a deep crimson, as though he’d been boiled alive from within.
He looked at the unconscious man.
"I’d love to kill you."
"But unfortunately..."
"I can’t."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"You nearly beat me to death."
"You caused me more trouble than anyone has in a long time."
"So I’ll consider those Hellfire flames compensation."
"When I finally master them..."
"My Destruction magic is going to become a lot more interesting."
After a long silence, Evenson sighed.
"...Now."
He looked toward Melinda.
"You can help me up."
"I’m exhausted."
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