The Broken Halo

For one heartbeat, Sonya could no longer feel Simon.

His footsteps had vanished beneath the thunder of the Furnaceback Centipede, and the familiar disturbance his body created through the earth was gone.

Then came the wet crunch from inside the creature’s jaws.

"No..."

The word barely escaped her lips.

Akaza stared at the enormous beast as it raised its head and swallowed. His arms hung at his sides, and the heavy battle intent in his eyes disappeared beneath naked disbelief.

Simon had been there a moment ago.

But now...

Now...

Now.... he was gone.

Sonya suddenly took a step forward.

Akaza recovered the moment he saw her move. He lunged forward and wrapped one arm around her waist before she could run after the centipede.

"Stop!"

"Let go of me!"

"That thing is a Half-Step Abyssal Beast!"

"I know what it is and I’m going to kill it!"

Sonya twisted, but Akaza tightened his hold. His own breathing was rough, and the bones the Crag Hound had broken still screamed whenever he moved, yet he refused to release her.

"Blackmoon told us to stay with the wagon!"

"He was swallowed, you idiot!"

Her voice cracked with rage.

Akaza’s grip faltered for the briefest moment as Sonya’s body glowed with a demonic dark brown earthly energy.

Sonya stamped on his foot.

CRACK!

Akaza grunted. Before he could recover, her elbow drove into his ribs with enough force to blast the air from his lungs.

BAM!

His arm opened.

And Sonya tore free and ran.

"Move!" she roared.

A wounded Velmora soldier stumbled into her path. Sonya caught him by the back of his armour and hurled him toward two other soldiers.

They cursed as they caught him.

A defence recruit turned at the sound and barely had time to lower his head before Sonya planted one foot on his shoulder and jumped over him.

"What the-"

She landed on the plated skull of a dead Crag Hound, crossed the back of another living one, and drove her heel down before it could snap at her.

The beast’s head struck the road.

Sonya used it as another step.

She could not see the bodies, rebels, beasts, or broken wagons blocking her path. She felt them through the trembling ground. Every footfall, heartbeat, falling weapon, and shifting piece of stone formed a moving map inside her mind.

A Velmora guard appeared before her.

"Get back to your-"

A pillar of earth rose beneath him and tossed him out of her way.

The guard was lucky that Sonya’s mind had not been completely consumed by her rage and that she still knew the difference between an ally and an enemy.

If not... the guard would have died right then and there for trying to stop her.

The rebels received no such mercy from her.

One swung a sword at her neck. She ducked beneath it, struck his chest with her palm, and sent a seismic force through his bones.

His back exploded outward, and his blood, bones, pieces of spine and organs burst from behind.

A Crag Hound lunged from her right.

"Get out of my way!"

Sonya seized its lower jaw, twisted her body, and smashed the beast into three rebels descending from the ridge.

She never slowed down.

Behind her, Akaza forced himself upright. He wanted to follow. Every part of him demanded it.

Then he looked at Wagon Eighteen, the exposed compartment, the wounded soldiers, and the Crag Hounds still closing in.

Simon’s last order returned to him.

Protect the wagon.

Akaza clenched his fists until blood ran from his palms.

"Damn it!"

The Furnaceback Centipede had stopped near the base of the ruined ridge.

Its four jaws moved with horrible, grinding sounds as it finished crushing the Prime Calamity Crag Hound inside its mouth. Blood and pieces of stone armour spilled between its teeth.

Sonya heard every crunch, and in her mind, Simon was inside those jaws too.

Her fury became something cold and heavy.

She slammed both hands against the ground.

The entire left side of the narrow road answered.

Broken slabs rose. Black glass shattered. Stone flowed together beneath the centipede’s head, compressing into one enormous spear.

Sonya could not see its six eyes, but she could feel it.

She felt the angle of its head through the hundreds of legs touching the earth. She heard the air moving through its jaws and aimed at the soft place where an eye should be.

"SPIT HIM OUT!"

She thrust both palms forward.

The stone spear shot upward.

It was not a loose pillar of earth. Sonya compressed layer after layer around its tip until the stone became almost black. The recoil tore open the road beneath her knees, and every demon touching the ground felt the force she had gathered.

Several soldiers turned in shock.

Even the rebels closest to the ridge stopped attacking for a heartbeat.

BOOOOM!

It struck one of the centipede’s lower eyes, and the red orb which was its eye burst.

SPLATTER!

Dark fluid sprayed across the ridge, and the spearhead broke apart inside the wound.

For a moment, everyone nearby forgot to move.

A Half-Step Abyssal Beast had been injured by an Archfiend.

Even Akaza stared in disbelief.

Far away inside Black Horn’s command room, one official rose from his seat.

"She hurt it?"

Korran leaned closer to the projection. His expression remained cold, but surprise flashed through his eyes.

"That... is not a normal Kragh..."

The Furnaceback Centipede recoiled.

Then it screamed.

The metallic howl tore across the narrow road. The soundwave shattered loose stone and hurled demons from their feet.

Sonya crossed her arms, but the force still ripped her from the ground. She flew through smoke and burning debris before crashing hard against the road.

Pain spread through her back.

Her ears rang, and for several seconds, she could feel nothing clearly.

Then the ground beneath her changed.

Hundreds of hooked legs struck it in a rhythm far faster than before.

The centipede was coming.

Sonya pushed herself upright, blood running from one ear. She could not see the massive head descending toward her, but she felt the road collapsing beneath its charge. Hot wind struck her face. Burning saliva hissed against the stone around her.

The creature crossed the distance in the blink of an eye.

Its four jaws opened.

Sonya felt death close around her from every direction.

Then something landed between them.

A gigantic golden clawed hand appeared in front of the centipede’s jaws. Its fingers caught two of the outer jaws before they could close around Sonya.

BOOM!

The massive creature stopped as though it had crashed into an unbreakable wall.

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