Its body was solid, its skin thick like a rhino, and if I had to guess, impenetrable.Enormous talons, long and curved on the ends of muscled front legs, scraped at the packed earth as it moved, while its hind legs had wide hooves that sunk into the dirt from the sheer weight of it.Perfect for stomping its prey to pulp.It snapped its jaws again, and made an ear-splitting shriek as it stood up on its hooves and swiped with its claws.
I’d never seen anything like it.It looked like something a child had invented, putting together a bunch of different animals to make one freakish monster.This had to be something Felditch had created especially for us.
The witches cried out and blasted it with fireballs they’d conjured.The beast reared up, stomping again, the fire barely leaving a mark.If we were going to take the creature down, we’d have to work as a collective.
I turned to Silas, about to ask him what our game plan was, but he burst into action, sprinting toward the beast.He roared as he closed in, leaping onto one of its knees and bounding up its side, then thrust his sword into its back, the sharp, Heaven-forged steel managing to penetrate its thick skin.The creature shrieked and snapped, stomped and bucked.
Nathaniel narrowed his eyes on Silas.There was a menace in his gaze that set me on edge.What was his plan?Maybe not kill him—he wouldn’t risk ending the tournament—but he definitely wanted to maim Silas or poison him again.The hatred in his eyes said it all.
He leaped, about to burst into the air.
“No, you fucking don’t,” I bit out and jumped on Nathaniel’s back, causing him to swerve wildly.
The angel tried to shake me off, but I hung on, and as he flew higher, and before he could spin and throw me to the ground, I planted a boot between his wings as we neared Silas and launched myself forward, landing beside Si on the beast’s back.Silas was still on the attack, stabbing the creature over and over again.The witches had resumed their attack by fire, while the vamps moved with super speed, darting around it, slicing and hacking with each pass.Going for death by a thousand cuts.
Everyone seemed to be working together, at least for now.Well, the angels were doing the bare minimum, not risking their own necks.
Nathaniel swooped down again, stabbing the beast, barely missing Silas’s thigh as he did.My blood boiled.He was definitely trying to injure Si, probably with more poison, so he’d either struggle through or miss the next event entirely.
We needed to end this as soon as possible, before he succeeded.“Watch your back,” I called to Silas, then sprinted across the monster’s shoulders and leaped onto its neck.Hacking my axe deep into one side, I dove off, using my body weight as momentum to drag the razor-sharp, Hell-forged steel through its thick skin and slicing open one of its throats.A weird, sludgy green liquid poured from the wound, and the head collapsed, hanging limp from its still-thrashing body.
That didn’t kill it though.We’d have to take out the other head to end this.
The witches closed in.
“Look out!”one of them called, and I dove to the side as they blasted fireballs at the eyes of its remaining head, blinding it.
Silas bounded across its back and jumped onto its neck, slammed his blade down, punching it almost right through, then jerked the blade right, then left, severing its spinal cord.
The second head went limp, and Silas leaped off as the monster’s huge body rocked from side to side, then crashed motionless to the ground.
The roar of the crowd was deafening.
The vampires lifted their knives triumphantly, flashing their fangs.The witches bowed, the angels thrust their swords in the air, like they’d done fucking anything.Then the crowd started chantingTeam Hell, waiting for us to do something.I grabbed Silas’s wrist, the one still holding his sword, and thrust it into the air.
The cheers reached all new levels.
He looked down at me with a frown.
I shrugged.“We’re the ones who actually killed that fucker.”
He was smeared with sweat and dirt, and his massive chest heaved, his abs so tight you could bounce off them—and I had.I’d dragged my bare pussy all over that tight-as-fuck stomach.I swallowed thickly.Best not to think about that right now.
“Look,” Silas said, tilting his head to the felled beast.
Gold disks now protruded from its flesh, one for each team.We strode over, the other teams as well.I grabbed our one.It was coated in blood, making it hard to grip on to.I wiggled it and it made an obscene suctioning sound, followed by apop, as it pulled free.
Felditch walked out through the same doors the monster had burst through, and he didn’t look happy.He swung his staff in a wide circle above his head, and everything disintegrated; the monster, the cheering crowd, the arena, it all vanished.The leaderboard appeared.The angels rushed forward, adding their disk first because they were assholes, then Silas added ours, the others following.
“That’s over, then,” Felditch said, sounding like a sullen teenager.“I was hoping for more of a show.”
In other words, he was hoping it would take longer for us to kill it and, ideally, for someone to have an arm or a leg torn off in the process.
His expression, however, changed an instant later, and his eyes lit up with evil glee.“Not to worry.Tomorrow’s event is one of my favorites.I do a variation of it every tournament, and it always delivers, but this time, let’s just say I’ve outdone myself…” He smiled and shadows, appearing from nowhere, crept over his face, making him look as if he’d put back on that horrible clown mask.“It’s absolutely delicious, well, not so much for those of you taking part.”He licked his lips, his tongue, long and pointed, which sent a shudder down my spine.
This was the event involving poison.Had to be.
Tomorrow’s event was the main reason Lucifer had chosen me to take part in this tournament.My specialty and skill with poisons would give us an advantage, though that would also depend on how Felditch chose to use it.