It struck him with brutal force. The demon’s talons ripped across his chest, tearing through skin and flesh. Alexander snarled as blinding pain exploded through his body. His grip loosened on his sword. It slipped from his fingers and clattered uselessly against the scorched ground as his arm went numb.
Rage surged through him.
Alexander turned on the demon, its red leathery skin glistening under the sickly yellow light of hell. Without thinking, he lunged forward and bit it. Viciously.
His fangs sank deep into the demon’s flesh. The creature shrieked.
“Noooo!” Drago screamed somewhere nearby, his voice sounding strangely distant. Alexander barely heard him.
Something moved across his chest from the deep gashes the demon’s claws had left behind. A scorching sensation began to crawl upward. It slithered across his skin like molten fire, creeping slowly toward his throat, then higher…toward his face.
“What the…?” Alexander rasped.
He lifted a hand to his cheek, touching his skin and immediately hissed in pain. The burn felt like it was sinking into him, as if something poisonous had been injected straight into his blood.
Then the sensation reached his head.
A strange, horrifying pressure exploded behind his eyes.
It felt like ants swarming through his mind—thousands of them crawling through his thoughts, feeding on his brains.
“Alexander… Alexander…hey, are you okay?” Drago’s voice came again, much closer now.
But Alexander didn’t answer. Instead, a snarl tore from his throat.
Pure rage flooded his veins, drowning out reason. He turned on his brother with feral fury, striking at him without hesitation.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” Drago shouted, barely dodging the attack.
“The witches are closing the veil!” someone shouted over the chaos. “Everyone, get out!”
Supernatural beings began rushing toward the glowing tear between the two worlds. But Alexander didn’t move toward it.
He spun wildly, slashing at anything that came near him. The battlefield blurred around him as the world tilted violently.
The air of the underworld choked his lungs, thick with sulphur and smoke.
And the rage…
It flooded every corner of his mind until it was the only thing he could feel.
He wanted to destroy everything. Kill them all. Even his brother.
“Calm down, Alex,” Drago grunted, struggling to hold him back.
Alexander swung wildly, his fist connecting with Drago’s face with a sickening crack.
“We don’t have time for this,” Drago growled, stumbling but refusing to let go of him. “We have to go!”
“Come on, everyone!” someone shouted across the battlefield.
Drago hooked an arm around Alexander’s shoulders, half dragging him. A white-haired fairy darted in beside them and helped pull Alexander forward.
But the opening in the veil was already shrinking.
“Fuck,” Drago panted, breath ragged. “We’re not going to make it.”
For the first time, there was fear in Drago's voice. Somewhere inside the storm raging in his mind, Alexander clawed his way back to himself. The madness receded just enough for him to understand what was happening.