Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 720: Demon of Wrath

Nyx raised both hands, maintaining a spatial barrier that blocked three monsters attempting to tear through it with their claws.

Nyx remained unaware of it.

Luna spotted it.

Luna hurled herself into the crescent's trajectory and lifted her Stormblade to block. The blade intercepted the attack's edge, resisting for a brief instant as lightning and white mana clashed fiercely, until the crescent sliced clean through.

The strike severed her arm at the shoulder.

A wet, conclusive sound echoed as Luna's left arm detached from her body amid a burst of blood illuminated by the dimming light, the severed limb whirling through the air toward the abyss below.

Luna crashed to the ground. She tumbled once, then twice, before rising to one knee with blood cascading down her side and her face pale as ash. Her left shoulder bore a jagged wound throbbing with every pulse, the edges charred where Selena’s mana had burned through the flesh.

Her Stormblade rested on the ground nearby, dislodged from her grasp by the force.

The mountain fell quiet for a single second, perhaps two.

Nyx sensed disaster striking from behind and whirled around.

She beheld Luna kneeling on one knee. She beheld the blood. She beheld the mangled shoulder.

A guttural, inhuman cry escaped Nyx's throat. Her hands fell from the barrier, causing the spatial wall to waver as the three monsters battered against the fragile shield, fissures spreading across the shimmering energy.

"Hold it!" Luna bellowed from the dirt, blood flecking her lips. "Hold the fucking barrier!"

Nyx's hands shot back into position. The barrier stabilized. The monsters pounded against it and were repelled.

Her body trembled uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her cheeks, unwipable since both hands prevented three beasts from devouring them, while the woman who'd sacrificed her arm to save her yelled for focus.

Luna then dove for the arm.

She seized it just before it tumbled over the brink, her right hand gripping her own detached limb, drawing it to her chest and securing it with her teeth. Her jaws clamped onto her own forearm, blood staining her lips and chin, biting firmly to keep it steady.

Next, she grasped the Stormblade with her remaining hand and rose to her feet.

— [MOD] Lady Leia: What the fuck!! This is really bad!

— [MOD] Kaiden’s Wife: no no no no no no

— [MOD] PrincelessPrincess: She’s bleeding really bad! She will bleed out! Everyone, call for help! I don’t care who you call!

— MoonlitHeart: I’m on it!

— 44xStorm: Luna is standing. She has the sword in her other hand and her own arm in her teeth. she hasn’t given up so neither can we!!!

— GigaAsh: this is the hardest thing i have ever seen in my life

Luna rose unsteadily, her own arm gripped in her teeth and Stormblade clutched in her right hand, her face ashen, blood pouring from her shoulder and trickling from her mouth's corners where her teeth sank into flesh.

From the right, a creature charged at her. Instinctively, she spun and swung the Stormblade awkwardly with her off-hand yet swiftly enough. The blade slashed its neck, hurling it aside. She staggered from the momentum but steadied herself and dug in her heels.

Then her gaze fixed on Kaiden.

Crimson filled his eyes. Waves of dark, scorching mana rose from him, fracturing the stone underfoot. She witnessed his descent. She saw the precise instant nearing when the man she cherished would forsake all he'd achieved due to her injury.

Luna dismissed the Stormblade. It dissolved from her hold in a burst of fading energy, and with her free hand, she yanked her arm from her mouth, spat out blood, and rasped.

"Kai." Her voice grated, quivering, laced with barely concealed agony. "I’m okay. Don’t do this!"

She wasn't. Grayness drained her face, her frame shuddered, and blood kept flowing. She stood only through sheer rage-fueled defiance.

"Don’t." Blood slid down her throat. "Don’t throw everything away."

She jammed the arm back into her mouth, clamped down, and recalled the Stormblade to her grasp. The weapon ignited with crackles, and she wheeled to confront the monsters ascending toward them, determined to battle one-armed with her limb in her jaws rather than let Kaiden Grey ruin his prospects for her sake.

Kaiden fixed his stare on her.

On the blood staining her teeth. On the shoulder reduced to wreckage. On the Stormblade wielded in the wrong hand, flickering and wavering yet lifted high. On the woman he adored perched on a peak, her severed arm between her teeth, insisting she was fine when she was worlds away from it.

The world turned red.

Mana exploded from him. Crimson seeped beyond his skin into the surrounding air, dense and blazing.

Bastet seized him. Her hands pressed to his chest, her entire weight shoving against him, her face mere inches away.

"Master, stop!" Terror shredded her voice. "This is what they want! You attack them on camera and they put you in prison for attempted murder!"

His gaze pierced past her.

"Kaiden!" The tanned felinid pushed him hard. He budged not an inch. Her palms scorched where they met his armor, mana so thick it warmed the metal, yet she held fast. "Listen to me! You throw one attack at them and they win! Magnus wins! Everything we’ve fought for, everything we’ve built, gone! There is still hope for us to run. They can only aim at us if there are monsters nearby. We just have to gain some distance. Let’s do that!"

Aria touched down next to them. She cupped his face with both hands on his jaw, striving to direct his eyes to her. "Kai, please. Come back to us." Her voice cracked. "We can’t lose you. Not like this! Please!"

<Big brother.> Alice’s mental voice sounded tiny and fracturing. <I won’t let you leave me behind. If you attack them, I will attack too!>

All of them implored him to halt. The five women and the girl comprising his whole universe beseeched him to reason, to breathe, to pick survival over revenge, to release it.

His eyes shifted to the ridge.

Selena observed. Her face remained impassive. She'd just amputated a woman's arm, yet she appeared as if awaiting a beverage request.

No, that wasn't entirely accurate. A shift did cross her features.

Satisfaction gleamed in her eyes.

Kaiden’s mana detonated.

The mounting pressure, simmering since the boulders crashed, burst from his form in a shockwave that cracked the rock beneath him. Air twisted. Light distorted. The roar from his throat transcended his normal timbre.

Deeper tones layered it. As though an entity within had stirred, voicing in tandem with him.

"I told you what would happen."

The declaration struck the ridge like a tangible blow. Crimson aura leaking from his skin grew tangible, a murky red mist hugging his frame and expanding, its borders darkening with veins pulsing to his heart's beat.

"I made you a promise." Tremors shook his hands. Knuckles split open, crimson glow leaking through. He locked eyes with Selena. "And I am heartbroken that you’re making me keep it."

The dual voice fractured on 'heartbroken,' revealing raw Kaiden beneath for an instant, mourning. Then Wrath engulfed it, and what glared across the chasm at his kin was no mere enraged man, but something far graver.

Cassian clutched his brother's arm, yanking him rearward. Calix yielded without struggle. The twins gaped at their brother's transformation, their mana recoiling instinctively, like fire fleeing unstoppable gusts.

She cocked her head, a slow, scornful grin curling her lips.

"Go ahead, be my guest." Her words drifted clearly across the divide, laced with mockery. "Try your best."