Chapter 112 Chapter 112
“Fucking coward,” he spat.
Zane cursed, his attention moving from Maxwell to her. Fierce red eyes stared her down as his lips formed a terrifying smile. “Who told you to get involved, human? You’re asking to die,” he snarled.
“Leave her out of this.” Maxwell thundered and intercepted him before he could get anywhere near her. Again, Maxwell summoned a large amount of his magic to attack the other demon, using his rapier to slash at him. There was an urgency in his movement that hadn’t been there before—he wanted to end this fight as soon as possible since he didn’t want to put her life at risk by dragging it out.
Zane seemed to notice his intentions and gave him a hard time, but in the end, he couldn’t put up with a demon hellbent on murder. Maxwell’s movements were fluid and skillful. He had done this a hundred times before, and he wouldn’t falter now. Jabbing his rapier at Zane, he pierced his stomach, drawing blood.
Valerie had to avert her eyes, the scene becoming too gruesome for her to witness. She knew that this was the only way to stop Zane, but that didn’t mean she liked to see him die. Shivering, she hugged herself and wished for this to be over soon.
Maxwell used Zane’s moment of shock to his advantage and stabbed him another time, making sure that he would die, that he wouldn’t be able to recover from his wounds. Maxwell’s hand was splattered with blood, the red fluid running down the silver blade of his weapon, but he didn’t pay it any mind, focusing his ruby eyes on Zane’s staggering body.
He clutched his wounds and swayed, falling to the ground with a curse. “Fucking demon,” he rasped spitefully. “How can someone like you defeat me?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Maxwell spat. “You’ve caused enough problems.”
“I… I won’t accept this,” Zane breathed, his gaze moving to Valerie. “You are both going to die with me.” He wouldn’t be defeated by the kind of people he hated most, and even as his life faded, he wanted nothing more than to bring them down. Curling his lips into a sinister smirk, he gathered the last bits of his magic that he had left.
Maxwell’s eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen. He closed the distance between him and Valerie with quick strides, hugging her to his chest as he commanded the light to form a shield around them. She had no idea how he could have so much magic left to use, sensing that he was summoning a lot of it, and it worried her. He was overdoing it.
Only seconds after, an explosion of shadows engulfed the entire area around them, its devastating strength destroying the forest in the vicinity. Plants and trees were eradicated, reduced to ash, and swallowed up by darkness. It was a disturbing sight that showed her how dangerous Zane and all other demons of his kind truly were.
Her stomach dropped in fear, and she heard Maxwell mutter a low curse. His body trembled in exhaustion, but he kept the shield up until the shadows around them had vanished. When they faded, they uncovered a scene of destruction. Nothing was left of the plants; they had all withered away or simply vanished into thin air. Zane was gone as well; there was no trace of him left, and she assumed he had used up all his magic, killing himself in the process.
That he’d go this far just to murder her and Maxwell was horrifying to her.
Valerie was about to open her mouth to say something to Maxwell, but the words got stuck in her throat. Without warning, he let go of her, his knees giving out. He fell to the ground, and she was too slow to catch him. Her eyes widened, and she sat next to him in a hurry, panic flooding her body.
“Maxwell.” she cried, but she didn’t receive an answer. He lay on his side and didn’t move anymore except for the erratic heaves of his chest. His eyes were closed, beads of sweat forming on his brow. Valerie had no clue what was wrong. She could see that he had many injuries, but none of them appeared to be life-threatening, so what was happening to him?
“Come on, open your eyes for me,” she pleaded, putting her hand on his cheek that felt cold to the touch. Even for a demon, this was not healthy. “Maxwell, this isn’t funny. Please say something.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as desperation began to eat away at her hope. She had a very bad feeling about this, an ominous sense of foreboding filling her. He was still breathing, but the heaving of his chest had become weaker, and now it seemed that he could barely get any air into his lungs. She had never been this worried in her life, a lump forming in her throat when he continued to wither away before her eyes.
Her gaze frantically moved over his unmoving body and fell on the ends of his white braids. Leaning closer, she saw that his hair was turning to ash, disintegrating into nothingness. It was a slow process, but seeing it scared her to the core. Glancing back at his face, she noticed that his skin was turning an unhealthy grey, ash particles rising towards the sky, and she remembered something that Maxwell had told her a long, long time ago when they had only just met.
When demons die, they turn to ash.
“No.” she cried, clutching his hand desperately as if that was enough to keep him from vanishing. “Maxwell, please. What’s wrong? I want to help you.”
Her whole body quaked, her shoulders shaking when a sob left her throat, and her emotions spilled out of her. She cried desperate tears that dripped down her chin.
“Don’t leave me again,” she pleaded. Her hand moved over his cheek, catching the particles of ash that seemed to originate from his skin. They felt cold, just as cold as his body. She couldn’t sense any magic within him; it was all gone. There was absolutely nothing left. Demons probably drew all their power from their magic, and his must have been drained completely during the fight earlier. Why hadn’t he said anything? He must have known that using so much of it would lead to his death. Why would he risk dying just to protect her?