Page 905 -- CIII.

Ibai handed the reapers off to Rafael and the others, keeping only Chergoa for himself.

And everyone abruptly stopped yelling. They were all staring at him now, even his own family members. Only the faint rumble of distant battle prevented complete silence.

“Ensure no harm comes to them,” Ibai said, uncertain if those words were his own or his father’s or Uncle Mel’s. “They don’t deserve to die, and we won’t be so afraid of their future actions as to execute them unjustly, either.”

More silence, until Rafael spoke up. “...A-are you certain, m’lord?”

Ibai grinned. “‘The rain fears not the torch,’” he said.

That only made everyone stare again.

Ibai became impatient. “What’s the matter?”

‘We are just--’ Ustox broke himself off. ‘As you wish, m’lord. Rafael, let us go.’

Rafael still seemed a bit awestruck, but after a moment, he blinked and looked at Chergoa. “What about her, m’lord?”

“Oh, she’s with me! We’re going on an adventure together!”


Chapter One Hundred Three: ‘Ye who must hold firm...!’
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Hector’s armor kept crumbling. His clothes kept burning. And he kept losing extremities to the Lady Blackburn’s very annoyingly well-placed attacks. Even Haqq’s shield couldn’t stand up to her destruction power--Hector had lost an arm, shoulder, and half his face figuring that out. She seemed particularly intent on clipping his legs, and Hector was equally intent on not allowing that to happen. If it weren’t for Asad, he definitely would’ve been dead by now.

But here he was. Still alive. Still keeping hold of Duvoss and Xuan. He really wished they’d hurry up and finish regenerating already. He knew the chaos of a fight tended to make time feel longer, but this was getting to be a bit much.

He just focused on avoiding Nere’s attacks. His shield and body could weather Ismael’s flames, if absolutely necessary. Ismael seemed to be trying to close in on him, probably for some kind of explosive attack, but Asad was keeping him at bay while also giving Nere glass javelins to worry about.

And then he saw Darktide finally snatch Dimas out of the air and snap the man in half, ripping Iziol from his body in one smooth motion.

Hector didn’t get the chance to keep watching, but knowing that Salvador was now alone against Melchor, Hector had a dreadful feeling that he was about to be seeing a whole lot of liquid mercury again.