Bingwen intercepted the attack just in time with his shield. The impact caused a reverberation that sent both Axle and Bingwen flying.
Kanai turned back to Natalie, seeing her bring up a shield. Axle didn’t think, he just moved. He rushed straight at Kanai, dodging a swipe of his claws. He watched the blue tint of the claws trail through the air before driving a knee right into the face of the demon.
He dropped to the ground and followed up with three powerful blows in quick succession before placing a kick to the side of Kanai’s face. The demon barely budged, slamming Axle with a blast of energy from the bracelet on his arm. Axle was sent flying into the roof of the cavern, slamming into the rocks.
Bingwen got to his feet, running at the demon. Kanai raised a palm, firing a blast of energy at the sorcerer. It went right through him, and Kanai stared, confused. Bingwen jumped, and spat some of the spirit which he had been drinking onto the demon. Kanai realized that the man in front of him was a mirage, and the sorcerer was behind him.
As he spun around to attack, Bingwen snapped his fingers and the demon caught on fire. Kanai actually recoiled from the flames, feeling the pain. Axle rushed back in, placing a powerful blow to Kanai’s face, knocking him down to one knee. The demon swiped at Axle, slashing him across the thigh with his claws, but Axle grunted through the pain, placing another blow to the side of his head.
“Bingwen, now!” Axle yelled at the sorcerer.
Bingwen jumped to action. With a wave, the armor he had brought to trap Kanai dropped from somewhere in the roof, and Bingwen caught it. He began chanting a spell and lifted it above his head, about to throw it at Kanai. But the demon reacted first, punching Axle’s leg to the side and causing it to break.
Kanai then turned and fired a blast of energy at Bingwen, catching the sorcerer off guard and sending him to the ground. Kanai turned around and grabbed Axle by the shirt, lifting him off the ground. He threw a left hook, but Kanai caught his arm, placing a headbutt on Axle’s nose, shattering it. He threw him against a boulder, following up with a powerful blow to Axle’s chest, causing him to cough up blood.
“Come on,” Axle said through bloodied lips, “is that all you got?”
Kanai drove his claws into Axle’s chest, cutting deep into him, a smile spreading across his face. “No, and as much as I want to kill you, I want you to bear witness to what comes after I rip her apart.”
Chapter 18 - Natalie
Natalie let out a scream as she saw Kanai ripping into Axle. She ran out from behind the boulder where she had been hiding. She pulled up a shield, hoping it would do the same to Kanai as it had done to the other insect demons. Kanai turned to look at her, watching as she slammed into him with her shield.
The impact sent a shockwave through Natalie, and she looked up at the demon, seeing it spread a wide grin at her. “Natalie Clements, you have something I want.”
She began to pull away, but before she could even move Kanai had his hands wrapped around her own, pinning her to the spot.
She turned to look at Bingwen, seeing him knocked out and on the ground. On the other side was Axle, who looked like his heart had been ripped out of his chest.
She wasn’t going to get any help from anyone. Before she could speak, the demon reached over and grabbed her arm, trying to pull the bracelet off. It burned him, but he used the power from his own bracelet, sending it through his arm and trying to rip her own right off her hand.
Nat cried out in pain as the process generated a searing amount of heat that felt like it was about to burn through bone. Kanai was trying to separate her from the bracelet. As the pain shot through her, so did the warnings she received from Axle and Bingwen. If Kanai got both of them, it would be chaos.
She was the only one who could do anything to stop him now. She watched as the dark green energy from his bracelet poured over her own, burning her. She realized that Bingwen had shown her how to use energy from the bracelet to make a shield. All she had to do was use that shield offensively.
Natalie turned to face the demon, stretching out her arm and grabbing his own bracelet as well. She felt the burn traveling up her arm, but held strong, feeling the pain travel through her arms. She just needed to hold strong, she could do it, she could do what Kanai was doing, she just had to try.
Pulling on every bit of energy she had inside of her, Natalie drew from the bracelet on her wrist and channeled the energy from the bracelet into his own.
Kanai stared at her for a moment, feeling the energy flowing into him, and soon he began feeling the pain from Natalie trying to take off his bracelet as well.
“What are you doing?” Kanai asked, grunting in pain.
“We’re playing a game of…chicken!” she yelled, holding still as the energy traveled through her body.
Kanai yelled in pain and brought up a hand, looking to finish her off. He wasn’t going to be bested by someone who had no idea how to use her power.
Natalie saw his claws come out, aiming for her heart. She had no idea what to do. Her shield was ineffective against his attacks and he could just force his way through. If this was how she was going to die, she would take it on the chin. She felt a cold sweat on her forehead.
Kanai lunged his clawed arm at her chest, and Natalie shut her eyes, ready to take the blow. A second passed, and then another, before she looked up to realize that Axle had jumped between herself and the blow, taking it right to the gut. He grunted as he pushed Kanai’s arm deeper, using it to hold the man steady, while Natalie continued on the other arm.
“Keep at it!” Bingwen yelled over the sound of both bracelets interacting with each other, struggling to rip one off the other.
The sorcerer appeared out of nowhere, right beside Kanai. He threw the armor onto the demon, locking him in place. With a wave of his hands, he knocked Nat’s arm free of his own attack, causing her to fall to the ground. She looked to her wrist to see that the area around the bracelet had burned a bright red.
“Give it to me!” Bingwen yelled at her.
Natalie quickly took off her bracelet and tossed it at the wizard. He caught it, instantly feeling the burn from the bracelet.