Chapter 98: THE WRATH OF THE DEMON KING
The final invader thrashed in Varziel’s grip, his eyes flickering erratically, looking like a candle sputtering in the wind. His earlier arrogance was gone, replaced by fear.
"Correction," the invader rasped again, the glitching voice crackling like fractured glass. "Threat level: Lethal. Emergency disengage protocol initiated."
"Disengage?" Varziel growled, tightening his grip on the intruder’s throat. "You don’t get to attack my palace and simply leave. Does this look like a toilet?"
But as Varziel was speaking, something strange happened. The segmented armor around the invader’s neck shimmered, breaking apart into countless motes of light that scattered into the cold air. The armor itself collapsed inward, folding and shrinking until Varziel was no longer holding a man but a hollow, lifeless husk of fabric and metal, then, the metal also begun to disintegrate in the same manner, leaving Varziel holding nothing but air.
No body. No blood. Only flickering particles remained, like the others before him.
Varziel staggered back, glaring at his empty hand. "Coward." He spat the word like venom.
The ice that had coated the balcony had begun to melt, trickling down the cracked marble. The hum that had filled the air was gone, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. His breath still came fast, heart hammering in his chest. He stood there for a moment, his chest heaving, surrounded by the fading remnants of his enemies.
The silence was deafening.
They were gone, he had won, but something still felt wrong about the whole situation. It felt like there was something he was missing.
The gnawing dread in his chest returned tenfold, and he remembered. His wife!
He turned on his heel, sprinting to the edge of the ruined balcony. His crimson red eyes scanned the horizon, his heart pounding in his ears.