Chapter 599: True Desire
Fable vanished in a blur of silver and red. The ground where he’d been standing shattered, throwing chunks of earth and stone outward, forming a crater nearly twenty feet deep. Allana alone reacted, but fatigue clawed at her limbs as she rushed to intercept him. Before I even registered that either of them had moved, she crashed into a building a few blocks away.
The wolf materialized above the exhausted priests, a looming mountain of claws, teeth, and crimson fur. One looked up, his mouth dropping open as he met Fable’s glowing eyes. Before any could grasp their mana, three of them were dead, crushed beneath his paws. A fourth vanished into his jaws.
The surviving inquisitors roared in anger, a primal scream that sent a shiver down my spine, and launched themselves forward. Their blades gleamed with the last vestiges of their mana, rekindling the light they had lost over the long, grueling battle. Fable loomed over them, his immense form casting a vast, blood-soaked silver veil across the sky.
My breath caught in my throat. Fable had vanished again. He blurred around the battlefield, a phantom of silver and starlight, seeming to materialize behind or above his prey, lashing out with a titanic paw that sent bodies flying and shattered stone. Just as quickly, he would disappear again, hunting down the next inquisitor. Each strike was accompanied by a sickening crunch and a spray of blood and shook the ground beneath my feet.
In seconds, the street was quiet. The ground cracked behind me, and I whirled to see Fable sitting behind me. His tail thumped against the ground, his low, satisfied growl setting the air trembling. He lay down, whining, and pushed his nose toward me. It would have been cute, save he was the size of a mountain and dyed red with blood.
He watched me intently, tail destroying another few buildings unlucky enough to be in its path. I swallowed hard and, stomach twisting, reached out to pat his nose. His breath pushed against me like a stiff breeze, carrying the sharp scent of blood and death.
"Thanks," I managed, forcing a faint smile.
I swooned, nausea twisting my stomach, and stumbled away. The night lit up again as Fable summoned his power, condensing to his normal fifteen-foot length. Most of the blood and gore sloughed off his shrinking body, splattering across the rubble in crimson waterfalls.
I leaned against the wall, staff held loosely in one hand, and looked at the devastation around us. The fight, long though it was, had stayed relatively contained to my locale. Still, the city had been ravaged by the shockwaves of the battle, and heaps of rubble littered the shattered streets for a quarter mile in all directions.