Nightmare Realm Summoner

Tendrils of Riftwarped energy crackled into being around Alex’s arm. They slithered past his fingertips and wound around his wrist like a band, hissing and popping as more and more power poured out from within him.

A flash of alabaster white cut through the coiling purple and red. Then, with a loud snap, the power exploded outward. An immense weight yanked against Alex’s hand with such strength that it damn near pulled his arm out of its socket.

He stumbled, looking down at his arm in disbelief. A heavy cuff of white metal formed around his wrist. It was one he’d seen before. This was the very chain that bound Berith, only scaled down slightly to match his considerably smaller form.

But the cuff wasn’t all he’d been gifted. Connected to it, flowing out in the wake of the racing Riftwarped energy, were the links of a thick chain. They continued for around eight feet before connecting to the end of something between an anchor and a battle axe.

The chunk of white metal was enormous. It was easily Alex’s size — and probably a hundred times his weight. The whole thing seemed to be carved from a single piece of the impossibly heavy white metal, with two huge, curved blades emerging from either side of a thick rod in the center that ended in a razor-sharp spike. Its sheer mass had been enough to slice into the ground and leave it a quarter of the way buried into the stone.

Calling this thing a weapon would have been a stretch so big that only a cat could have pulled it off. Alex gave the chain a sharp tug, but he couldn’t even budge the huge axe head from the ground. Even moving the chain was practically impossible.

No, this was no weapon at all.

It was a prison.

Berith had just passed one of his bindings on to Alex. The demon’s cold laughter rolled through his head like thunder.

Alex’s jaw clenched in anger.

You piece of shit. What did you do?

Enjoy the weapon, boy. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Just don’t take too long. Hasn’t anyone told you it’s best to practice with a new weapon before trying to use it in battle?

Alex tried to banish the heavy chain. But, to his disbelief, he found he couldn’t. His will bounced off the white metal like water against a moat. It had come from within him, but this power didn’t obey his will. Not at all.

“What,” Absolution asked, his eyes narrowing as he squinted at the massive anchor, “is that?”

“He raises a good question,” Claire hissed, her voice taut. “What are you doing?”

“Fucking Berith. He’s screwing with me!” Alex snarled. He yanked on the chain, but all that did was rattle the links. There was absolutely no way he could have moved it. Not even with Claire helping him. He was completely stuck. He couldn’t move more than the chain’s length away from the anchor.

And, against someone like Absolution, that was a death sentence.

“That is… embarrassing,” Absolution said. “It almost feels pitiful ending you like this. But you serve me no purpose… and I do not leave blades at my back.”

His scythe flashed.

A streak of black energy sliced out from it. Alex threw himself to the side. He hit the ground in a roll, only to slam to a painful halt as the heavy chain slammed taut. It yanked him out of the motion and nearly tore his arm from its socket for the second time.

Absolution’s magic sliced across his back. He barely even felt it touch him, but the rush of blood that wetted his clothes and the flash of agony that came an instant later made it clear the other man’s attack hadn’t missed.

Alex snarled in pain, falling to one knee as he tried to stand. The immense weight of the chain on his arm wasn’t just locking him in place. It was slowing him down, pulling him toward the ground. His jump hadn’t even budged the heavy axe. It remained lodged in the exact spot it had been before.

“Alex!” Claire yelled, racing over to him and grabbing him by the chained arm. She dragged him up to his feet. “Get rid of this thing!”

“I can’t,” Alex said. “You need to leave, Claire. Now. Berith is trying to get me killed.”

“It’s too late for that,” Absolution said. His scythe carved down again. He didn’t even bother activating his Soul Manifestation. There was no need to pin Alex down when he’d literally done it to himself.

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A crescent of black power flashed through the air toward Alex. It only took him an instant to realize the attack was perfect. There wasn’t even time for him to try and activate his Partial Soul Manifestation.

Absolution’s magic was traveling too high to jump over due to the weight of the chain, too low for him to drop out of the way and too wide to run around. And, even if he managed to survive this blow with Princess’ magic, getting bisected would be nearly impossible to fully recover from. It would drain his power and Absolution’s next attack would finish him.

He was dead.

That didn’t stop him from trying to dodge. Alex gathered all the strength he could muster in his legs and launched himself upward in a desperate attempt to clear the attack.

He’d been right.

It wasn’t enough. The chain dragged him back down.

And then Claire’s arms clamped around Alex’s chest. Her wings snapped down and she yelled out, launching both of them into the air. Alex yanked his legs up to his chest. The crescent of dark magic carved past him — and Claire’s yell turned to a pained yelp.

They dropped back to the ground with a crash. Alex scrambled back to his feet, dragging Claire up with him. The bottom halves of her wings remained at their feet. Absolution had severed them.

“Shit,” Claire said through a pained hiss.

“Insufferable,” Absolution said, his features tightening in annoyance. “How are you so good at surviving things that should kill you? Are you a cockroach?”

Damn it. I can’t fight this bastard like this. I have to get my damn arm out of this binding. There’s no other way…

Wait.

A cold grin split Alex’s lips.

He’d almost forgotten. He had Princess’ magic. There was absolutely no reason for him to keep this arm when it was binding him down. He reached for his power, preparing to summon a glass blade to his hand —

Nothing happened.

He could still feel his power within himself, but there was a wall blocking it off.

Disbelief exploded through Alex.

The white chain was stopping him from using his powers.

“Claire!” Alex yelled. “Cut my arm off! Now!”

She blurred, not even questioning him for an instant.

But Absolution was faster.

His fist slammed into Claire’s stomach. She doubled over with a pained wheeze. The blow lifted her off the ground and sent her rocketing back, tumbling across the floor. Blood from her severed wings splattered in her wake and she slammed into the wall with a painful crunch.

She tried to stand, but the tremble in her limbs made it clear that she’d taken a serious blow to her head. Blood trickled from her lips and her eyes were hazy and distant.

“I’ll deal with you shortly,” Absolution said, his gaze snapping to Alex.

Purple-black energy enveloped his hand as he thrust it for Alex’s heart.

Alex threw himself back. It wasn’t enough to dodge the attack. Pain seared as Absolution tore a furrow across his chest. Alex hit the ground in a clumsy roll, the anchor still binding him down, and staggered to his feet as Princess’ magic worked to fix the wound.

It didn’t look like the anchor had completely stopped his magic. All the passive effects still functioned. But that wasn’t going to do him the slightest bit of good. It was only prolonging the inevitable.

Alex yanked on his arm, trying to tear himself free from the cuff, but it was too tight around his wrist. It wouldn’t come off even if he dislocated his thumb and broke his wrist. The damn thing was completely bound to him.

Absolution lifted his scythe. He didn’t even bother stepping forward to deal the final blow himself. A cold smile pulled across the man’s lips.

They both knew what was coming.

Not like this. I can’t let it end like this. This isn’t just me. Claire. Derek. Everyone back at Mirrorwane.

I can’t die here. Not because of Berith fucking me over.

Alex let out a scream of defiance. He pulled against the taut chain, drawing on every scrap of strength that his body had, well aware that no physical force he could ever hope to exert could ever let him move the anchor.

Absolution brought his scythe down.

Alex pulled.

Within him, like the engine of an old beater car finally rattling to life, the Singularity Core turned over.

There was a meaty whump.

Alex felt a sudden lightness in his arm.

His eyes only had an instant to widen as he realized that the links connected to the cuff on his wrist were no longer pulled taut. Absolution had the exact same amount of time — and it wasn’t enough for either of them.

And then a huge, blurred streak of white flashed past Alex’s face.

The flat side of the anchor slammed into Absolution.

Absolution launched like he’d been shot from a cannon. His scythe was torn from his grip and went spinning to the side as he hurtled across the room.

The Outworlder drove into the wall with enough force to shatter it with a deafening crash. He collapsed to the ground, debris raining down all around him in huge chunks. Absolution staggered to his feet, eyes wide.

His right arm was completely pulverized. It hung awkwardly at his side, the bones in it shattered to fragments.

Then Absolution coughed. Blood splattered from his lips and onto the floor at his feet. He looked down in surprise, disbelief and anger burning in his eyes in a raging inferno.

Alex glanced from the axe — which had embedded itself in a new spot in the ground — back to Absolution.

He’d finally hurt the Outworlder. And not just with some glancing blow or by overwhelming him with sheer numbers. He’d truly hurt him.

Absolution wiped the blood from his lips with his good hand. The shock in his expression turned to pure hatred. He extended his hand and his scythe leapt through the air, slamming into it.

The fight was far from over.

A grin slowly spread across Alex’s lips.

“Oh, yeah,” Alex said. He cracked his neck and lowered his stance, looping the heavy chains around his wrist once before grabbing onto the links and pulling them taut. “I think I can work with this.”