Chapter 11
The veiled man's form began to fade. Sparks of glowing dust burst from his body and rushed straight into Felix, swirling around him like a storm of light. Felix braced himself, expecting a surge of power, a flood of strength, or at least some kind of awakening.
But nothing happened.
Was I scammed?
Regret washed over him first, followed quickly by worry. He had just allowed a fragment of something he didn't understand to enter his body. What if it was poison? What if it was worse?
Then he noticed the protective dome starting to flicker.
His back shivered. His first instinct was to run — to abandon the little demonic child without a shred of thought and save himself.
But before he could move, the dome collapsed with a violent implosion. The force yanked him inward, pulling him clean off his feet. Felix's eyes widened in shock as he hit the stone.
He cursed his fate. Why? Why didn't it just fade away quietly like a normal barrier?
Felix clenched his palm tightly around the femur, ready to move at any moment.
"I am definitely going to die," he muttered bitterly. "You could have at least given me something to protect myself."
"Haaaaeee!"
The demonic centipede locked onto him. In its black hand, the captured demonic baby thrashed wildly, trying to chew its way through the monster's palm.
Felix gulped. His heart hammered against his ribs.
"I'm scared…"
With terrifying speed, the sinner lunged toward him with clear purpose.
Felix turned and bolted — not in a straight line, but darting between the towering purple pillars, trying to lose the monster in the glowing crystal forest.
He heard the sound of soft sizzling right behind him.
The centipede sinner was gaining fast. Its countless legs scraped and clicked against the crystal floor with horrifying speed. Felix glanced back and immediately regretted it. The black humanoid upper body was grinning with twisted hunger, while the demonic baby in its grasp shrieked and writhed.
Felix ran harder, lungs burning, but the sinner was too fast.
It slammed into him from behind like a runaway carriage. The impact sent him flying into a massive crystal pillar. Pain exploded through his back as he crashed to the ground.
Before he could get up, the centipede was on him.
Its segmented body coiled around his legs, pinning him down. The black humanoid torso grabbed Felix by the throat and lifted him off the floor. Felix swung the femur wildly, smashing it against the creature's chitin with everything he had.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The blows landed hard, but the sinner barely flinched. It tightened its grip. Felix's vision blurred as air was cut off from his lungs.
In the sinner's other hand, the demonic baby kept thrashing, biting and clawing to get free. The sinner didn't even bother crushing it, treating the child's attacks like mosquito bites.
Felix struggled, kicking and swinging, but it was useless. The sinner was far stronger. It slammed him into another crystal pillar, then another. Each impact rattled his bones and reopened old wounds. Blood poured from his mouth.
I'm losing… badly.
The sinner finally drove its clawed hand straight into Felix's stomach. The pain was blinding. Felix screamed as the claws pierced deep, twisting inside him. Blood gushed out, soaking the creature's arm.
Even as it gutted him, the sinner never released the demonic baby in its other hand, savoring Felix's agony first.
Felix's strength was fading fast. His vision darkened at the edges. He could feel himself slipping.
Then the sinner leaned in, opening its maw wide to feed directly on Felix's flesh and life force.
To brace itself for the feast, its grip on the demonic baby finally slackened, dropping the creature to the floor.
—
Felix yelled desperately at the fallen demonic baby, his voice raw and broken.
"Come!"
He stretched out his blood-soaked arm toward the demonic child. Every movement sent fresh waves of agony through his pierced stomach. The wound burned like fire, blood pouring out in hot pulses with every heartbeat. The pain was so intense it made his vision blur and his legs tremble.
I don't believe you have no weak spot. At least your humanoid head… I will not die alone, demon!
Fear, rage, and a deep, bitter refusal to die alone surged through him. He refused to let this monster end him so easily.
"Follow me!"
As the spider-child scrambled within reach, Felix seized its limbs with all the strength he could muster — muscles screaming, stomach wound tearing wider with the effort — and hoisted the creature up like a club. The weight felt like it would rip his core apart, but he swung its hard carapace body and smashed it directly into the centipede sinner's head.
Like a miracle sent from heaven, the sinner reeled back, stunned. Its teeth — inches from sinking into Felix's throat — shattered with a sickening crack. Corrosive black blood sprayed everywhere, sizzling as it hit the crystal floor and eating small pits into the stone.
The relief lasted only a heartbeat. The pain in Felix's stomach felt like a red-hot iron twisting inside his guts, and blood loss made his head spin.
Refusing to waste the opening, Felix struck again. He slammed the demonic child's armored body into the sinner's face once more. Both demons shrieked in pain as the centipede toppled backward, thrashing wildly. The recoil jarred Felix's entire frame, sending fresh torment through his torn abdomen.
"Ohh… so you're soft in the head," Felix muttered through gritted teeth, chest heaving as a feral spark of hope cut through the agony.