The monster lunged—
—or at least, it tried to.
The moment it moved toward them, its form began to unravel. It twisted unnaturally, limbs distorting, black flames stuttering. It took one step—then another—each motion jerky and delayed, like a puppet strung on broken wires.
Then it simply... stopped.
The creature hovered in mid-motion, a low screech rattling from its throat. Its eyes flared, confusion bleeding into rage. It opened its jagged maw to release a curse or a spell or something worse—
And promptly imploded.
A whoosh of vacuumed air followed, and in a blink, the creature was gone—dispersed into nothingness like smoke sucked into a void.
There was silence.
Everyone stared.
Kai broke it first.
"Okay… is it just me, or did the hellspawn just blue-screen and crash?"
Marcus lowered his blade, blinking slowly. "Did we… win already?"
Callum, still clutching Nova, frowned. "No. That doesn't make sense. That thing wasn't weak."
