I pushed myself up, my world was spinning, and I coughed again, more violently, and the pain I experienced as I spat out pieces of my internal organs was intense.
Looking down, I saw that my chest was a crater of cracked ribs and cauterized flesh, and silver blood rose from my wounds like smoke from a dying fire. The light in my channels was dim, nearly spent. I had poured everything into that Tribunal bolt, and Vrakth had simply... taken it.
Was the gap between us that great?
"To kill this demon, you must peel his Abyssal Shield from his flesh," the Hollow Avatar whispered.
"Peel it," I muttered. "Right, so at his rank, Abyssal Shield becomes fused with flesh... good to know."
Vrakth tilted his head as he saw me standing. His six burning eyes tracked the silver blood rising from my chest, and something flickered across his ancient face that I think was close to interest.
"Your tenacity is remarkable," he said. "Most mortals would have died three times over by now. You heal even as I wound you. What madness entered the mind of the Architects that made you?"
"I made myself," I whispered. "Loop by loop. Death by death."
I slowly raised my hands and called the Loom of Lightning, even with my body broken, my Anima Depth and transformed channels were still stable, the Hollow Avatar had ensured that Cor Telluris made my channels something that could withstand power that would shatter my body.
As threads began to erupt from my fingers, I also conjured Tribulation lightning, and the silver-white threads became gold.
Vrakth’s eyes widened, and he laughed with incredulity, "I should not be the one saying this, but you really should not be using that lightning... the heavens of your world would kill you for that."
I paused and stared at the demon. It had no idea how many times the heavens had already tried to kill me and failed. I smiled at the demon and said, "Let them."
My words made the demon look at me again, his six eyes blinking, and in his distraction, I shot the golden threads toward him, and along the way, the threads were woven into a net, and it fell over the demon’s head.
I wanted this net to slice through the demon, and I pushed my intent with Lightning Edict into the net, "Cut!"
The net touched his Abyssal shield and stuck to it, covering the demon in a net of lightning that sent out arcs that dug into the ground around it. The demon stood still, and he grinned under the net, "Is this the best that you..."
The net suddenly cut deeper, slicing a thousand small cuts across his entire body, and the demon began to bleed.
I refused to believe that an Epic spell and two Legendary spells could not tear through the defenses of this demon.
Vrakth snarled, and the shadow crown behind his head pulsed; dark flame erupted from his body, trying to burn through the golden threads. But my lightning threads were judgement, and it could not be easily shattered, not when my willpower was behind it.
"Cut!" I screamed inside my head, using both Lightning Edict and the trait of the tribulation lightning to my advantage, and the net tightened.
A sound of surprise and outrage came from the demon, and the crown behind his head began to pulse faster, and then I pulled, causing Vrakth to stagger, his concentration was broken, and his Abyssal shield flickered.
The dark flame that was being built in his crown guttered, and for that one sweet heartbeat, the demon was vulnerable, and I had been waiting for an opening like that.
I moved as I activated Lightning Incarnate for one second. It was enough for me to cross the distance between us, and along the way, I began to cast tribulation lightning in my right hand.
My channels screamed as my right arm became golden lightning and I drove it into Vrakth’s chest. I felt his Abyssal Shield screaming under the power of my lightning, and it gave way for a brief moment, and my hand in the shape of lightning was inside his chest.
Then I became flesh, and my fingers closed around something solid and hot that was pulsing with so much power it nearly broke my fingers... His damned heart.
My weight and the fact that I held his heart pushed the twelve-foot demon to one knee as he screamed, an animalistic cry of pain and rage, and whatever facade of enlightenment that this demon had was thrown away as his claws raked across my back, tearing through muscle and channel, but I did not let go.
"Harvest," I thought. "Soul-Forge."
The skill activated, as silver flame poured from my hand into Vrakth’s chest, and I felt his soul begin to unravel, the same way that the two horned Narghul Sorcerers had been unraveling under my grip in this loop.
But this damned demon was not two-horned, and he was older than they were by a lot, which gave his soul the solidity of metal. It was not as if I was dispersing clouds that I usually did with the lesser Sorcerers; now it seemed as if I was melting through metal.
The screams of the demon subsided more quickly than I thought as Vrakth gained a hold of himself, and he reached up with both hands and closed them around my head.
"You are brave," he said, his voice a rumble, "but bravery is not victory."
He began to squeeze, and the pressure was immense. My skull creaked, and my eyes were slowly bulging from my head as my channels screamed.
Mortal Shell held my skull in one piece, but barely. I felt blood leak from my eyes, ears, and nose, and I could not scream even if I wanted to.
"Let go," the demon urged. "Or I will crush your skull."
I knew he could not see it through my distorted face, but I was smiling.
I poured more silver fire into his chest, and alongside it, I began to send out golden lightning and howl out in my head, an Edict I had never used before: "Die," I commanded. "Die, die, die."
The pulsing of the demon’s heart was going crazy, racing then slowing down, even stopping before harshly restarting. Vrakth’s grip loosened, and his eyes went wide, and I saw tears of blood begin to run down his face.
For a moment, I thought I saw fear in his eyes, but that fear vanished, and what replaced it was madness.
Vrakth began to laugh.