Page 45 of Daemon Master

Souleater’s angular head twisted toward Tremorfist and Heartrender as they entered the clearing. Its toothless maw guzzled the air. Even from within Heartrender, Adrian’s aetherquivered. Both he and Seymour had opted for full Fusions, temporarily combining their bodies with those of their daemons. While the tactic carried some risk since they didn’t know what Souleater’s technique might do to them when melded, it still seemed preferrable to facing the horrific daemon on foot again.

Just as they’d planned, Tremorfist bellowed a roar and charged, Heartrender close behind. Adrian watched anxiously from his front-row seat as the two daemons neared. Souleater cocked its head as if confused, stretching a tentative hand to its right. Taloned fingers raked the empty air. Tremorfist reached the daemon unimpeded and slammed a massive shoulder into its side. Souleater careened back beneath the blow. Within Heartrender, Adrian let out a silent whoop.

His ploy had worked! Souleater relied on its aethersense, not sight, to track its foes, so instead of a typical illusion, Adrian had instructed Heartrender to generate aMirror Imageof the air itself. The result was a completely translucent image—utterly useless in almost every other circumstance, but enough here to render Souleater blind without impeding the rest of them.

Souleater might not be able to properly sense its attackers, but that didn’t stop it from slashing at the daemon on top of it. Tremorfist howled, retreating to break Souleater’s grip before it could drain too much of his aether. The wild daemon tried to pursue, but again paused, its senses confounded by the raw aether choking the air. Adrian felt Heartrender strain to maintain her illusion as she supplemented it with more aether to replace what Souleater devoured.

Tremorfist took full advantage of Heartrender’s efforts, resorting to quick lunges that kept him dancing around Souleater’s reach. Even with theMirror Imageto protect him, however, he suffered a half-dozen blows from his more powerful foe. At this rate, he’d be drained long before they’d dealt enough damage to defeat the wild daemon.

All right, girl, Adrian sent via their bond.We’ve got to help him.

Heartrender pulsed her agreement and leaped into the fray. Her fangs and claws might be tiny compared to the towering monstrosity they faced, but they were no less sharp for it. Every hit she scored wore away at Souleater’s aether, sapping a little more of its strength.

Tremorfist renewed his own assault. Together, he and Heartrender hounded the enemy daemon. Souleater let out a frustrated keening sound as it narrowly missed snagging Heartrender with a claw. Tremorfist took advantage of the opening, pummeling his fists into the daemon’s back before dodging its back-handed swing.

Instead of releasing a full-fledgedStunning Howlthat Souleater could shrug off, Tremorfist used his technique as he had against Heartrender, constantly interrupting Souleater’s strikes to keep it off-balance. Slowly but surely, they whittled away at the beast’s aether even as its draining aura did the same to them. When Souleater fell to its knees, Adrian reveled in a surge of triumph. This was it! They had the daemon right where they wanted it. Perhaps they wouldn’t even need the bondstones.

Then, Souleater released an otherworldly shriek. An eruption of aether burst from it in an expanding ring, clinging to the other daemons as it passed over them. The aetheric ring paused, hovering momentarily in the air before retracting with a slurping sound that turned Adrian’s stomach. The retreating technique dragged most of Heartrender’s remaining aether with it. Drained of almost her entire reserve, she collapsed. Tremorfist followed suit an instant later.

Adrian let out a silent curse, wincing at Heartrender’s internal whimper.It’s okay, girl. I’ve got you.As he’d done dozens of times during training, he directed some of his own aether into Heartrender. In a matter of seconds, she’d regained her feet. Sheglanced toward Tremorfist, and Adrian’s heart sank. The larger daemon remained slumped where it had collapsed.

Seymour’s bond.

The watcher had gotten better at managing his connection to his daemon, but he still struggled to achieve a proper Enhancement. In Tremorfist’s current exhausted state, Seymour must be laboring to transfer enough aether.

Souleater slowly rose. Its empowered technique had devoured Heartrender’sMirror Imageas well, leaving them exposed. The beast might be weakened, but it wasn’t down for the count.

Heartrender edged away. Souleater cocked its eyeless head in their direction, then turned back to Tremorfist. It must sense Seymour melded within, his potent aether more delectable than Adrian’s own.

Adrian hesitated. If he sent Heartrender in alone, Souleater would demolish her. He’d be falling back into old habits, sacrificing daemons to buy a sliver of time.

A suggestion from Heartrender pulsed through their bond, and he signaled his approval. If she didn’t have time to form anotherMirror Imageto conceal them, he’d settle for the next best thing. Gathering his gifted aether, Heartrender sent it cascading out a moment later to appear in a loose cloud beside Tremorfist. Souleater paused, its open maw sampling the air.

When the creature turned back to Tremorfist, Adrian’s fledgling hope shriveled. Perhaps the daemon recognized the greater threat, or perhaps it simply preferred Tremorfist’s taste. Either way, Adrian watched helplessly as the daemon gouged its claws into Tremorfist’s chest.

Tremorfist shimmered and broke apart, sending Seymour flopping to the ground as their Fusion ended. He tried to scurry back, but Souleater was quicker. The creature lunged forward, pinning Seymour’s arms to his sides. Aether leaked from him in a dozen strands that poured down Souleater’s throat like guzzledspaghetti. Seymour’s back arched, a silent scream twisting his face.

Before Adrian could think through what he was doing, he’d unmelded from Heartrender and sprinted toward Souleater. He ignored Heartrender’s flash of concern, reaching into the pouch at his waist for his half-dozen remaining bondstones. Just touching the objects again turned his stomach, even if he knew suppressing a daemon wasn’t the same as permanently enslaving it. Besides, it was the last card he had to play if he wanted to save Seymour’s life.

Souleater was so caught up in draining Seymour that it didn’t notice Adrian’s approach until he was almost on top of it. Even then, it merely shifted its triangular head lazily in his direction. It obviously didn’t consider him a threat.

Time to show it how wrong it was.

Screaming a wordless battle-cry, he vaulted into the air. As he did, he shot threads of aether to all six bondstones, activating them. His jump brought him level with the daemon’s head, and he slammed his held bundle against the creature’s smooth cerulean skin. The bondstones flared to life as they sank into the daemon’s flesh. Seymour had wanted to weaken the creature as much as possible first to increase the odds of at least one bondstone sticking. Adrian just had to hope they’d done enough.

Souleater shrieked as the threads of aether linking it to Seymour snapped. It tried to rise only to collapse on its side, heaving and shuddering as its limbs flailed at the air. Adrian snagged Seymour’s arm and dragged him out of range of the creature’s wild strikes before it maimed either of them through sheer dumb luck.

Eventually, the daemon stilled. Five bondstones clattered lifelessly from its flesh, burnt out attempting to suppress it. The sixth remained in place, pulsing like a black heart inthe creature’s chest. Adrian’s desperate gambit had worked—Souleater was completely at their mercy.

eleven

Up in Smoke

Adrian ran past Souleater’sshuddering form to crouch by Seymour’s side. “Are you all right?”

Relief flooded him when the watcher groaned and sat up, rubbing at his head with a shaking hand. “I…I think so. I feel drained, but not as badly as last time.”

“Do you have enough aether left to walk?”