Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
At the sharp blast of noise, combatants and beasts launched into motion. Roux watched, his jaw clenched, as the sirens rushed together to join hands, leaving Blythe on her own. A soft melody rose from them. As the song increased in volume, each of the unibeasts shifted their full focus to the harphantom.
Every note of the song ramped up their level of aggression, until they were foaming at the mouth.
Roux braced. No matter what occurred, she would pull out a win and kill each predator. Roux hadn’t lied earlier. He had complete confidence in this female’s abilities. But, despite her arsenal and skill, she would not emerge unscathed. The thought of her pain...
A growl vibrated in his throat, and Tonka backed away from him.
On the field of battle, Blythe charged toward her foes, clutching two short swords. A shout of warning died on his tongue. She needed different weapons. Swords served no purpose against a unibeast’s thick, stony hide. A soft underbelly might be susceptible, but she’d have to get underneath a beast without getting torn to shreds. An impossibility. Then, at the last second, she vanished, reappearing in the circle of sirens.
Slash, slash, slash, slash. With her customary grace and elegance, she cut down the other immortals, her motions as fluid as water. Bodies toppled, one after the other. When the final competitor fell, the song died and the unibeasts ceased foaming. Their steps slowed as they shook their heads, coming out of a haze.
“So she can flash,” said an Amazon behind him. “She didn’t reveal the skill in round one.”
No, she hadn’t, he realized. She’d kept her talents to herself. As she should have.
The unibeasts reacted to the kills, rushing over to feast on the remains before any survivors could heal. Their hunger never abated, their stomachs bottomless pits. As screams flowed and ebbed, Blythe was momentarily ignored. She dropped the swords and unhooked a whip from her side. With a crack of her wrist, the end of the whip coiled around one of the beasts’ necks. Yank.
It flipped over and she flashed, materializing crouched on its belly and already ramming a blade into his heart.
Yes! “That’s my female,” he whispered, unwilling to distract her.
At the death of their comrade, the other beasts lost interest in their meals. They focused the full bulk of their attention on Blythe. Snarling, with thick droplets of drool leaking from fangs any vampire would envy, they formed a circle around her.
“All right,” she called. “Who’s ready?”
They surged at her in unison. And, when next she flashed, the animals dove to greet her where she reappeared, clearly expecting the action. But she had expected their counterattack and met the creature closest to her with a sword through its open mouth.
Unlike immortals, these beasts did not heal swiftly, and a second one died.
Eight to go, with roughly nine minutes on the countdown clock.
Roux barely contained a cheer.
Blythe took out three others in quick succession, leaving five opponents and a little less than five minutes. But she didn’t do it without injury. Gashes littered her torso. Horn gouges had left holes in both of her shoulders and one of her thighs. Her right arm had no bicep, only teeth marks in the bone.
Heart in his throat, Roux reached up to grip a pillar, uncaring when cracks spread around his fingers. A scream tore through his mind, animalistic. Primal. There was something odd about it. At any other time, it would have bothered him. Right now, he couldn’t think.
Blood loss had slowed Blythe’s ability to heal. Not to mention her motions. No longer did she have the strength to flash. Though she tried, flickering in and out of view but getting nowhere. She seemed to operate solely on combat skill and sheer determination.
The creatures proved relentless. They gave no quarter, scraping her with their toxic flesh, slicing her with their horns and stomping on any part of her they could reach. Yet, she refused to give up, and took out another and another and another.
Only two monsters and two minutes to go. She just needed to outlast them.
Toward the end of the one-minute mark, she killed another but lost a hand, stumbled, and fell. As she rolled to escape a series of bites, she hemorrhaged blood in every direction.
Breath hitched in Roux’s lungs. The remaining beast prowled around her, herding her into a corner.
She had nowhere to go.
Claws grew from its nail beds.
Her prey lunged in her direction—and slammed into the wall. As its stony flesh cracked, she reappeared behind it. In a single fluid motion, she rammed a sword hilt into the widest crack, breaking through and reaching its heart with her hand. The ability to flash hadn’t abandoned her, after all. She’d faked it.
A howl of pain echoed as she yanked the heart out. Her specialty. The creature toppled, seized, then sagged into the sand.