Ashmane's tails became whips of annihilation, wreathed in hurricane-force winds that cracked through the air like the lash of a vengeful god.
The impact struck Alira with the force of a falling star, launching her backward in a violent pirouette of broken momentum.
Her bones rattled like dice in a cup, her ribs screaming as blood exploded from her lips in a crimson mist, painting the battlefield as she tumbled end over end.
She wrenched herself to a stop, knee grinding through dirt and stone, her mouth overflowing with the hot, metallic tang of blood.
The beast advanced.
Each step sundered the earth, sending shockwaves through the ruined landscape. Lightning danced between its fangs, a storm trapped in teeth, while fire rippled down its spine like molten armor, dripping embers that burned craters into the ground.
Its growl wasn't just sound.
It vibrated in her teeth, hummed in her skull, a subsonic threat that made her very organs tremble.
Her hands shook.
