Before Annalise could even respond, his body dissolved into black mist.
The air cracked as he vanished from sight, the forest shaking in his wake.
And ahead, the mammoth raised its head, its crimson eyes narrowing as death itself approached.
The mist coalesced mid-air, and Sebastian reappeared, his form outlined in shadow and frost, Sacha blazing in his grasp.
Dark mana poured down the blade, a corrosive, hungry rot that hissed and spat like a living thing.
"Let's see how you like this, you overgrown furball," he muttered.
Then his voice turned sharp. "Die."
He descended like a guillotine.
The mammoth swung its tusks upward, molten heat cracking the air as they intercepted his strike.
Steel screamed against bone, the shockwave flattening trees for dozens of meters.
Sebastian grinned mid-air, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.
He twisted his body unnaturally, legs coiling like a spring, and flipped over the tusks in one motion.
