Chapter 13 The Beast

The pain in my chest was absolute torture. The black poison was eating the purple demon core right out from under my ribs. I coughed up thick dark blood onto the melted stone floor. The dust was incredibly thick and hard to breathe. Above me, the entire mountain roof tore open with a deafening crack. Huge chunks of heavy grey rock rained down into the ruined room, smashing into the ground like artillery shells.

A massive red dragon crashed through the new opening. Its scales were the exact color of fresh blood. The beast roared so loudly that my ears started bleeding instantly. It smashed its heavy back legs into the stone floor, completely crushing what was left of the wooden tables Elara used for her alchemy work. The monster looked completely unstoppable in the dim light.

Elara did not run away in fear. She quickly dragged General Kaelen by his silver armor and hid his unconscious body behind a massive fallen stone pillar. Then, she turned around and rushed straight toward me. She completely ignored the giant red dragon destroying her home. She fell to her knees right beside me and pulled an incredibly sharp silver knife from her thick leather belt.

"Your magic is locked completely because the poison is eating the demon core," Elara yelled over the deafening roar of the invading beast. "The System is rebooting to protect your human soul from the corruption. But if that demon core explodes inside your chest, it will rip your actual heart into tiny pieces. We have less than two minutes left."

"How do we stop it from exploding?" I gasped loudly. My body was shaking uncontrollably as the black poison rapidly spread.

"We have to physically cut the connection right now," she said quickly. Her bright purple eyes were wide with pure panic, but her hands were perfectly steady. "I need to carve the poisoned core out of your chest before the countdown runs out. It is going to hurt much worse than dying."

Before I could agree to her desperate plan, the giant red dragon turned its massive head directly toward us. It opened its terrible jaws, revealing endless rows of teeth as long as steel swords. Deep inside its massive throat, a bright orange fire began to build and glow. It was getting ready to burn us to pure white ash.

I had absolutely no magic to fight back. The blue System screen was completely dark and totally useless in my vision. I only had my raw physical strength left, and even that was failing fast. I had to rely completely on my basic human survival instincts.

I pushed Elara as hard as I could. I shoved her out of the way just as a massive wave of thick orange fire blasted the exact spot where we were sitting. The heat was blinding and suffocating. I rolled painfully across the burning stone floor, my clothes catching on fire. I quickly patted out the small flames on my torn sleeves.

The red dragon snapped its heavy jaws right where my head had just been. It missed me by a tiny fraction of an inch. I dodged hard to the left and jumped as high as I could, landing directly onto the back of its massive neck. The crimson scales were as hot as boiling iron plates. I grabbed the thick horns on its head and held on.

"Cut it out now!" I screamed loudly to Elara. The giant dragon thrashed wildly beneath me. My arms burned with the incredible effort. "Do it while I hold the beast down to the floor!"

Elara ran straight through the thick smoke and orange fire. She jumped onto the back of the thrashing dragon right behind me. The beast roared in furious anger and threw its heavy body against the thick pillars. The whole mountain shook violently, threatening to collapse entirely and bury us all alive.

Elara grabbed the front of my shirt and ripped it completely open. The dark purple demon core was pulsing frantically right beneath my skin. It was covered entirely in ugly black veins from the royal poison.

"Hold perfectly still," she ordered in a firm voice. She plunged the sharp silver knife directly into my chest.

The pain was completely beyond anything I had ever felt in my entire life. I threw my head back and screamed a raw, bloody, and animalistic scream. My vision turned completely white with pure agony. I felt her physically twisting the sharp metal blade deep inside my flesh. She was rapidly cutting the magical roots that connected the corrupted core directly to my beating heart.

The red dragon suddenly had enough of the fight. It took flight with a massive leap. It blasted straight up through the broken stone ceiling, carrying both me and Elara high into the freezing night sky above the ruined mountain.

We were instantly hundreds of feet in the air. The cold wind ripped violently at my face and tore through my bleeding chest. With one final pull, Elara yanked the poisoned purple crystal completely out of my body. She threw the corrupted core out into the dark night, where it exploded instantly into a massive cloud of toxic black smoke. The explosion lit up the entire night sky.

As soon as the core was removed, the System screen suddenly flashed back to life in front of my eyes. But it was not the familiar blue color. It was a blinding, pure white.

[System Reboot Complete. Corrupted Demon Core successfully removed.]

[Critical Warning. Human lifespan is now currently at zero days.]

[Initiating Final Death Protocol. Shutting down host body permanently.]

Before I could process the terrifying message floating in the sky, the giant red dragon flipped completely upside down in the air. It threw Elara and me entirely off its back. We were falling rapidly toward the dark and jagged mountain peaks below, and my body was already completely shutting down forever.